It
was for him to take all the necessary measures at the critical
moment. The jangada was moored to the bank with solid cables, so that
it could not be carried away by the current when it floated off.
Quite a tribe from one hundred and fifty to two hundred Indians,
without counting the population of the village, had come to assist at
the interesting spectacle.
They were all keenly on the watch, and silence reigned over the
impressionable crowd.
Toward five o'clock in the evening the water had reached a level
higher than that of the night before--by more than a foot--and the
bank had already entirely disappeared beneath the liquid covering.
A certain groaning arose among the planks of the enormous structure,
but there was still wanting a few inches before it was quite lifted
and detached from the ground.
For an hour the groanings increased. The joists grated on all sides.
A struggle was going on in which little by little the trunks were
being dragged from their sandy bed.
Toward half-past six cries of joy arose. The jangada floated at last,
and the current took it toward the middle of the river, but, in
obedience to the cables, it quietly took up its position near the
bank at the moment that Padre Passanha gave it his blessing, as if it
were a vessel launched into the sea whose destinies are in the hands
of the Most High!
CHAPTER X
FROM IQUITOS TO PEVAS
ON THE 6th of June, the very next day, Joam Garral and his people
bade good-by to the superintendent and the Indians and negroes who
were to stay behind at the fazenda.
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