DEATH OF SIMPLICIO 259 



the bottom of the upset boat. In a minute he was 

 swept into the second series of rapids, and whirled 

 away from the roUing boat, losing his rifle. The water 

 beat his helmet down over his head and face, and drove 

 him beneath the surface ; and when he rose at last he 

 was almost drowned, his breath and strength almost 

 spent. He was in swift but quiet water, and swam 

 toward an overhanging branch. His jacket hindered 

 him ; but he knew he was too nearly gone to be able to 

 get it off, and, thinking with the curious calm one feels 

 when death is but a moment away, he realized that the 

 utmost his failing strength could do was to reach the 

 branch. He reached, and clutched it, and then almost 

 lacked strength to haul himself out on the land. Good 

 Trigueiro had faithfully swum alongside him through 

 the rapids, and now himself scrambled ashore. It was 

 a very narrow escape. Kermit was a great comfort and 

 help to me on the trip ; but the fear of some fatal acci- 

 dent befalling him was always a nightmare to me. He 

 was to be married as soon as the trip was over ; and it 

 did not seem to me that I could bear to bring bad tidings 

 to his betrothed and to his mother. 



Simplicio was unmarried. Later we sent to his mother 

 all the money that would have been his had he lived. 

 The following morning we put on one side of the post 

 erected to mark our camping-spot the following inscrip- 

 tion, in Portuguese : 



" In These Rapids Died Poor Simplicio." 



On an expedition such as ours death is one of the 

 accidents that may at any time occur, and narrow 

 escapes from death are too common to be felt as they 

 would be felt elsewhere. One mourns sincerely, but 

 mourning cannot interfere with labour. We immedi- 



