Chapter 28 Chapter 8 Initial Search

Without further ado, the search must be carried out immediately for two main reasons: First of all, it's a matter of life and death. This proof Joam.Proof of D'Acosta's innocence must be produced before receiving orders from Rio de Janeiro.Because, since the criminal was convicted, this order can only be an execution order. Second, Torres' body was submerged in water for as little time as possible to find the well-preserved box and its contents. In this situation, Aroruo not only showed enthusiasm and wisdom, but also showed that he knew the water situation at the confluence of the two rivers well.

If Torres, he said to the two young men, had been swept away by the river in the first place, there should have been a massive salvage, because it would take days for his body to swell and rise to the surface. We can't wait, Manoel replied, better get it done today! On the contrary, the helmsman went on to say, if the body was left in the grass and reeds deep in the bank, we should find it in less than an hour. Let's do it!replied Benito. There was no other way to salvage. The small boat approached the shore, and the Indians held a long pole with a hook and began to search carefully in the river below the embankment that had been used as a duel site.

Plus, the place is easy to spot.A bloodstain stained the slope's chalky formations and flowed vertically down to the river's surface.The blood stains in the reeds over there indicate that the body disappeared there. Fifty feet downstream there was a rise in the bank which, as in a great basin, collected the stagnant water into an eddy.Down the edge of the river beach, there is no stream of water passing by, and the reeds live there normally, straight and firm, so we can still count on Torres' body not being washed away by the river.Also, if the riverbed had a significant inclination, the body would have slid at best a few meters along the incline, and there was no sign of any flow of water there.

Small boats and canoes are divided into salvaging, and the search is limited to the area around the whirlpool.From the edge to the center, the long poles of the salvage team did not miss any clues. But no matter how hard they searched, the corpse of the adventurer could not be seen in the reeds or deep in the river bed, and the slope of the river bed was also searched carefully. After two hours of salvage, it became clear that the body might hit the slope, fall down, and roll out of the eddy, beyond which the water began to flow. But there is no reason to despair, said Manoel, and no reason to stop!

Does that mean searching up and down the river, inside and out?Benito said loudly. From Kuanli, maybe, Aloruo replied, but as for Changli, it doesn't matter!Fortunately, there is no need for it! Why?asked Manoel. For the Amazon makes a deep bend a mile downstream from its confluence with the Negro, and at the same time its bed rises abruptly.So there seemed to be a natural lock there, and the sailors knew it, and called it the Folia lock, through which only objects floating on the water could pass.It is impossible for objects entrained by the two rivers to cross this sunken slope! If Arrow was not mistaken, everyone agreed that it was a favorable terrain.But in short, it is to believe the words of the old Amazon boatman.For thirty years, he has been a navigator. The river of the Folia Lock is narrow and the current is turbulent. Every time he passes here, he often has to spend a lot of effort.The waterway is narrow and the river bed is high, making navigation very difficult. More than one raft has died here.

So Arro was right, if Torres' body had still sunk in the sand on the riverbed due to its exceptional weight, it would not have been washed over to the sluice.Indeed, later on, as the gas expands, the body will rise to the surface, and there is no doubt that it will flow down the current, rush through the channel, and disappear forever downstream.However, this purely physical phenomenon does not take place until several days later. This matter can only be listened to by Aloruo, no one is more capable than him.Get more familiar with the surrounding waters.Therefore, since he was sure that Torres' body could not be rolled out of the narrow channel at most a mile away, a search in this channel must be able to find the body.

In addition, there are no islands of any size to interrupt the flow of the Amazon River here.This necessitated the most careful search of the river bed, five hundred feet wide, from the bottom of the banks down to the locks. That's exactly what everyone does.The boat drove left and right along the banks of the Amazon River, and the long pole explored the reeds and grass.Aroruo and his Indian companions did not miss any of the slight protrusions on the river bank that might have stuck to the corpse. But the whole work was fruitless, half a day had passed, and the body that was hard to find was still not brought to the surface of the water.

