by Mayne Reid
"Going down," said the tapuyo, "going down to Gran Para. I can tell bythe way she is laden. Look yonder. _Sarsaparilla, Vanilla, Cascarilla,Maulega de Tortugos, Sapucoy_, and _Tonka_ beans,--all will be foundunder that toldo of palm-leaves. Galliota ahoy! ahoy!"
The schooner was within short hailing distance.
"Lay to, and take passengers aboard! We want to go to Para. Our craftisn't suited for such a long voyage."
The galliota answered the hail, and in ten minutes after the crew of theigarite was transferred to her decks. The canoe was abandoned, whilethe schooner continued on to the city of Gran Para. She was not in theSolimoes itself, but one of its parallel branches, though, in two daysafter having taken the castaways aboard, she sailed out into the mainstream, and thence glided merrily downward.
Those aboard of her were not the less gay,--the crew on discovering thatamong the passengers that they had picked up were the son and brother oftheir patron; and the passengers, that the craft that was carrying themto Gran Para, as well as her cargo, was the property of Trevannion. Theyoung Paraense found himself on board one of his father's traders, whilethe ex-miner was completing his Amazonian voyage in a "bottom" belongingto his brother.
The tender attention which they received from the _capatoz_ of thegalliota restored their health and spirits, both sadly shattered in theGapo; and instead of the robber's garb and savage mien with which theyemerged from that sombre abode, fit only for the abiding-place ofbeasts, birds, and reptiles, they soon recovered the cheerful looks anddecent habiliments that befitted them for a return to civilisation.
A few words will tell the rest of this story.
The brothers, once more united,--each the owner of a son and daughter,--returned to their native land. Both widowers, they agreed to share thesame roof,--that under which they had been born. The legal usurpercould no longer keep them out of it. He was dead.
He had left behind him an only son, not a gentleman like himself, but aspendthrift. It ended in the ill-gotten patrimony coming once more intothe market and under the hammer, the two Trevannions arriving just intime to arrest its descent upon the desk, and turn the "going, going"into "gone" in their own favour.
Though the estate became afterwards divided into two equal portions,--asnearly equal as the valuer could allot them,--and under separate owners,still was there no change in the name of the property; still was it theTrevannion estate. The owner of each moiety was a Trevannion, and thewife of each owner was a Trevannion, without ever having changed hername. There is no puzzle in this. The young Paraense had a sister,--spoken of, but much neglected, in this eventful narrative, where noteven her name has been made known. Only has it been stated that she wasone of "several sweet children."
Be it now known that she grew up to be a beautiful woman, fair-haired,like her mother, and that her name was Florence. Much as her brotherRichard, also fair-haired, came to love her dark semi-Spanish cousinRosita, so did her other dark semi-Spanish cousin, Ralph, come to loveher; and as both she and Rosita reciprocated these cousinly loves, itended in a mutual bestowing of sisters, or a sort of cross-hands andchange-partners game of cousins,--whichever way you like to have it.
At all events, the Trevannion estates remained, and still remain, in thekeeping of Trevannions.
Were you to take a trip to the "Land's End," and visit them,--supposingyourself to be endorsed with an introduction from me,--you would find inthe house of young Ralph, firstly, his father, old Ralph, gracefullyenacting the _role_ of grandfather; secondly, the fair Florence,surrounded by several olive-shoots of the Trevannion stock; and,lastly,--nay, it is most likely you will meet him first, for he willtake your hat from you in the hall,--an individual with a crop ofcarroty hair, fast changing to the colour of turnips. You will know himas Tipperary Tom. "Truth will yez."
Cross half a dozen fields, climb over a stile, under the shadow ofgigantic trees,--oaks and elms; pass along a plank foot-bridge spanninga crystal stream full of carp and trout; go through a wicket-gate into asplendid park, and then follow a gravelled walk that leads up to thewalls of a mansion. You can only do this coming from the other house,for the path thus indicated is not a right of way.
Enter the dwelling to which it has guided you. Inside you willencounter, first, a well-dressed darkey, who bids you welcome with allthe airs of an M.C. This respectable Ethiopian, venerable in look--partly on account of his age, partly from the blanching of his blackhair--is an old acquaintance, by name Mozey.
He summons his master to your side. You cannot mistake that handsomegentleman, though he is years older than when you last saw him. Thesame open countenance, the same well-knit, vigorous frame, which, evenas a boy, were the characteristics of the young Paraense.
No more can you have forgotten that elegant lady who stands by his side,and who, following the fashion of her Spanish-American race, frankly andwithout affectation comes forth to greet you. No longer the littleRosa, the _protegee_ of Richard, but now his wife, with other littleRosas and Richards, promising soon to be as big as herself, and ashandsome as her husband.
The tableau is almost complete as a still older Richard appears in thebackground, regarding with a satisfied air his children andgrandchildren, while saluting their guest with a graceful gesture ofwelcome.
Almost complete, but not quite. A figure is absent from the canvas,hitherto prominent in the picture. Why is it not still seen in theforeground? Has death claimed the tapuyo for his own?
Not a bit of it. Still vigorous, still life-like as ever, he may beseen any day upon the Amazon, upon the deck of a galliota, no longer inthe humble capacity of a tapuyo, but acting as _capatoz_,--as patron.
His old patron had not been ungrateful; and the gift of a schooner wasthe reward bestowed upon the guide who had so gallantly conducted ouradventurers through the dangers of the Gapo, and shared their perilswhile they were "afloat in the forest."
THE END.
