"I want to see Joachim and Vicente," said Affonzo.
"I want to see mamma," said Martim. Big boy that he was, he was not ashamed of being devoted to his mother.
Maria's eyes filled with tears, and she slipped one hand into her father's and he held it tight.
The Senhora hummed lightly under her breath the sweet Brazilian "Home Sweet Home,"[20] then the young folk took up the strain and sang together:
"Mine is the country where the palm-trees rear
Their stately heads toward the azure sky,
And where, in accents ever soft and clear,
The sabiá sings her hymn of melody;
Here, in my exile, say what warblers rare
Can with the sabiá's notes their own compare?
"Friendless, alone, at night, I dream of thee;
My slumbering senses wrapped in peace and bliss
I see the palms; the sabiá's melody
Falls on my ears; once more I feel the kiss
Of lips I love; I wake, the vision's gone,
The sabiá to his native woods has flown.
"Spare me, O God, until in peace I lie
Asleep for ever in the land I love,
Then may the sabiá carol joyfully,
Perched in the palms, my resting-place above.
So gathering in the first-fruits of my love,
No longer homesick, every heart-ache past,
Bearing the sheaves for which in grief I strove,
A plenteous harvest may I reap at last."
As they finished, Maria heard from the slight figure beside her a sigh that was almost a sob and she turned quickly to find Guacha's eyes filled with tears, fixed upon her.
"What is it?" she whispered. "Are you ill?"
"Oh no," said Guacha. "But you all love each other so dearly and I have no one to love, only Chiquita," as the cockatoo rubbed his fluffy head against her cheek.
"You have me," said Maria.
"But you are going away from me," she answered mournfully.