that it had been imagined by Torres himself, who was as capable of
selling a false thing as a true one!
“It does not matter, Manoel,” continued the judge, rising; “it does
not matter! Whatever it may be to which the document refers, I have
not yet given up discovering the cipher. After all, it is worth more
than a logogryph or a rebus!”
At these words Manoel rose, shook hands with the magistrate, and
returned to the jangada, feeling more hopeless when he went back than
when he set out.
CHAPTER XIV
CHANCE!
A COMPLETE change took place in public opinion on the subject of Joam
Dacosta. To anger succeeded pity. The population no longer thronged
to the prison of Manaos to roar out cries of death to the prisoner.
On the contrary, the most forward of them in accusing him of being
the principal author of the crime of Tijuco now averred that he was
not guilty, and demanded his immediate restoration to liberty. Thus
it always is with the mob–from one extreme they run to the other.
But the change was intelligible.
The events which had happened during the last few days–the struggle
between Benito and Torres; the search for the corpse, which had
reappeared under such extraordinary circumstances; the finding of the
“indecipherable” document, if we can so call it; the information it
concealed, the assurance that it contained, or rather the wish that
it contained, the material proof of the guiltlessness of Joam
Dacosta; and the hope that it was written by the real culprit–all
these things had contributed to work the change in public opinion.
What the people had desired and impatiently demanded forty-eight
hours before, they now feared, and that was the arrival of the
instructions due from Rio de Janeiro.
These, however, were not likely to be delayed.
Joam Dacosta had been arrested on the 24th of August, and examined
next day. The judge’s report was sent off on the 26th. It was now the
28th. In three or four days more the minister would have come to a
decision regarding the convict, and it was only too certain that
justice would take its course.
There was no doubt that such would be the case. On the other hand,
that the assurance of Dacosta’s innocence would appear from the
document, was not doubted by anybody, neither by his family nor by
the fickle population of Manaos, who excitedly followed the phases of
this dramatic affair.
But, on the other hand, in the eyes of disinterested or indifferent
persons who were not affected by the event, what value could be
assigned to this document? and how could they even declare that it
referred to the crime in the diamond arrayal? It existed, that was
undeniable; it had been found on the corpse of Torres, nothing could
be more certain. It could even be seen, by comparing it with the
letter in which Torres gave the information about Joam Dacosta, that
the document was not in the handwriting of the adventurer. But, as
had been suggested by Judge Jarriquez, why should not the scoundrel
have invented it for the sake of his bargain? And this was less
unlikely to be the case, considering that Torres had declined to part
with it until after his marriage with Dacosta’s daughter–that is to
say, when it would have been impossible to undo an accomplished fact.
All these views were held by some people in some form, and we can
quite understand what interest the affair created. In any case, the
situation of Joam Dacosta was most hazardous. If trhe document were
not deciphered, it would be just the same as if it did not exist; and
if the secret of the cryptogram were not miraculously divined or
revealed before the end of the three days, the supreme sentence would
inevitably be suffered by the doomed man of Tijuco. And this miracle
a man attempted to perform! The man was Jarriquez, and he now really
set to work more in the interest of Joam Dacosta than for the
satisfaction of his analytical faculties. A complete change had also
taken place in his opinion. Was not this man, who had voluntarily