OWING day, the 30th of August, Benito and Manoel talked
matters over together. They had understood the thought to which the
judge had not dared to give utterance in their presence, and were
engaged in devising some means by which the condemned man could escape
the penalty of the law.

Nothing else was left for them to do. It was only too certain that for
the authorities at Rio Janeiro the undeciphered document would have no
value whatever, that it would be a dead letter, that the first verdict
which declared Joam Dacosta the perpetrator of the crime at Tijuco
would not be set aside, and that, as in such cases no commutation of the
sentence was possible, the order for his execution would inevitably be
received.

Once more, then, Joam Dacosta would have to escape by flight from an
unjust imprisonment.

It was at the outset agreed between the two young men that the secret
should be carefully kept, and that neither Yaquita nor Minha should be
informed of preparations, which would probably only give rise to
hopes destined never to be realized. Who could tell if, owing to
some unforeseen circumstance, the attempt at escape would not prove a
miserable failure?

The presence of Fragoso on such an occasion would have been most
valuable. Discreet and devoted, his services would have been most
welcome to the two young fellows; but Fragoso had not reappeared. Lina,
when asked, could only say that she knew not what had become of him, nor
why he had left the raft without telling her anything about it.

And assuredly, had Fragoso foreseen that things would have turned out
as they were doing, he would never have left the Dacosta family on an
expedition which appeared to promise no serious result. Far better
for him to have assisted in the escape of the doomed man than to have
hurried off in search of the former comrades of Torres!

But Fragoso was away, and his assistance had to be dispensed with.

At daybreak Benito and Manoel left the raft and proceeded to Manaos.
They soon reached the town, and passed through its narrow streets, which
at that early hour were quite deserted. In a few minutes they arrived in
front of the prison. The waste ground, amid which the old convent which
served for a house of detention was built, was traversed by them in all
directions, for they had come to study it with the utmost care.

Fifty-five feet from the ground, in an angle of the building, they
recognized the window of the cell in which Joam