"But----" said Benito.

"If not, I will take Manoel's arm, and we shall save or lose
ourselves, and you will be obliged to run after us."

"Would you not like me to refuse, eh?" asked Benito, looking at
Manoel.

"I think I should!" replied the young man.

"Well then--no!" said Benito; "I do not refuse; I will obey and annoy
you. Come on!"

And so the four, followed by the black, struck under the splendid
trees, whose thick foliage prevented the sun's rays from every
reaching the soil.

There is nothing more magnificent than this part of the right bank of
the Amazon. There, in such picturesque confusion, so many different
trees shoot up that it is possible to count more than a hundred
different species in a square mile. A forester could easily see that
no woodman had been there with his hatchet or ax, for the effects of
a clearing are visible for many centuries afterward. If the new trees
are even a hundred years old, the general aspect still differs from
what it was originally, for the lianas and other parasitic plants
alter, and signs remain which no native can misunderstand.

The happy group moved then into the tall herbage, across the thickets
and under the bushes, chatting and laughing. In front, when the