A DAY OF JOY AND SADNESS 
What had remained of my poor coat had been torn to 
shreds, so that all I possessed now in the way of clothing 
was a shirt. As the seringueiro had a wife I could not 
well appear in that condition before her when we should 
reach the hut. Hiding behind a tree, we shouted for 
the seringueiro to come to our assistance. Benedicto, who 
was not so bashful, and whose costume was not much 
better than mine, proceeded to the house. 
A few minutes later, as I peeped from behind my 
tree, I had a moment of great joy. I had been wonder¬ 
ing during the last few days whether my men had died 
in the forest, or what could have become of them, as we 
had not received an answer to our signals. There I saw 
Alcides rush out of the house and run toward me. His 
cheeks streamed with tears. “ Senhor! Senhor!” he 
sobbed, embracing me. 
Antonio, who followed behind, came up and shook 
hands, merely saying: “ Good morning! ” 
“Where is white Filippe? Where is the man X?” 
I hastily inquired, in order to make sure that they were 
t'll alive. 
“ They are fishing on the river.” Alcides called out 
Vo them: “ Come quickly! £ El Senhor ’ has returned! ” 
White Filippe immediately ran up, but the man X 
shouted back that he was busy fishing; he would come 
up later. 
Alcides was much upset on seeing my plight. He ran 
immediately into the hut and got me some clothes from 
the seringueiro , which I put on before entering the house. 
The seringueiro was kindness itself to me, most thought¬ 
ful and hospitable. He prepared some food for us at 
once. That was a day of joy and sadness combined. I 
found that all my men were safe, but that they had aban¬ 
doned all my baggage and all my collections in the forest. 
They believed that I had been assassinated by Indians 
or that I had died of starvation. 
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