ones coming from the hands of Fragoso went proudly from one house to
another, showed themselves off without daring to shake themselves,
like the big children that they were.

It thus happened that when noon came the much-occupied barber had not
had time to return on board, but had had to content himself with a
little assai, some manioc flour, and turtle eggs, which he rapidly
devoured between two applications of the curling-tongs.

But it was a great harvest for the innkeeper, as all the operations
could not be conducted without a large absorption of liquors drawn
from the cellars of the inn. In fact, it was an event for the town of
Tabatinga, this visit of the celebrated Fragoso, barber in ordinary
and extraordinary to the tribes of the Upper Amazon!


CHAPTER XIII

TORRES

AT FIVE O'CLOCK in the evening Fragoso was still there, and was
asking himself if he would have to pass the night on the spot to
satisfy the expectant crowd, when a stranger arrived in the square,
and seeing all this native gathering, advanced toward the inn.

For some minutes the stranger eyed Fragoso attentively with some
circumspection. The examination was obviously satisfactory, for he
entered the loja.

He was a man about thirty-five years of age. He was dressed in a