ulprit! That I am quite innocent I swear before
Heaven, once for all, on your heads, my children, and on the head of
your mother!"

"All communication between you and yours is now forbidden," said the
chief of the police. "You are my prisoner, Joam Garral, and I will
rigorously execute my warrant."

Joam restrained by a gesture his dismayed children and servants.

"Let the justice of man be done while we wait for the justice of God!"

And with his head unbent, he stepped into the pirogue.

It seemed, indeed, as though of all present Joam Garral was the only one
whom this fearful thunderbolt, which had fallen so unexpectedly on his
head, had failed to overwhelm.

PART II. THE CRYPTOGRAM

CHAPTER I. MANAOS

THE TOWN of Manaos is in 3 deg. 8' 4" south latitude, and 67 deg. 27' west
longitude, reckoning from the Paris meridian. It is some four hundred
and twenty leagues from Belem, and about ten miles from the _embouchure_
of the Rio Negro.

Manaos is not built on the Amazon. It is on the left bank of the Rio
Negro, the most important and remarkable of all the tributaries of
the great artery of Brazil, that the capital of the province, with its
picturesque group of private houses and public buildings, towers above
the surrounding plain.

The Rio Negro, which was discovered by the Spaniard Favella in 1645,
rises in the very heart of the province of Popayan, on the flanks of the
mountains which separate Brazil from New Grenada, and it communicates
with the Orinoco by two of its affluents, the Pimichin and the
Cassiquary.

After a noble course of some seventeen hundred miles it mingles its
cloudy waters with those of the Amazon through a mouth eleven hundred
feet wide, but such is its vigorous influx that many a mile has to
be completed before those waters lose their distinctive character.
Hereabouts the ends of both its banks trend off and form a huge bay
fifteen leagues across, extending to the islands of Anavilhanas; and in
one of its indentations the port of Manaos is situated. Vessels of all
kinds are there collected in great numbers, some moored in the
stream awaiting a favorable wind, others under repair up the numerous
_iguarapes,_ or canals, which so capriciously intersect the town, and
give it its slightly Dutch appearance.

With the introduction of steam vessels, which is now rapidly taking
place, the trade of Manaos is destined to increase enormously. Woods
used in building and furniture