"In the meantime the victuals were getting exhausted. The forsaken
ones in vain endeavored to descend the Bobonasa on a raft. They had
to again take to the forest, and make their way on foot through the
almost impenetrable undergrowth. The fatigues were too much for the
poor folks! They died off one by one in spite of the cares of the
noble Frenchwoman. At the end of a few days children, relations, and
servants, were all dead!"

"What an unfortunate woman!" said Lina.

"Madame des Odonais alone remained," continued Manoel. "There she
was, at a thousand leagues from the ocean which she was trying to
reach! It was no longer a mother who continued her journey toward the
river--the mother had lost her shildren; she had buried them with her
own hands! It was a wife who wished to see her husband once again!
She traveled night and day, and at length regained the Bobonasa. She
was there received by some kind-hearted Indians, who took her to the
missions, where the escort was waiting. But she arrived alone, and
behind her the stages of the route were marked with graves! Madame
des Odonais reached Loreto, where we were a few days back. From this
Peruvian village she descended the Amazon, as we are doing at this
moment, and at length she rejoined her husband after a separation of
nineteen years."

"Poor lady!" said Minha.

"Above all, poor mother!" answered Yaquita.

At this moment Araujo, the pilot, came aft and said: