Great was Manoel's emotion when Benito, drawn on to the platform, was
laid there in a state of complete inertia, not a single exterior
movement betraying that he still lived.
Was not this a second corpse which the waters of the Amazon had given
up?
As quickly as possible the diving-dress was taken off him.
Benito had entirely lost consciousness beneath the violent shocks of
the gymnotus.
Manoel, distracted, called to him, breathed into him, and endeavored
to recover the heart's pulsation.
"It beats! It beats!" he exclaimed.
Yes! Benito's heart did still beat, and in a few minutes Manoel's
efforts restored him to life.
"The body! the Body!"
Such were the first words, the only ones which escaped from Benito's
lips.
"There it is!" answered Fragoso, pointing to a pirogue then coming up
to the raft with the corpse.
"But what has been the matter, Benito?" asked Manoel. "Has it been
the want of air?"
"No!" said Benito; "a puraque attacked me! But the noise? the
detonation?"
"A cannon shot!" replied Manoel. "It was the cannon shot which
brought the corpse to the surface.
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