392 



MANOEL. 



sat on horseback, holding a parley, my men 

 being on the other side of me, until Antonio, 

 the mulatto carrier, (he who had been waylaid 

 a long time before,) came round and leaned 

 against the horse's neck, placing himself between 

 me and the Indian. I afterwards found out, 

 that he had observed that Francisco Joze heid 

 a drawn knife, and Antonio judged that this 

 was intended against me or my horse, for the 

 Indian well knew that if he wounded me, it 

 would probably enable him to escape. Several 

 persons belonging to the plantation had now 

 joined us, and the matter ended by the Indian 

 allowing himself to be taken without resistance, 

 and to be put into the stocks ; a party of mu- 

 lattos, or of creole negroes, would not have 

 submitted thus quietly. Late at night he paid 

 the debt, was released, and I saw no more of 

 him for a considerable time. 



I was now dismissing all those workmen who 

 were not in debt to me, and at last only a few 

 persons remained whose services I required, and 

 upon whose character I could depend. It was 

 very seldom that I visited Recife ; but when 

 there was a necessity for so doing, I took ad- 

 vantage of moon-light nights in preference to 

 travelling in the day-time, and was on these 

 occasions accompanied by Manoel. The wood 

 of Merrueira, through which we usually passed, 

 is famous for the numerous stories of ghosts that 



