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Even the timber which forms the jangada, and the cargo it carries, constitute a fortune!" "The Joam Garral and his whole family have just passed the Brazilian frontier?" "Yes," said Fragoso; "his wife, his son, his daughter, and Miss Minha's betrothed." "Ah! he has a daughter?" said Torres. "A charming girl!" "Going to get married?"
"No," replied Fragoso; "but, I repeat, Torres has not lied. One of his companions, with whom he was very intimate, died a few months ago, and there can be no doubt but that this man gave him the document he came to sell to Joam Dacosta." "No," answered Jarriquez "no, there is no doubt about it as far as we are concerned; but that is not enough for those who dispose of the doomed man's life.
Under such conditions it was that Joam Garral was introduced to the farm at Iquitos. Brazilian by birth, Joam Garral was without family or fortune. Trouble, he said, had obliged him to quit his country and abandon all thoughts of return. He asked his host to excuse his entering on his past misfortunes misfortunes as serious as they were unmerited.
There could be no doubt as to the vindication of Joam Dacosta. The true author of the crime of Tijuco confessed of his own free will, and described the circumstances under which it had been perpetrated! By means of the number Judge Jarriquez interpreted the whole of the cryptogram. And this was what Ortega confessed.
This was the farm of Joam Garral, toward which our two young friends returned after their meeting with the captain of the woods. There, on a bend of the stream, at the junction of the River Nanay, which is here about five hundred feet across, there had been established for many years this farm, homestead, or, to use the expression of the country, "fazenda," then in the height of its prosperity.
Ah! why had not Joam Dacosta told him all before he left the jangada? Why had he refrained from speaking, except before a judge, of this material proof of his innocence? Why, in his interview with Manoel after the expulsion of Torres, had he been silent about the document which the adventurer pretended to hold in his hands? But, after all, what faith ought he to place in what Torres had said?
The latter, leaning slightly forward and maintaining a becoming attitude, neither careless nor humble, waited with dignity for the questions to which he was expected to reply. "Your name?" said Judge Jarriquez. "Joam Dacosta." "Your age?" "Fifty-two." "Where do you live?" "In Peru, at the village of Iquitos." "Under what name?" "Under that of Garral, which is that of my mother."
His business affairs could not afford a sufficient reason. A few weeks of absence would not compromise matters to such a degree. His manager would be able to take his place without any hitch in the fazenda. And yet all this time he hesitated. Yaquita had taken both her husband's hands in hers, and pressed them tenderly. "Joam," she said, "it is not a mere whim that I am asking you to grant. No!
Joam Dacosta, who did not disregard the magistrate's far from encouraging attitude, could not but see this, and he told the history of his whole life. He spoke quietly without departing from the calm he had imposed upon himself, without omitting any circumstances which had preceded or succeeded his condemnation.
Have you any reason to think that Torres bears some grudge against Joam Garral?" "No! I think nothing!" replied Benito; "it is only a presentiment! But look well at Torres, study his face with care, and you will see what an evil grin he has whenever my father comes into his sight." "Well, then," exclaimed Manoel, "if it is so, Benito, the more reason for clearing him out!"
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