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another day. The next day we travelled upriver until evening and set up camp on a pleasant beach. We were back on the river by six thirty the next morning.

'Tico really is a pro at river navigation. He manoeuvred through the dangerous passes, and when we came to shallows, one of the crew stood up in the prow and hit at the river bottom with a stick, indicating to Tico how deep it was.

'We arrived at San José at ten thirty, and Father Diego set off up the path to the village. Now we could start searching. Tico told me that he had to be back in Rurrenabaque two days later, so he intended to go upriver until we came to a beach called Progreso and then turn around and head back to Rurrenabaque.

'"If your friend is still alive," he said, "then he is most probably near the river, and it is reasonable to assume that we will spot him."

'We travelled upriver - Tico, two crewmen, and I - into a stretch of the Tuichi that Tico was less familiar with, and he was very cautious. We went on without stopping, looking right and left. We saw no trace of a campsite or fire. The storm had left its mark everywhere. Once in a while we encountered a flock of large birds swarming around a carcass on the shore. Tico and I exchanged glances. I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to check. I had never in my life been so depressed.

'Hours passed, and I was beginning to resign