Journey to the River Sea: Part 6

By EVA IBBOTSON

Mr Murray patted a large folder on his knee.

"As you know we have been searching for a long time for anyone related to your late father. We knew that there was a second cousin, a Mr Clifford Carter, but all efforts to trace him failed until two months ago, when we heard that he had emigrated six years earlier. He had left England with his family."

"So where is he now?" Maia asked.

There was a moment of silence. It was as though the good news had now run out, and Mr Murray looked solemn and cleared his throat.

"He is living -- the Carters are living -- on the Amazon."

"In South America. In Brazil," put in Miss Banks.

Maia lifted her head. "On the Amazon?" she said. "In the jungle, do you mean?"

"Not exactly. Mr Carter is a rubber planter. He has a house on the river not far from the city of Manaus. It is a perfectly civilized place. I have, of course, arranged for the consul out there to visit it. He knows the family and they are very respectable."

Publisher: Macmillan

Price: $14.95

Age group: 11+