Talbot Ward thawed completely, and a most winning smile illumined his face.
"Why, that's what I call handsome, Johnny!" he cried. "It's pretty hard to admit the wrong. You and Yank certainly looked bold and warlike when he came along. Where's that confounded _mozo_? Oh, you have him, Frank. Good boy! Come here, my amiable citizen. I guess you understand English after all, or you couldn't have bargained so shrewdly with our blackleg friends."
The flush slowly faded from Johnny's face. Yank's sole contribution to the changed conditions was to spit with great care, and to shift the butt of his rifle to the ground.
"Now," Talbot was admonishing the boatman, "that was very bad. When you make a bargain, stick to it. But I'll tell you what I will do. I will ask all people, _sabe_, everywhere, your people, my people, and if everybody pay twenty dollars, then we pay twenty dollars. _Sabe?_ But we no pay twenty dollars unless you get us to Cruces _poco pronto, sabe_? Now we start."
The boatman broke into a torrent of talk.
"Says he's got to find his assistant," Talbot explained to us. "Come on, my son, I'll just go with you after that precious assistant."
We sat on the edge of our boat for half an hour, watching the most comical scenes. Everybody was afflicted with the same complaint--absence of boatmen. Some took possession, and settled themselves patiently beneath their little roofs. Others made forays and returned dragging protesting natives by the arm. These generally turned out to be the wrong natives; but that was a mere detail. Once in a lucky while the full boat's complement would be gathered; and then the craft would pull away up the river to the tune of pistol shots and vociferous yells.
At the end of the period mentioned Talbot and the two men appeared. They were quite amicable; indeed, friendly, and laughed together as they came. The "assistant" proved to be a tremendous negro, nearly naked, with fine big muscles, and a good-natured, grinning face. He wore large brass ear circlets and bracelets of copper. We all pushed the canoe to the very edge of the water and clambered aboard. The negro bent his mighty shoulders. We were afloat.
Our _padrone_, as Talbot told us we should call him, stood in front clad in a coloured muslin shirt. The broad sluggish river was alive with boats, all making their way against the current. By the time the lagoon had narrowed, however, they had pretty well scattered.