about eight o’clock in the evening
A hundred paces away from the prison , however , the waste land was crossed by one of those canals which flow through the town into the Rio Negro . This canal afforded an easy way of gaining the river if a pirogue were in waiting for the fugitive . From the foot of the wall to the canal side was hardly a hundred yards . Benito and Manoel decided that about eight o'clock in the evening one of the pirogues , with two strong rowers , under the command of the pilot Araujo , should start from the jangada . They could ascend the Rio Negro , enter the canal , and , crossing the waste land , remain concealed throughout the night under the tall vegetation on the banks . But once on board , where was Joam Dacosta to seek refuge ? To return to Iquitos was to follow a road full of difficulties and peril , and a long one in any case , should the fugitive either travel across the country or by the river .