spite of all the shrewdness of his analytical
talents, he had not been able to read the document, which was absolutely
undecipherable to any one who had not got the key, had he not at any
rate discovered the system on which the cryptogram was composed?
Without him what could have been done with only the name of Ortega to
reconstitute the number which the author of the crime and Torres, both
of whom were dead, alone knew?

And so he also received abundant thanks.

Needless to say that the same day there was sent to Rio de Janeiro a
detailed report of the whole affair, and with it the original document
and the cipher to enable it to be read. New instructions from the
minister of justice had to be waited for, though there could be no doubt
that they would order the immediate discharge of the prisoner. A few
days would thus have to be passed at Manaos, and then Joam Dacosta
and his people, free from all constraint, and released from all
apprehension, would take leave of their host to go on board once more
and continue their descent of the Amazon to Para, where the voyage was
intended to terminate with the double marriage of Minha and Manoel and
Lina and Fragoso.

Four days afterward, on the fourth of September, the order of discharge
arrived. The document had been recognized as authentic. The handwriting
was really that of Ortega, who had been formerly employed in the diamond
district, and there could be no doubt that the confession of his crime,
with the minutest details that were given, had been entirely written
with his own hand.

The innocence of the convict of Villa Rica was at length admitted. The
rehabilitation of Joam Dacosta was at last officially proclaimed.

That very day Judge Jarriquez dined with the family on board the giant
raft, and when evening came he shook hands with them all. Touching were
the adieus, but an engagement was made for them to see him again on
their return at Manaos, and later on the fazenda of Iquitos.

On the morning of the morrow, the fifth of September, the signal for
departure was given. Joam Dacosta and Yaquita, with their daughter
and sons, were on the deck of the enormous raft. The jangada had its
moorings slackened off and began to move with the current, and when it
disappeared round the bend of the Rio Negro, the hurrahs of the whole
population of Manaos, who were assembled on the bank, again and again
re-echoed across the stream.

CHAPTER XX. THE LOWER AMAZON

LITT