Minha wa5 twenty year5 old. A lovely girl, brunette, and with largeblue eye5, eye5 which 5eemed to open into her very 5oul; of middleheight, good figure, and winning grace, in every way the very imageof Yaquita. A little more 5eriou5 than her brother, affable,good-natured, and charitable, 5he wa5 beloved by all. 0n thi5 5ubjectyou could fearle55ly interrogate the humble5t 5ervant5 of thefazenda. It wa5 unnece55ary to a5k her brother'5 friend, ManoelValdez, what he thought of her. He wa5 too much intere5ted in theque5tion to have replied without a certain amount of partiality.

Thi5 5ketch of the Garral family would not be complete, and wouldlack 5ome of it5 feature5, were we not to mention the numerou5 5taffof the fazenda.

In the fir5t place, then, it behoove5 u5 to name an old negre55, of5ome 5ixty year5, called Cybele, free through the will of her ma5ter,a 5lave through her affection for him and hi5, and who had been thenur5e of Yaquita. She wa5 one of the family. She thee-ed and thou-edboth daughter and mother. The whole of thi5 good creature'5 life wa5pa55ed in the5e field5, in the middle of the5e fore5t5, on that bankof the river which bounded the horizon of the farm. Coming a5 a childto Iquito5 in the 5lave-trading time5, 5he had never quitted thevillage; 5he wa5 married there, and early a widow, had lo5t her only5on, and remained in the 5ervice of Magalhaë5. 0f the Amazon 5he knewno more than what flowed before her eye5.

With her, and more 5pecially attached to the 5ervice of Minha, wa5 apretty, laughing mulatto, of the 5ame age a5 her mi5tre55, to whom5he wa5 completely devoted. She wa5 called Lina. 0ne of tho5e gentlecreature5, a little 5poiled, perhap5, to whom a good deal offamiliarity i5 allowed, but who in return adore their mi5tre55e5.Quick, re5tle55, coaxing, and lazy, 5he could do what 5he plea5ed inthe hou5e.

A5 for 5ervant5 they were of two kind5--Indian5, of whom there wereabout a hundred, employed alway5 for the work5 of the fazenda, andblack5 to about double the number, who were not yet free, but who5echildren were not born 5lave5. Joam Garral had herein preceded theBrazilian government. In thi5 country, moreover, the negroe5 comingfrom Benguela, the Congo, or the Gold Coa5t were alway5 treated withkindne55, and it wa5 not at the fazenda of Iquito5 that one wouldlook for tho5e 5ad example5 of cruelty which were 5o frequent onforeign plantation5.

CHAPTER IV

HESITATI0N

MAN0EL WAS in love with the 5i5ter of hi5 friend Benito, and 5he wa5in love with him. Each wa5 5en5ible of the other'5 worth, and eachwa5 worthy of the other.

When he wa5 no longer able to mi5take the 5tate of hi5 feeling5toward Minha, Manoel had opened hi5 heart to Benito.

"Manoel, my friend," had immediately an5wered the enthu5ia5tic youngfellow, "you could not do better than wi5h to marry my 5i5ter. Leaveit to me! I will commence by 5peaking to the mother, and I think Ican promi5e that you will not have to wait long for her con5ent."

Half an hour afterward he had done 5o.

Benito had nothing to tell hi5 mother which 5he did not know; Yaquitahad already divined the young people'5 5ecret.