into the forest.

"Shall we stop soon?" asked Manoel.

"No; a thousand times no!" cried Benito, "not without having reached
the end of it!"

"Perhaps," observed Minha, "it will soon be time to think of
returning."

"Oh, dearest mistress, let us go on again!" replied Lina.

"On forever!" added Benito.

And they plunged more deeply into the forest, which, becoming
clearer, allowed them to advance more easily.

Besides, the cipo bore away to the north, and toward the river. It
became less inconvenient to follow, seeing that they approached the
right bank, and it would be easy to get back afterward.

A quarter of an hour later they all stopped at the foot of a ravine
in front of a small tributary of the Amazon. But a bridge of lianas,
made of _"bejucos,"_ twined together by their interlacing branches,
crossed the stream. The cipo, dividing into two strings, served for a
handrail, and passed from one bank to the other.

Benito, all the time in front, had already stepped on the swinging
floor of this vegetable bridge.