er has told
you."

"I have nothing to hide from you."

"Why did Torres come on board the jangada?"

"To see to Joam Dacosta the secret of his past life."

"And so, when we first met Torres in the forest of Iquitos, his plan had
already been formed to enter into communication with my father?"

"There cannot be a doubt of it," replied Manoel. "The scoundrel was on
his way to the fazenda with the idea of consummating a vile scheme of
extortion which he had been preparing for a long time."

"And when he learned from us that my father and his whole family were
about to pass the frontier, he suddenly changed his line of conduct?"

"Yes. Because Joam Dacosta once in Brazilian territory became more at
his mercy than while within the frontiers of Peru. That is why we
found Torres at Tabatinga, where he was waiting in expectation of our
arrival."

"And it was I who offered him a passage on the raft!" exclaimed Benito,
with a gesture of despair.

"Brother," said Manoel, "you need not reproach yourself. Torres would
have joined us sooner or later. He was not the man to abandon such
a trail. Had we lost him at Tabatinga, we should have found him at
Manaos."

"Yes, Manoel, you are right. But we are not concerned with the past now.
We must think of the present. An end to useless recriminations! Let us
see!" And while speaking, Benito, passing his hand across his forehead,
endeavored to grasp the details of the strange affair.

"How," he asked, "did Torres ascertain that my father had been sentenced
twenty-three years back for this abominable crime at Tijuco?"

"I do not know," answered Manoel, "and everything leads me to think that
your father did not know that."

"But Torres knew that Garral was the name under which Joam Dacosta was
living?"

"Evidently."

"And he knew that it was in Peru, at Iquitos, that for so many years my
father had taken refuge?"

"He knew it," said Manoel, "but how he came to know it I do not
understand."

"One more question," continued Benito. "What was the proposition that
Torres made to my father during the short interview which preceded his
expulsion?"

"He threatened to denounce Joam Garral as being Joam Dacosta, if he
declined to purchase his silence."

"And at what price?"

"At the price of his daughter's hand!" answered Manoel unhesitatingly,
but pale with anger.

"The scoundrel dared to do that!" exclaimed Benito.

"To this infamous request, Benito, you saw the reply tha