| L | e | v | é | r | i | t | a | b | l | e | a | u | t | e | u | r | d | u | v | o | l | d | e | s | d | i | a | m | a | n | t | s | e | t | d | e | ||||||||
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||
| P | h | y | j | s | l | y | d | d | q | f | d | z | x | g | a | s | g | z | z | q | q | e | h | x | g | k | f | n | d | r | x | u | j | u | g | i |
| l | ’ | a | s | s | a | s | s | i | n | a | t | d | e | s | s | o | l | d | a | t | s | q | u | i | e | s | c | o | r | t | a | i | e | n | t | l | e | c | o | n | v | o | i | , | ||||||
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | ||||||||
| o | c | y | t | d | x | v | k | s | b | x | b | h | u | y | p | o | h | d | v | y | r | y | m | h | u | h | p | u | y | d | k | j | o | x | p | h | e | t | o | z | s | l |
| c | o | m | m | i | s | d | a | n | s | l | a | n | u | i | t | d | u | v | i | n | g | t | - | d | e | u | x | j | a | n | v | i | e | r | m | i | l | |||||||
| 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||
| e | t | n | p | m | v | f | f | o | v | p | d | p | a | j | x | h | y | y | n | o | j | y | g | g | a | y | m | e | q | y | n | f | u | q | 1 | n |
| h | u | i | t | - | c | e | n | t | v | i | n | g | t | - | s | i | x | , | n | ’ | e | s | t | d | o | n | c | p | a | s | J | o | a | m | D | a | c | o | s | t | a | , | ||||||
| 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | |||||||||||
| m | v | l | y | f | g | s | u | z | m | q | i | z | t | l | b | q | g | y | u | g | s | q | e | u | v | b | n | r | c | c | e | d | g | r | u | z | b |
| i | n | j | u | s | t | e | m | e | n | t | c | o | n | d | a | m | n | é | à | m | o | r | t | , | c | ’ | e | s | t | m | o | i | , | l | e | m | i | s | é | r | a | b | l | e | |||||||
| 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | ||||||||||
| l | r | m | x | y | u | h | q | h | p | z | d | r | r | g | c | r | o | h | e | p | q | x | u | f | i | v | v | r | p | l | p | h | o | n | t | h | v | d | d | q | f |
| e | m | p | l | o | y | é | d | e | l | ’ | a | d | m | i | n | i | s | t | r | a | t | i | o | n | d | u | d | i | s | t | r | i | c | t | d | i | a | m | a | n | t | i | n | , | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | |||||||
| h | q | s | n | t | z | h | h | h | n | f | e | p | m | q | k | y | u | u | e | x | k | t | o | g | z | g | k | y | u | u | m | f | v | i | j | d | q | d | p | z | j | q |
| o | u | t | , | m | o | i | s | e | u | l | , | q | u | i | s | i | g | n | e | d | e | m | o | n | v | r | a | i | n | o | m | , | O | r | t | e | g | a | . | |||||||||
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| s | y | k | r | p | l | x | h | x | q | r | y | m | v | k | l | o | h | h | h | o | t | o | z | v | d | k | s | p | p | s | u | v | j | h | d | . |
“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; yes, I alone, who sign this with my true name, Ortega.”
The reading of this had hardly finished when the air was rent with prolonged hurrahs.
What could be more conclusive than this last paragraph, which summarized the whole of the document, and proclaimed so absolutely the innocence of the fazender of Iquitos, and which snatched from the gallows this victim of a frightful judicial mistake!
Joam Dacosta, surrounded by his wife, his children, and his friends, was unable to shake the hands which were held out to him. Such was the strength of his character that a reaction occurred, tears of joy escaped from his eyes, and at the same instant his heart was lifted up to that Providence which had come to save him so miraculously at the moment he was about to offer the last expiation to that God who would not permit the accomplishment of that greatest of crimes, the death of an innocent man!
Yes! There could be no doubt as to the vindication of Joam Dacosta. The true author of the crime of Tijuco confessed of his own free will, and described the circumstances under which it had been perpetrated!
By means of the number Judge Jarriquez interpreted the whole of the cryptogram.
And this was what Ortega confessed.
He had been the colleague of Joam Dacosta, employed, like him, at Tijuco, in the offices of the governor of the diamond arrayal. He had been the official appointed to accompany the convoy to Rio de Janeiro, and, far from recoiling at the horrible idea of enriching himself by means of murder and robbery, he had informed the smugglers of the very day the convoy was to leave Tijuco.
During the attack of the scoundrels, who awaited the convoy just beyond Villa Rica, he pretended to defend himself with the soldiers of the escort, and then, falling among the dead, he was carried away by his accomplices. Hence it was that the solitary soldier who survived the massacre had reported that Ortega had perished in the struggle.
But the robbery did not profit the guilty man in the long run, for, a little time afterward, he was robbed by those whom he had helped to commit the crime.
Penniless, and unable to enter Tijuco again, Ortega fled away to the provinces in the north of Brazil, to those districts of the Upper Amazon where the capitães do mato are to be found. He had to live somehow, and so he joined this not very honorable company; they neither asked him who he was nor whence he came, and so Ortega became a captain of the woods, and for many years he followed the trade of a chaser of men.
During this time Torres, the adventurer, himself in absolute want, became his companion. Ortega and he became most intimate. But, as he had told Torres, remorse began gradually to trouble the scoundrel’s life. The remembrance of his crime became horrible to him. He knew that another had been condemned in his place! He knew subsequently that the innocent man had escaped from the last penalty, but that he would never be free from the shadow of the capital sentence! And then, during an expedition of his party for several months beyond the Peruvian frontier, chance caused Ortega to visit the neighborhood of Iquitos, and there in Joam Garral, who did not recognize him, he recognized Joam Dacosta.
Henceforth he resolved to make all the reparation he could for the injustice of which his old comrade had been the victim. He committed to the document all the facts relative to the crime of Tijuco, writing it first in French, which had been his mother’s native tongue, and then putting it into the mysterious form we know, his intention being to transmit it to the fazender of Iquitos, with the cipher by which it could be read.
Death prevented his completing his work of reparation. Mortally wounded in a scuffle with some negroes on the Madeira, Ortega felt he was doomed. His comrade Torres was then with him. He thought he could entrust to his friend the secret which had so grievously darkened his life. He gave him the document, and made him swear to convey it to Joam Dacosta, whose name and address he gave him, and with his last breath he whispered the number 432513, without which the document would remain undecipherable.
Ortega dead, we know how the unworthy Torres acquitted himself of his mission, how he resolved to turn to his own profit the secret of which he was the possessor, and how he tried to make it the subject of an odious bargain.
Torres died without accomplishing his work, and carried his secret with him. But the name of Ortega, brought back by Fragoso, and which was the signature of the document, had afforded the means of unraveling the cryptogram, thanks to the sagacity of Judge Jarriquez. Yes, the material proof sought after for so long was the incontestable witness of the innocence of Joam Dacosta, returned to life, restored to honor.
The cheers redoubled when the worthy magistrate, in a loud voice, and for the edification of all, read from the document this terrible history.
And from that moment Judge Jarriquez, who possessed this indubitable proof, arranged with the chief of the police, and declined to allow Joam Dacosta, while waiting new instructions from Rio Janeiro, to stay
