IN A DEJECTED CONDITION 
I told Benedicto that, as Fate had called upon him to 
do the work, he had better do it. 
Benedicto was certainly very plucky that day. All 
of a sudden he dashed inside the tree and proceeded 
to climb up. We heard wild screams for some minutes; 
evidently the bees were protecting their home well. 
While Filippe and I were seated outside, smiling faintly 
at poor Benedicto’s plight, he reappeared. We hardly 
recognized him when he emerged from the tree, so badly 
stung and swollen was his face, notwithstanding the pro¬ 
tection he had over it. All he brought back was a small 
piece of the honeycomb about as large as a florin. What 
little honey there was inside was quite putrid, but we 
divided it into three equal parts and devoured it rav¬ 
enously, bees and all. A moment later all three of us 
were seized with vomiting, so that the meagre meal was 
worse than nothing to us. 
We were then in a region of innumerable liane, which 
hung from the trees and caught our feet and heads, and 
would themselves round us when we tried to shift them 
from their position. Nearly all the trees in that part 
had long and powerful spikes. Then, near water, there 
were huge palms close together, the sharp-edged leaves 
of which cut our hands, faces, and legs as we pushed 
our way through. 
A violent storm broke out in the afternoon. The 
rain was torrential, making our march extremely difficult. 
It was just like marching under a heavy shower-bath. 
The rain lasted for some three hours. We crossed one 
large stream flowing west into the Secundury, and also 
two other good-sized streamlets. 
We had a miserable night, drenched as we were and 
unable to light a fire, the box of matches having got wet 
and the entire forest being soaked by the torrential storm. 
During the night another storm arrived and poured regu¬ 
lar buckets of water upon us. 
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