"
The old man insisted. Death would not allow him to wait; he demanded
the promise, and it was made to him.
Yaquita was then twenty-two years old, Joam was twenty-six. They
loved each other and they were married some hours before the death of
Magalha?s, who had just strength left to bless their union.
It was under these circumstances that in 1830 Joam Garral became the
new fazender of Iquitos, to the immense satisfaction of all those
who composed the staff of the farm.
The prosperity of the settlement could not do otherwise than grow
when these two minds were thus united.
A year after her marriage Yaquita presented her husband with a son,
and, two years after, a daughter. Benito and Minha, the grandchildren
of the old Portuguese, became worthy of their grandfather, children
worthy of Joam and Yaquita.
The daughter grew to be one of the most charming of girls. She never
left the fazenda. Brought up in pure and healthy surroundings, in the
midst of the beauteous nature of the tropics, the education given to
her by her mother, and the instruction received by her from her
father, were ample.
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