At his word of command fifty poles
from each side of the raft were raised in the air, and struck the
water with an automatic movement very curious to behold.
While this was going on, Yaquita, aided by Lina and Cybele, was
getting everything in order, and the Indian cooks were preparing the
breakfast.
As for the two young fellows and Minha, they were walking up and down
in company with Padre Passanha, and from time to time the lady
stopped and watered the plants which were placed about the base of
the dwelling-house.
"Well, padre," said Benito, "do you know a more agreeable way of
traveling?"
"No, my dear boy," replied the padre; "it is truly traveling with all
one's belongings."
"And without any fatigue," added Manoel; "we might do hundreds of
thousands of miles in this way."
"And," said Minha, "you do not repent having taken passage with us?
Does it not seem to you as if we were afloat on an island drifted
quietly away from the bed of the river with its prairies and its
trees? Only----"
"Only?" repeated the padre.
"Only we have made the island with our own hands; it belongs to us,
and I prefer it to all the islands of the Amazon.
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