Let the Indian rest for an hour.They ate something and then started all over again. This time, the four boats were led by the navigator, Benito, Fragoso, and Manoel, and divided the river section from the Negro Estuary to the Foria Lock into four areas to search separately.Now the task is to search the river bed.In some places, however, the use of long poles did not seem to search the bottom of the river bed very well, so several trawl nets, or rather rakes of stone and iron, were hung in a strong net from the boat. On the side, when the boat is going perpendicular to the bank, just sink these rakes into the water, and they'll scrape the bottom here and there.

Benito and his companions were busy with this drudgery until the evening.Small boats and canoes paddled the whole length of the river to the Folia Locks downstream. During salvage there is always a moment of excitement when the rake hangs to the bottom of the river and the object does not move.But when the general pulls up, except for a few big stones or clumps of rotten grass hooked from the sand layer, there is no corpse that everyone is looking for. However, no one wants to give up the search that has been started.Everyone is busy with selflessness for this rescue work.Benito, Manoel, and Aroro didn't need to urge and encourage the Indians at all.These honest people know that they are working for the owner of the Iquitos manor, for the people they love, and for the parents of this big family where masters and servants are equal!

Yes!If need be, they will search the bottom of the river all night, regardless of fatigue.Everyone knows the cost of losing every minute. However, just before sunset Arrojo felt that it would be futile to continue his search in the dark, so he gave a mustering signal to the small boats, and the boats returned to the confluence of the Rio Negro to rejoin the raft. Such careful and ingenious arrangements were made, but the salvage still found nothing! On the way home, Manoel and Fragoso dared not mention the defeat to Benito.Aren't they just worried that Benito will be ruined by disappointment!

But the young man was no longer discouraged or hotheaded.He was determined to fight to the end to save his father's reputation and life, but he first said to his companions: Come again tomorrow!We're going to start from scratch, and if possible, on better terms! Yes, replied Manoel, you are right, Benito.We can do better!It cannot be concluded that we have searched the waters under the river bed and the whole river bed! cannot!We can't say yet, said Aloro, and I stand by what I said, Torres' body is there, the body is there, partly because it can't be washed away, and partly because it can't pass through Feria The sluice, the third is because it takes a few days before it can float to the surface of the water and rush downstream!Yes!He must be there, and if I can't find him, keep my lips from taffia forever! Such affirmative words are resounding from the helmsman's mouth, which naturally gives people hope. However, Benito didn't want to talk empty words anymore, he would rather face the reality, and felt that he should say a few words: Yes, Aloro, Torres' body is still in this riverbed, we'll find it, but Just what?asked the helmsman. It's just that the corpses didn't feed the caimans! Manoel and Fragoso were excited, waiting for Aroro's answer. The helmsman was silent for a while, and it could be felt that he wanted to give an answer after careful consideration. Don Benito, he finally replied, I am not in the habit of talking nonsense.I've had the same thought as you, but hear me out.We just fished for ten hours, have you ever seen a caiman in the river? Not a single one was seen.Fragoso replied. If you don't see it, the helmsman went on, it's because you don't.No, because the animals would do no good to venture in this clear water, and a quarter of a mile from here there was a wide patch of muddy water, which they preferred!The raft was attacked by several crocodiles, where there were no tributaries, and they had nowhere to live.Here, it's a completely different matter.Go to the Rio Negro, where you can meet dozens of caimans!If Torres' body fell into this tributary, there might be no hope of finding it!But the body is lost in the Amazon, and the Amazon will give it back to us! Relieved, Benito took the helmsman's hand, held it tightly, and only said: See you tomorrow!friends. Ten minutes later, everyone got on the big raft. On this day, Yaquita spent several hours with her husband.But before she set off, she never saw the helmsman, Manoel, Benito, or the boats again, so she understood how difficult it was for everyone to find the dead body.However, she is to Joam.D'Acosta said nothing, hoping that he would bring him success the next day. But as soon as Benito stepped onto the raft, she understood that the salvage was fruitless.But she still walked towards Benito: found nothing?she asked. nothing.Benito replied, but tomorrow belongs to us! The whole family returned to their own rooms, and the day's affairs were no longer mentioned. Manoel wanted to force Benito to bed so he could rest for at least an hour or two. Why bother?Benito replied, can I sleep?