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 veritable 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 vingt-deux janvier mil_ 251343 2513 43 2513 43
251343251 3432513 432 _etnpmv ffov pd pajx hy ynojyggay meqynfu q1n

huit-cent vingt-six, 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 condamne a mort, c'est moi, les miserable_ 34325134325
13432513 4 3251 3432 513 43 251343251 _l4msyuhqpz drrgcroh e pqxu fivv
rpl ph onthvddqf

employe 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 513 432513 _syk rpl xhxq rym vkloh hh oto zvdk spp
suvjhd._

"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
twenty-second of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six,
was thus not Joam Dacosta, unjustly condemned to death; it was I, the
wretched servant of the Administration of the diamond district; ye