“I have to ask you for your papers?” he said politely. “I have none, señor,” Stephen replied. “I have just arrived from Peru, having come down by the river Madeira into the Amazon.” “But how did you pass the frontier without papers?” the official said in an altogether changed manner. “Simply because there is no frontier line on the Madeira, and so far as I know no Portuguese official or soldier within at least fifteen hundred miles. At any rate, I have never been asked for papers until now.” “But how is it that you started without papers?” the official said sternly. “It was a matter that I never even thought of, señor. I had been engaged in a quarrel, and the authorities wanted me to leave. My friends furnished me with money, and I left at an hour’s notice. I have gone through several perils by the way, was captured by Indians, who took all that I possessed, and would certainly have taken the papers had I had them about me. I was nearly killed and eaten, and was only saved by the courage and fidelity of two native guides who accompanied me.” “Well, señor, this is not a time when strangers can travel about Brazil without papers. You may be an emissary of the usurper Dom Pedro.” “If I had been,” Stephen said quietly, “I should have come up the coast, and should hardly have gone round by Peru and returned here after a journey that has occupied me some eighteen months. It was only after I arrived at Barra that I learned that King John had left the country, and that his son Dom Pedro had been appointed regent.” The officer looked doubtful. “Your story may be a true one,” he said. “I shall lay it before the authorities. Until you hear their decision you will remain here in the hotel.” “I am quite willing to do so,” Stephen said. “In the meantime, señor, you will hear from the captain of the _Bahia_, now lying at the wharf, that I have at least come five hundred miles down the Amazon to this place, and there is one, Señor Vaquez, who is now in this hotel, or is at any rate putting up here, who came down with me all the way from Barra.” The official at once sent upstairs for the trader, who was fortunately in his room, and who at once confirmed Stephen’s statement, that they had travelled together from Barra, and had left there some nine weeks before. “This must be taken, señor,” the officer said, “to relieve you from any suspicion of having come here from the insurgent provinces. At the same time there remains the fact that you have entered Brazil without passports or other necessary papers, a matter which will have to be considered by the authorities. At the same time, pending their decision there will be no occasion for you to confine yourself to the hotel, as the offence can hardly be considered a very serious one.” Two hours later Stephen was sent for to the governor’s. Here a few more questions were put to him as to the absence of papers, and he was then asked what were his intentions as to the future.