twenty-four hours which preceded the maximum the waters covered the
bank on which the raft rested, but did not lift the raft.

As soon as the movement was assured, and there could be no error as
to the height to which the flood would rise, all those interested in
the undertaking were seized with no little excitement. For if through
some inexplicable cause the waters of the Amazon did not rise
sufficiently to flood the jangada, it would all have to be built over
again. But as the fall of the river would be very rapid it would take
long months before similar conditions recurred.

On the 5th of June, toward the evening, the future passengers of the
jangada were collected on a plateau which was about a hundred feet
above the bank, and waited for the hour with an anxiety quite
intelligible.

There were Yaquita, her daughter, Manoel Valdez, Padre Passanha,
Benito, Lina, Fragoso, Cybele, and some of the servants, Indian or
negro, of the fazenda.

Fragoso could not keep himself still; he went and he came, he ran
down the bank and ran up the plateau, he noted the points of the
river gauge, and shouted "Hurrah!" as the water crept up.

"It will swim, it will swim!" he shouted. "The raft which is to take
us to Belem! It will float if all the cataracts of the sky have to
open to flood the Amazon!"

Joam Garral was on the raft with the pilot and some of the crew. It
was for him to take all the necessary measures at the critical