"This is Esmeralda [Emerald]," she said, introducing her youngest sister. "We call her that because of her green eyes. This is Conchita; and the other is Rosita, because she looks like a rose. She is much lighter than the rest of us, and she blushes at the least thing. Now you know the whole family. My father's name is José. The five of us are the same as one, because our hearts beat all together. And what's your name?"

"Enrique." * [* Enrique is the Spanish form of Henri.]

"Were you in prison long?"

"Fourteen years."

"Poor thing. How you must have suffered."

"Yes, a great deal."

"Papa, what do you think Enrique can do here?"

"I don't know. Do you have a trade?"

"No."

"Well then, go to the gold mine. They'll give you a job."

"And what about you, José? What do you do?"

"Me? Nothing. I don't work-they pay you very little."

Well, well, well. They were poor, sure enough; yet they were quite well dressed. Stiff, I couldn't very well ask him what he used for money-whether he stole instead of working. Wait and see, I said to myself.

"Enrique, you'll sleep here tonight," Maria said. "There's a room where my father's brother used to sleep. He's gone, so you can have his place. We'll look after the sick man while you go to work. Don't thank us; we're giving you nothing-the room's empty in any case."

I didn't know what to say. I let them take my little bundle. Maria got up and the other girls followed her. She had been lying: I could tell the room was in use, because they brought out women's things and put them somewhere else, but I pretended not to notice anything. In the room there was no bed, but something better, something you often see in the tropics-two fine wool hammocks. A big window with just shutters-no glass- opened onto a garden full of banana palms.

As I swung there in the hammock I could hardly believe what had happened to me. How easy this first day of freedom had been! Too easy. I had a free room and four sweet girls to look after Picolino. Why was I letting myself be led by the hand like a child? I was at the world's end, to be sure; but I think the real reason I let myself be managed was that obeying was the only thing I understood after being a prisoner for so long. I was just like a bird that, when you open the door of its cage, doesn't know how to fly anymore. It has to learn all over again.

I went to sleep without thinking about the past, exactly as the humble man of El Dorado had advised me.

I had just breakfasted off two fried eggs, two fried bananas covered with margarine, and black bread. Maria was in the bedroom, washing Picolino. A man appeared in the doorway; he was wearing a machete in his belt.

"_Gente de paz_," he said. Men of peace, which is their way of saying, I'm a friend.

"What do you want?" asked José, who had had breakfast with me.

"The chief of police wants to see the men from Devil's Island."

"You don't want to call them that. Call them by their names."

"Okay, José. What are their names?"

"Enrique and Picolino."

"Señor Enrique, come with me. I am a policeman, sent by the chief."

"What do they want with him?" Maria asked, coming out of the bedroom. "I'll come, too. Wait while I dress."

In a few minutes she was ready. As soon as we were in the street she took my arm. I looked at her, surprised, and she smiled at me. When we reached the little administrative building, there were more police, all in plain clothes except for two in uniform with machetes hanging from their belts. A black man with a gold-braided cap presided over a roomful of rifles. He said to me, "You're the Frenchman?"

"Yes."

"Where's the other?"

"He's sick," Maria said.

"I command the police. I'm here to help you if you need it. My name's Alfonso." And he held out his hand.

"Thanks. Mine's Enrique."

"Enrique, the chief administrator wants to see you. You can't go in, Maria," he added, seeing she was about to follow me. I went into the next room.

"Good morning, Frenchman. I am the chief administrator. Sit down. Since you're in compulsory residence here in El Callao, I sent for you so that I could get to know you. I'm responsible for you." He asked me what I was going to do-where I wanted to work. After we had talked a while he said, "If there's anything at all, come and see me. I'll help you work out as good a life as we can manage."

"Thank you very much."

"Oh, there's one thing. I must warn you that you're living with very good, honest girls; but their father, José-he's a pirate."

Maria was outside, at the station door, settled into that attitude Indians adopt when they are waiting, neither moving nor talking to anyone at all. She was not an Indian, but because of that little drop of Indian blood she had, the race came out. We took another way back to the house and walked through the whole village, her arm in mine.

"What did the chief want with you?" Maria asked, calling me by the familiar pronoun for the first time.

"Nothing. He told me I could count on him to help me find a job or in case I was in a hole."

"Enrique, you don't need anyone now. Nor does your friend."

"Thanks, Maria."

We passed a peddler's stall, full of women's trinkets-necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, etc.

I took her over and picked out the best necklace with matching earrings, and three other, smaller sets for her sisters. I gave thirty boilvars for these tinselly little things, paying with a hundred note. Maria put the necklace and the earrings on right away. Her big black eyes sparkled and she thanked me as though the jewels were really valuable.

When we got back to the house, the three girls shrieked with delight over their presents. I went to my room, leaving them. I had to be alone to think. This family had offered me their hospitality with a splendid generosity; but should I accept it? I had some money, after all, not to mention the diamonds. Reckoning it all together, I could live four months and more without worrying, and I could have Picolino looked after.

All these girls were lovely, and like tropical flowers they were surely all warm, sexy, ready to give themselves only too easily, almost without thinking. I had seen Maria looking at me today almost as if she were in love. Could I resist so much temptation? It would be better for me to leave this too welcoming house before my weakness brought trouble and suffering. I was thirtynine, although I looked younger, and Maria was not quite eighteen, her sisters younger still. I ought to go, I thought. The best thing would be to leave Picolino in their care, paying for his board, of course.

"Señor José, I'd like to talk to you alone. Shall we go and have a rum at the café in the square?"

"All right. But don't call me señor. You call me José and I'll call you Enrique. Let's go. Maria, we're going out to the square for a minute."

"Enrique, change your shirt," Maria said. "The one you've got on is dirty."

I went and changed in the bedroom. Before we left, Maria said, "Don't stay long, Enrique; and above all, don't drink too much!" And before I had time to step back she kissed me on the cheek.

Her father burst out laughing. "That Maria," he said, "she's in love with you already."

As we walked toward the bar I began, "José, you're a man, so you will understand that if I lived among your daughters it would be hard for me not to fall in love with one of them. But I'm twice as old as the eldest, and I'm legally married in France. So let's go and have a drink or two together, and then you take me to some cheap little boardinghouse. I can pay."

"Frenchman, you're a real man," José said, looking me straight in the eye. "Let me shake your hand like a brother for what you've just said to a poor guy like me. In this country, you see, almost nobody's married legally. You like one another, you make love, and if there's a child, you set up house together. You join up as easily as you leave one another. It's very hot here, and on account of the heat the women are very full-blooded. They mature early. Maria's an exception; she's never had an affair although she's nearly eighteen. I think your country's morality is better than ours, because here many women have children without a father, and that's a very serious problem. But what can you do about it? The good Lord says you must love one another and have children. So although I see you are surrounded by temptation all the time, I ask you again to stay with us. I'm glad to have a man like you in the house."