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"The real motive," replied Joam Dacosta, in a firm voice, "was the resolution I had taken to give myself up to the justice of my country." "You give yourself up!" exclaimed the judge, rising from his stool. "You give yourself up of your own free will?" "Of my own free will." "And why?"
"Where do you come from, then?" asked Fragoso, who always had the idea that he had already met Torres somewhere. "From the province of Minas Geraes." "And you were born " "In the capital of the diamond district, Tijuco." Those who had seen Joam Garral at this moment would have been surprised at the fixity of his look which met that of Torres. "Yes," said Torres. "Do you hail from that province?"
"What is it about, Yaquita?" asked Joam. "Manoel loves your daughter, he is loved by her, and in this union they will find the happiness " At the first words of Yaquita Joam Garral had risen, without being able to control a sudden start. His eyes were immediately cast down, and he seemed to designedly avoid the look of his wife. "What is the matter with you?" asked she. "Minha?
And then, during an expedition of his party for several months beyond the Peruvian frontier, chance caused Ortega to visit the neighborhood of Iquitos, and there in Joam Garral, who did not recognize him, he recognized Joam Dacosta. Henceforth he resolved to make all the reparation he could for the injustice of which his old comrade had been the victim.
Unfortunately for the fazender, such formalities were no longer necessary; Joam Dacosta had been arrested, convicted, and sentenced twenty-three years ago for the crime at Tijuco; no limitation had yet affected his sentence. No demand in commutation of the penalty could be introduced, and no appeal for mercy could be received.
"No," replied Torres; "they shut him up in the prison at Villa Rica, and during the night, a few hours only before his execution, whether alone or helped by others, he managed to escape." "Has this young man been heard of since?" asked Joam Garral. "Never," replied Torres.
"Well, yes!" had the judge said, "my conscience tells me not to abandon this just man. The step he is taking is a fresh proof of his innocence, a moral proof, even if he brings me others, which may be the most convincing of all! No! I will not abandon him!" From this day forward a secret correspondence took place between the magistrate and Joam Dacosta.
The chief of the police, who held a paper in his hand, advanced toward the prisoner. "Before all of you," said Joam Dacosta, "let me tell you, sir, that it only rested with me to get away, and that I would not do so."
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. A COMPLETE change took place in public opinion on the subject of Joam Dacosta. To anger succeeded pity.
It should here be said that public opinion at Manaos, unreasoning as it always is, was all against he prisoner. The unexpected arrest of Joam Dacosta had revived the memory of the terrible crime of Tijuco, which had lain forgotten for twenty-three years.
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