life; and though the very misfortune which had driven them forth into
the wilderness had also guided them to an opportunity of making a
fortune, it is probable they would have passed it by, had they not known
that, penniless as they were, they would have fared still worse in any
city to which they might have gone.

But before the first year was out, they yearned very much to return to
civilisation, and this desire was very natural. But there were other
reasons that influenced them besides the mere _ennui_ of the wilderness.
The lives of themselves and their children were constantly in danger
from jaguars, pumas, and poisonous reptiles. Even man himself might at
any moment appear as their destroyer. As yet no Indian--not even a trace
of one--had been seen. But this was not strange.

In the tangled and impenetrable forests of the Great Montana two tribes
of Indians may reside for years within less than a league's distance of
each other, without either being aware of the other's existence!
Scarcely any intercourse is carried on, or excursions made, except by
the rivers--for they are the only roads--and where two of these run
parallel, although they may be only at a short distance from each other,
people residing on one may never think of crossing to the other.

Notwithstanding that no Indians had yet appeared to disturb them, there
was no certainty that these might not arrive any day, and treat them as
enemies. On this account, Don Pablo and Dona Isidora were never without
a feeling of uneasiness.

After mutual deliberation, therefore, they resolved not to prolong their
stay beyond the early part of spring, when they would carry out their
original design of building a _balza_ raft, and commit themselves to the
great river, which, according to all appearance, and to Guapo's
confident belief, flowed directly to the Amazon. Guapo had never either
descended or ascended it himself, and on their first arrival was not so
sure about its course; but after having gone down to its banks, and
examined its waters, his recollections revived, and he remembered many
accounts which he had heard of it from Indians of his own tribe. He had
no doubt but it was the same which, under the name of the "Purus,"
falls into the Amazon between the mouths of the Madeira and the Coary.

Upon this stream, therefore, in a few months they would embark. But
these intervening months were not spent in idleness. Although the season
for bark-gathering wa