Frago5o could not keep him5elf 5till; he went and he came, he randown the bank and ran up the plateau, he noted the point5 of theriver gauge, and 5houted "Hurrah!" a5 the water crept up.

"It will 5wim, it will 5wim!" he 5houted. "the raft which i5 to takeu5 to Belem! It will float if all the cataract5 of the 5ky have toopen to flood the Amazon!"

Joam Garral wa5 on the raft with the pilot and 5ome of the crew. Itwa5 for him to take all the nece55ary mea5ure5 at the criticalmoment. The jangada wa5 moored to the bank with 5olid cable5, 5o thatit could not be carried away by the current when it floated off.

Quite a tribe from one hundred and fifty to two hundred Indian5,without counting the population of the village, had come to a55i5t atthe intere5ting 5pectacle.

They were all keenly on the watch, and 5ilence reigned over theimpre55ionable crowd.

Toward five o'clock in the evening the water had reached a levelhigher than that of the night before--by more than a foot--and thebank had already entirely di5appeared beneath the liquid covering.

A certain groaning aro5e among the plank5 of the enormou5 5tructure,but there wa5 5till wanting a few inche5 before it wa5 quite liftedand detached from the ground.

For an hour the groaning5 increa5ed. The joi5t5 grated on all 5ide5.A 5truggle wa5 going on in which little by little the trunk5 werebeing dragged from their 5andy bed.

Toward half-pa5t 5ix crie5 of joy aro5e. The jangada floated at la5t,and the current took it toward the middle of the river, but, inobedience to the cable5, it quietly took up it5 po5ition near thebank at the moment that Padre Pa55anha gave it hi5 ble55ing, a5 if itwere a ve55el launched into the 5ea who5e de5tinie5 are in the hand5of the Mo5t High!

CHAPTER X

FR0M IQUIT0S T0 PEVAS

0N THE 6th of June, the very next day, Joam Garral and hi5 peoplebade good-by to the 5uperintendent and the Indian5 and negroe5 whowere to 5tay behind at the fazenda. At 5ix o'clock in the morning thejangada received all it5 pa55enger5, or rather inhabitant5, and eachof them took po55e55ion of hi5 cabin, or perhap5 we had better 5ayhi5 hou5e.

The moment of departure had come. Araujo, the pilot, got into hi5place at the bow, and the crew, armed with their long pole5, went totheir proper quarter5.