Whether it
pleases you or not, Benito, you must promise me to forget----"
"Forget what?"
"That you are a sportsman!"
"What! you forbid me to----"
"I forbid you to fire at any of these charming birds--any of the
parrots, caciques, or curucus which are flying about so happily among
the trees! And the same interdiction with regard to the smaller game
with which we shall have to do to-day. If any ounce, jaguar, or such
thing comes too near, well----"
"But----" said Benito.
"If not, I will take Manoel's arm, and we shall save or lose
ourselves, and you will be obliged to run after us."
"Would you not like me to refuse, eh?" asked Benito, looking at
Manoel.
"I think I should!" replied the young man.
"Well then--no!" said Benito; "I do not refuse; I will obey and annoy
you. Come on!"
And so the four, followed by the black, struck under the splendid
trees, whose thick foliage prevented the sun's rays from every
reaching the soil.
There is nothing more magnificent than this part of the right bank of
the Amazon. There, in such picturesque confusion, so many different
trees shoot up that it is possible to count more than a hundred
different species in a square mile.
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