A DILEMMA 
pay—he oply wanted to get free from his master, who, 
he said, robbed and ill-treated him. 
“ Do you swear upon all that is most sacred that you 
have made up your mind not to go back to your master? ” 
“ Yes. If you say no to me, I shall kill myself now.” 
Benedicto — that was his name — spoke with quiet 
determination. 
“ Very good, Benedicto. You can remain. What is 
more, you shall receive from this moment the same pay as 
the other men. You can keep your old gun, too.” 
Benedicto embraced and kissed my hands, then my 
feet. The poor man’s joy was so great that it was really 
worth living to see that such moments of happiness could 
be procured in a man’s lifetime. 
Benedicto was a free man again, and for the first time 
in his life was earning genuine money! He was handed 
a paddle, and he paddled away for all he was worth, 
splashing with water those in front and behind^him. He 
was in a state of great excitement, tears flowing freely 
down his cheeks and beard, and dripping on to his knees 
as he sat in the bottom of the canoe. He sobbed to his 
heart’s content, and kept on splashing us all over. We 
were all so touched by that pathetic scene that we 
preferred getting wet to remonstrating. 
Fortunately the river was placid enough under the 
corrideira. When things had quieted down a little, I 
taught Benedicto and the others how to paddle properly, 
and Alcides how to steer straight. I had then five men. 
That improved matters greatly, as four could paddle 
while the fifth was steering. 
The Arinos River flowed from Porto Velho in a south¬ 
westerly, then in a due westerly direction, then north, 
then again west, from which last point it doubled, as it 
were, and proceeded east and southeast, returning to 
within quite a short distance of our original point of 
departure. We sounded our horn, and immediately heard 
VOL. II. —2 17 
