ood fellow.

The other man when paid off received his money and his reward silently.
He went out into the street, and returned four hours later without one
single penny. He had purchased an expensive suit of clothes, a number of
silk neckties, a gold chain, watch, etc.

The next morning there was a steamer sailing for Rio de Janeiro, so I
packed off the jubilant Filippe, paying a second-class passage for him
on the steamer and a first-class on the railway, as I had done for the
other men, with wages up to the day of his arrival in Araguary, his
native town.

Thus I saw the last of that plucky man--the only one who had remained of
the six who had originally started with me.

On December 16th I left Manaos for good on my way to Peru, escorted to
the good Booth Line steamer _Atahualpa_ by the Commandante of the Federal
troops, the representatives of the Associacao Commercial, Dr. Maso, and
some of my English and American friends.

It was with the greatest delight that I saw Manaos vanish away from sight
as we descended the Rio Negro. Rounding the point at its mouth, steaming
towards the west, we entered the Solemoes River. This river is navigable
by fairly good-sized boats as far as Iquitos, in the province of Loreto
in Peru.

[Illustration: The Highest Point where Author crossed the Andes
before reaching the Railway at Oroya.]

I was badly in need of rest, and expected to get it on those few days of
navigation up the river, having dreamt of how I could lie on deck and do
nothing, as that part was well known and there was no work for me to do.
But, indeed, on that journey none of my dreams were realized, for, worse
luck, the steamer, which had only accommodation for ten, carried not less
than seventy or eighty passengers, fifty of them forming part of a
Spanish theatrical company which was on its way to Iquitos. The deck of
the ship had been turned into a kind of theatre, where rehearsals went on
day and night. When the rehearsals were not going on, the men and women,
following the usual habits of theatrical people, sang and practised
flights of notes--which was a little trying after the dead silence of the
forest.

However, thanks to the great civility of the managers of the Booth Line
at Manaos, and to the extreme thoughtfulness of the captain of the
_Atahualpa_, I was made quite comfortable in the chart-room of the ship,
which was as far away as possible from the noise. We were most of the
time in mid-stream.