r,
showed themselves off without daring to shake themselves, like the big
children that they were.

It thus happened that when noon came the much-occupied barber had not
had time to return on board, but had had to content himself with a
little assai, some manioc flour, and turtle eggs, which he rapidly
devoured between two applications of the curling-tongs.

But it was a great harvest for the innkeeper, as all the operations
could not be conducted without a large absorption of liquors drawn
from the cellars of the inn. In fact, it was an event for the town of
Tabatinga, this visit of the celebrated Fragoso, barber in ordinary and
extraordinary to the tribes of the Upper Amazon!

CHAPTER XIII. TORRES

AT FIVE O'CLOCK in the evening Fragoso was still there, and was asking
himself if he would have to pass the night on the spot to satisfy the
expectant crowd, when a stranger arrived in the square, and seeing all
this native gathering, advanced toward the inn.

For some minutes the stranger eyed Fragoso attentively with some
circumspection. The examination was obviously satisfactory, for he
entered the loja.

He was a man about thirty-five years of age. He was dressed in a
somewhat elegant traveling costume, which added much to his personal
appearance. But his strong black beard, which the scissors had not
touched for some time, and his hair, a trifle long, imperiously required
the good offices of a barber.

"Good-day, friend, good-day!" said he, lightly striking Fragoso on the
shoulder.

Fragoso turned round when he heard the words pronounced in pure
Brazilian, and not in the mixed idiom of the natives.

"A compatriot?" he asked, without stopping the twisting of the
refractory mouth of a Mayouma head.

"Yes," answered the stranger. "A compatriot who has need of your
services."

"To be sure! In a minute," said Fragoso. "Wait till I have finished with
this lady!"

And this was done in a couple of strokes with the curling-tongs.

Although he was the last comer, and had no right to the vacant place, he
sat down on the stool without causing any expostulation on the part of
the natives who lost a turn.

Fragoso put down the irons for the scissors, and, after the manner of
his brethren, said:

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"Cut my beard and my hair," answered the stranger.

"All right!" said Fragoso, inserting his comb into the mass of hair.

And then the scissors to do their work.

"And you come