ught into camp a fine deer and a _mutum_ bird,
which relieved our hunger for a while. As we were preparing a luxurious
meal, Jerome returned with two red howling monkeys, but we had all
the meat we could take care of, and these monkeys were rejected and
thrown away.

By this time the Chief informed us that enough caoutchouc trees had
been located to justify our return to the Floresta headquarters
with a satisfactory report--of course, excepting the death of
poor Brabo. Furthermore it was decided that owing to the lack of
provisions we should separate. He directed that the men Freitas,
Magellaes, and Anisette should take a course at a right angle to the
Itecoahy, so as to reach this river in a short time, where they were
to procure a canoe and secure assistance for the rest of us. This,
of course, was a chance, but under the circumstances every step was
a chance. The Chief himself, Jerome, and I would retrace the route
which we had lately travelled and reach Floresta that way. The evening
before our departure I did not think myself strong enough to carry
my load a single step, but the hypodermic needle, with quinine, which
had now become my constant stand-by, lent me an artificial strength,
and when the packing was done the next morning, I stood up with the
rest and strapped the load on my shoulders.

We parted with the other three men before sunrise, with clasps of the
hand that were never to be repeated, and so turned our faces toward
the outer world. My only hope was to retain sufficient strength in
my emaciated, fever-racked body to drag myself back to Floresta, and
from there, in the course of time, get canoe or launch connection
to the frontier down the river, and then wait for the steamer that
would take me back to "God's Country," where I could eat proper food,
and rest--rest.

The jungle no longer seemed beautiful or wonderful to me, but
horrible--a place of terror and death.

In my drug-dazed sleep on that back-track, I started up in my hammock,
bathed in a sweat of fear from a dream; I saw myself and my companions
engulfed in a sea of poisonous green, caught by living creepers
that dragged us down and held us in a deadly octopus embrace. The
forest was something from which I fled; it was hideous, a trap, with
its impenetrable wall of vegetation, its dark shadows, and moist,
treacherous ground.

I longed for the open; struggled for it, as the swimmer struggles up
for air to escape from the insidious suck