e great provider of the inhabitant of
the torrid zones, a banana-tree, was standing alone. The long festoon
of the liana curled round its higher branches, moving away to the other
side of the clearing, and disappeared again into the forest.

"Shall we stop soon?" asked Manoel.

"No; a thousand times no!" cried Benito, "not without having reached the
end of it!"

"Perhaps," observed Minha, "it will soon be time to think of returning."

"Oh, dearest mistress, let us go on again!" replied Lina.

"On forever!" added Benito.

And they plunged more deeply into the forest, which, becoming clearer,
allowed them to advance more easily.

Besides, the cipo bore away to the north, and toward the river. It
became less inconvenient to follow, seeing that they approached the
right bank, and it would be easy to get back afterward.

A quarter of an hour later they all stopped at the foot of a ravine in
front of a small tributary of the Amazon. But a bridge of lianas, made
of _"bejucos,"_ twined together by their interlacing branches, crossed
the stream. The cipo, dividing into two strings, served for a handrail,
and passed from one bank to the other.

Benito, all the time in front, had already stepped on the swinging floor
of this vegetable bridge.

Manoel wished to keep his sister back.

"Stay--stay, Minha!" he said, "Benito may go further if he likes, but
let us remain here."

"No! Come on, come on, dear mistress!" said Lina. "Don't be afraid, the
liana is getting thinner; we shall get the better of it, and find out
its end!"

And, without hesitation, the young mulatto boldly ventured toward
Benito.

"What children they are!" replied Minha. "Come along, Manoel, we must
follow."

And they all cleared the bridge, which swayed above the ravine like a
swing, and plunged again beneath the mighty trees.

But they had not proceeded for ten minutes along the interminable cipo,
in the direction of the river, when they stopped, and this time not
without cause.

"Have we got to the end of the liana?" asked Minha.

"No," replied Benito; "but we had better advance with care. Look!" and
Benito pointed to the cipo which, lost in the branches of a high ficus,
was agitated by violent shakings.

"What causes that?" asked Manoel.

"Perhaps some animal that we had better approach with a little
circumspection!"

And Benito, cocking his gun, motioned them to let him go on a bit, and
stepped about ten paces to the front.

Mano