Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/94

a Goiamum^[1] which was running on the banks of the lake, and stopped only where the feathers would not allow it to enter farther.

The warrior thrust the arrow into the ground with the prey transfixed and turned towards Coatyábo.

"My brother may now set out contentedly. Iraçéma will follow his trail; arriving here, she will see his arrow and obey his will."

Martim smiled; and breaking a branch of the Maracujá—the flower of remembrance—he twined it round the arrow and advanced, followed by Poty.

Soon the two warriors disappeared amongst the trees; the heat of the sun had already dried their footsteps on the banks of the lake. Iraçéma became uneasy, and followed her husband՚s trail as far as the tableland. Gentle shades already mottled the prairies when she reached the brink of the lake. Her eyes detected the arrow of her husband thrust into the ground, and the pierced Goiamum with the broken branch, and they filled with tears.

"He commands Iraçéma to go backwards like the Goiamum, and to keep his remembrance like the Maracujá, which retains its flower until death."

The daughter of the Tabajáras slowly retraced her steps backwards without turning her body, and never taking her eyes off the arrow of her warrior till she reached the cabin. Here she sat down on the threshold, and bent her forehead on her knees, till sleep soothed the pain in her breast. Hardly had the day broken, when she directed her hasty steps to the lake, and arrived at its bank. The arrow was still there, as it had been the evening before. Then he had not returned.

From this time till the bath hour, instead of seeking the lake of beauty, where hitherto she had bathed

with such pleasure, she came to that which had seen