traveling?"

"No, my dear boy," replied the padre; "it is truly traveling with all
one's belongings."

"And without any fatigue," added Manoel; "we might do hundreds of
thousands of miles in this way."

"And," said Minha, "you do not repent having taken passage with us?
Does it not seem to you as if we were afloat on an island drifted
quietly away from the bed of the river with its prairies and its
trees? Only----"

"Only?" repeated the padre.

"Only we have made the island with our own hands; it belongs to us,
and I prefer it to all the islands of the Amazon. I have a right to
be proud of it."

"Yes, my daughter; and I absolve you from your pride. Besides, I am
not allowed to scold you in the presence of Manoel!"

"But, on the other hand," replied she, gayly, "you should teach
Manoel to scold me when I deserve it. He is a great deal too
indulgent to my little self."

"Well, then, dear Minha," said Manoel, "I shall profit by that
permission to remind you----"

"Of what?"