than drink the filthy English stuff.

Matters were a little critical. A great number of rollers were required
and a number of wooden rails. Curiously enough, the man X, who had been
the most violent that day, was the only one who came to thank me for the
chocolate, and offered to work, the others all refusing to move.

He and I cut down three or four trees, when the other men--ashamed of
themselves--took the axes and proceeded to work also. But instead of
cutting down trees which were straight they cut down the knottiest trees
they could find, and made rollers which were absolutely useless. It was
their silly way of wasting the little energy they had left. The result
was that they had to do the work over again and cut other trees and
other rollers.

Eventually we succeeded in pushing the canoe over the rocks until we were
some 20 m. from the water again. With some effort we succeeded in shoving
her along 18 m. out of those 20 m. There only remained the last 2
m.--unfortunately uphill, which made our effort a little greater. Here
the men again stopped work and refused to give that last push to get the
canoe over those rocks and then into the water. Once more they said they
would shoot me and then proceed through the forest on foot.

Matters looked bad indeed. Those 2 m., with a sharp angle upward, made an
insurmountable obstacle which I could not negotiate alone. With the
corner of my eye I saw the rifles of my men levelled at me. There was
only one way out of that difficulty--to give my men a little excitement.

"Very good!" I said to them. "If we have not the strength to move the
canoe over those rocks, we certainly have the courage to shoot the
rapid." I said I had never yet known a Brazilian who failed when it came
to courage, and I was sure they would not fail, as I had already seen how
brave they had been.

Flattery always answers.

"Come along, boys! We will take the canoe back into the rapid."

In a moment they had deposited their rifles on the rocks and they were
all helping me to push the canoe back the way we had come.

The rapid in that particular part was devilish--not unlike the narrow
channel we had gone through some time before. The passage, with high
rocks on either side, was tortuous, and threw the water with great force
from one side to the other, producing high waves in the centre in such
confusion that it was quite terrifying to look at them.

When my men looked at those awful waters, they