"A thousand thanks; we will stay if you can arrange for so many," was the reply, and as Vicente assured them that they would all be most welcome, they ate their supper with much enjoyment.
The two Senhors slept in Indian hammocks swung between giant rubber trees, while Affonzo curled up in a blanket and slept, as did Vicente and Joachim, on a fragrant couch of dried grass.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Rubber gatherer.
[3] This is the Indian legend of El Dorado, which is really El Hombre Dorado, or the gilded man, and it was this story which led so many of the early explorers to search for "El Dorado."
CHAPTER IV
ALONG THE AMAZON
"Come, son," said the Senhor early next morning. "We have a long day before us and you must eat plenty of breakfast. That is if you want to go with your uncle and me. If not, you may go back home with Joachim."
"Where are you going?" asked Affonzo as he smoothed down his linen suit, and combed his hair with a pocket comb from his dapper little uncle's case. He had washed his face in the stream which gurgled near the hut, and that was all the toilet he could make, which seemed odd to him, for he was something of a dandy.