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had to live!
Fragoso, maddened with grief, darted from the room! He wished to see, for the
last time, his benefactor who was on the road to death! He longed to throw
himself before the mournful procession and stop it, shouting, "Do not kill
this just man! do not kill him!"
But already Judge Jarriquez had placed the given number above the first
letters of the paragraph, repeating them as often as was necessary, as
follows:
4 3 2 5 1 3 4 3 2 5 1 3 4 3 2 5 1 3 4 3 2 5 1 3
P h y j s l y d d q f d z x g a s g z z q q e h
And then, reckoning the true letters according to their alphabetical order, he
read:
"Le véritable auteur du vol de"
A yell of delight escaped him! This number, 432513, was the number sought for
so long! The name of Ortega
Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
CHAPTER XVIII. FRAGOSO
166
had enabled him to discover it! At length he held the key of the document,
which would incontestably prove the innocence of Joam Dacosta, and without
reading any more he flew from his study into the street, shouting:
"Halt! Halt!"
To cleave the crowd, which opened as he ran, to dash to the prison, whence the
convict was coming at the last moment, with his wife and children clinging to
him with the violence of despair, was but the work of a minute for Judge
Jarriquez.
Stopping before Joam Dacosta, he could not speak for a second, and then these
words escaped his lips:
"Innocent! Innocent!"
CHAPTER XIX. THE CRIME OF TIJUCO
ON THE ARRIVAL of the judge the mournful procession halted. A roaring echo had
repeated after him and again repeated the cry which escaped from every mouth:
"Innocent! Innocent!"
Then complete silence fell on all. The people did not want to lose one
syllable of what was about to be proclaimed.
Judge Jarriquez sat down on a stone seat, and then, while Minha, Benito,
Manoel, and Fragoso stood round him, while Joam Dacosta clasped Yaquita to his
heart, he first unraveled the last paragraph of the document by means of the
number, and as the words appeared by the institution of the true letters for
the cryptological ones, he divided and punctuated them, and then read it out
in a loud voice. And this is what he read in the midst of profound silence:
Le véritable auteur du vol des diamants et de
43 251343251 343251 34 325 134 32513432 51 34
Ph yjslyddf dzxgas gz zqq ehx gkfndrxu ju gi l'assassinat des soldats qui
escortaient le convoi, 32513432513 432 5134325 134 32513432513 43 251343
ocytdxvksbx bhu ypohdvy rym huhpuydkjox ph etozsl commis dans la nuit du
vingtdeux janvier mil
251343 2513 43 2513 43 251343251 3432513 432
etnpmv ffov pd pajx hy ynojyggay meqynfu q1n huitcent vingtsix, n'est donc pas
Joam Dacosta, 5134 3251 3425 134 3251 3432 513 4325 1343251
mvly fgsu zmqiz tlb qgyu gsqe uvb nrcc edgruzb injustement condamné à mort,
c'est moi, les misérable 34325134325 13432513 4 3251 3432 513 43
251343251 l4msyuhqpz drrgcroh e pqxu fivv rpl ph onthvddqf employé de
l'administration du district diamantin, 3432513 43 251343251343251 34 32513432
513432513 hqsntzh hh nfepmqkyuuexkto gz gkyuumfv ijdqdpzjq out, moi seul, qui
signe de mon vrai nom, Ortega. 432 513 4325 134 32513 43 251 3432
Page 151
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
513 432513 syk rpl xhxq rym vkloh hh oto zvdk spp suvjhd.
Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
CHAPTER XIX. THE CRIME OF TIJUCO
167
"The real author of the robbery of the diamonds and of the murder of the
soldiers who escorted the convoy, committed during the night of the
twentysecond of January, one thousand eight hundred and twentysix, was thus
not Joam Dacosta, unjustly condemned to death; it was I, the wretched servant
of the Administration of the diamond district; yes, I alone, who sign this
with my true name, Ortega."
The reading of this had hardly finished when the air was rent with prolonged
hurrahs.
What could be more conclusive than this last paragraph, which summarized the
whole of the document, and proclaimed so absolutely the innocence of the
fazender of Iquitos, and which snatched from the gallows this victim of a
frightful judicial mistake!
Joam Dacosta, surrounded by his wife, his children, and his friends, was
unable to shake the hands which were held out to him. Such was the strength of
his character that a reaction occurred, tears of joy escaped from his eyes,
and at the same instant his heart was lifted up to that Providence which had
come to save him so miraculously at the moment he was about to offer the last
expiation to that God who would not permit the accomplishment of that greatest
of crimes, the death of an innocent man!
Yes! 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.
He had been the colleague of Joam Dacosta, employed, like him, at Tijuco, in
the offices of the governor of the diamond arrayal. He had been the official
appointed to accompany the convoy to Rio de Janeiro, and, far from recoiling
at the horrible idea of enriching himself by means of murder and robbery, he
had informed the smugglers of the very day the convoy was to leave Tijuco.
During the attack of the scoundrels, who awaited the convoy just beyond Villa
Rica, he pretended to defend himself with the soldiers of the escort, and
then, falling among the dead, he was carried away by his accomplices. Hence it
was that the solitary soldier who survived the massacre had reported that
Ortega had perished in the struggle.
But the robbery did not profit the guilty man in the long run, for, a little
time afterward, he was robbed by those whom he had helped to commit the crime.
Penniless, and unable to enter Tijuco again, Ortega fled away to the provinces
in the north of Brazil, to those districts of the Upper Amazon where the
capitaes da mato are to be found. He had to live somehow, and so he joined
this not very honorable company; they neither asked him who he was nor whence
he came, and so
Ortega became a captain of the woods, and for many years he followed the trade
of a chaser of men.
During this time Torres, the adventurer, himself in absolute want, became his
companion. Ortega and he became most intimate. But, as he had told Torres,
remorse began gradually to trouble the scoundrel's life. The remembrance of
his crime became horrible to him. He knew that another had been condemned in
his place! [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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