e.
Twice he had to change his craft for another of precisely the same size,
rig, and slowness. The shores afforded but slight amusement, being low,
and for the most part wooded, and indeed the river was for a time so wide
that the land on either hand was invisible. Once or twice they met with
strong winds, and the waves got up rapidly. The craft rolled heavily, and
the passengers were for the most part prostrated by terror and
sea-sickness.

At length after two months' passage they entered that branch of the great
river upon which Para is situated, and a few days later moored alongside
the quays of the town. Stephen at once went to an hotel, gave a Peruvian
name, and then, having indulged in a bath and a very comfortable meal,
sallied out into the town. In the streets were large numbers of Portuguese
soldiers; while a short distance down the bay several fine ships of war
lay at anchor. A good many merchant ships were moored alongside the quays,
and Stephen determined on the following day to ascertain about them. On
his return to the hotel he found a Portuguese official talking to the
landlord.

"This is the gentleman," the latter said, motioning to Stephen.

"I have to ask you for your papers?" he said politely.

"I have none, senor," Stephen replied. "I have just arrived from Peru,
having come down by the river Madeira into the Amazon."

"But how did you pass the frontier without papers?" the official said in
an altogether changed manner.

"Simply because there is no frontier line on the Madeira, and so far as I
know no Portuguese official or soldier within at least fifteen hundred
miles. At any rate, I have never been asked for papers until now."

"But how is it that you started without papers?" the official said
sternly.

"It was a matter that I never even thought of, senor. I had been engaged
in a quarrel, and the authorities wanted me to leave. My friends furnished
me with money, and I left at an hour's notice. I have gone through several
perils by the way, was captured by Indians, who took all that I possessed,
and would certainly have taken the papers had I had them about me. I was
nearly killed and eaten, and was only saved by the courage and fidelity of
two native guides who accompanied me."

"Well, senor, this is not a time when strangers can travel about Brazil
without papers. You may be an emissary of the usurper Dom Pedro."

"If I had been," Stephen said quietly, "I should have come up the coast,