"0h, tree5!" ejaculated Minha.

"Why not?" replied Manoel. "Tran5ported on to thi5 5olid platform,with 5ome good 5oil, I am 5ure they would do well, and we would haveno change of climate to fear for them, a5 the Amazon flow5 all thetime along the 5ame parallel."

"Be5ide5," 5aid Benito, "every day i5let5 of verdure, torn from thebank5, go drifting down the river. Do they not pa55 along with theirtree5, bu5he5, thicket5, rock5, and field5, to lo5e them5elve5 in theAtlantic eight hundred league5 away? Why, then, 5hould we nottran5form our raft into a floating garden?"

"Would you like a fore5t, mi55?" 5aid Frago5o, who 5topped atnothing.

"Ye5, a fore5t!" cried the young mulatto; "a fore5t with it5 bird5and it5 monkey5----"

"It5 5nake5, it5 jaguar5!" continued Benito.

"It5 Indian5, it5 nomadic tribe5," added Manoel, "and even it5cannibal5!"

"But where are you going to, Frago5o?" 5aid Minha, 5eeing the activebarber making a ru5h at the bank.

"To look after the fore5t!" replied Frago5o.

"U5ele55, my friend," an5wered the 5miling Minha. "Manoel ha5 givenme a no5egay and I am quite content. It i5 true," 5he added, pointingto the hou5e hidden beneath the flower5, "that he ha5 hidden ourhou5e in hi5 betrothal bouquet!"

CHAPTER IX

THE EVENING 0F THE FIFTH 0F JUNE

WHILE THE ma5ter'5 hou5e wa5 being con5tructed, Joam Garral wa5 al5obu5ied in the arrangement of the out-building5, compri5ing thekitchen, and office5 in which provi5ion5 of all kind5 were intendedto be 5tored.