Bab Bab 7 · FOLLOWING A LIANA

. FOLLOWING A LIANA

It was a Sunday, the 26th of May, and the young people had made up

their minds to take a holiday. The weather was splendid, the heat being

tempered by the refreshing breezes which blew from off the Cordilleras,

and everything invited them out for an excursion into the country.

Benito and Manoel had offered to accompany Minha through the thick woods

which bordered the right bank of the Amazon opposite the fazenda.

It was, in a manner, a farewell visit to the charming environs of

Iquitos. The young men went equipped for the chase, but as sportsmen who

had no intention of going far from their companions in pursuit of any

game. Manoel could be trusted for that, and the girls--for Lina could

not leave her mistress--went prepared for a walk, an excursion of two or

three leagues being not too long to frighten them.

Neither Joam Garral nor Yaquita had time to go with them. For one reason

the plan of