He did not know what to do, he defended himself as best
he could. He did not deserve anything like it. Chance alone had done
it. Were any thanks due to him for having recognized Torres as a
captain of the woods? No, certainly not. As to his idea of hurrying
off in search of the band to which Torres had belonged, he did not
think it had been worth much, and as to the name of Ortega, he did
not even know its value.
Gallant Fragoso! Whether he wished it or no, he had none the less
saved Joam Dacosta!
And herein what a strange succession of different events all tending
to the same end. The deliverance of Fragoso at the time when he was
dying of exhaustion in the forest of Iquitos; the hospitable
reception he had met with at the fazenda, the meeting with Torres on
the Brazilian frontier, his embarkation on the jangada; and lastly,
the fact that Fragoso had seen him somewhere before.
"Well, yes!" Fragoso ended by exclaiming; "but it is not to me that
all this happiness is due, it is due to Lina!"
"To me?" replied the young mulatto.
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