ON THE FOLLOWING 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 utterance1 in their presence, and were engaged in devising some means by which the condemned2 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 nave3 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 inevitably4 be received.
Once more, then, Joam Dacosta would have to escape by flight from an unjust imprisonment5.
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 destined6 never to be realized. Who could tell if, owing to some unforeseen circumstance, the attempt at escape would not prove a miserable7 failure?
The presence of Fragoso on such an occasion would have been most valuable. Discreet8 and devoted9, 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 doomed10 man than to have hurried off in search of the former comrades of Torres!
But Fragoso was away, and his assistance had to be dispensed11 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 deserted12. 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 detention13 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 Dacosta was confined. The window was secured with iron bars in a miserable state of repair, which it would be easy to tear down or cut through if they could only get near enough. The badly jointed14 stones in the wall, which were crumbled15 away every here and there, offered many a ledge16 for the feet to rest on, if only a rope could be fixed17 to climb up by. One of the bars had slipped out of its socket18, and formed a hook over which it might be possible to throw a rope. That done, one or two of the bars could be removed, so as to permit a man to get through. Benito and Manoel would then have to make their way into the prisoner’s room, and without much difficulty the escape could be managed by means of the rope fastened to the projecting iron. During the night, if the sky were very cloudy, none of these operations would be noticed before the day dawned. Joam Dacosta could get safely away.
Manoel and Benito spent an hour about the spot, taking care not to attract attention, but examining the locality with great exactness, particularly as regarded the position of the window, the arrangement of the iron bars, and the place from which it would be best to throw the line.
“That is agreed,” said Manoel at length. “And now, ought Joam Dacosta to be told about this?”
“No, Manoel. Neither to him, any more than to my mother, ought we to impart the secret of an attempt in which there is such a risk of failure.”
“We shall succeed, Benito!” continued Manoel. “However, we must prepare for everything; and in case the chief of the prison should discover us at the moment of escape ——”
“We shall have money enough to purchase his silence,” answered Benito.
“Good!” replied Manoel. “But once your father is out of prison he cannot remain hidden in the town or on the jangada. Where is he to find refuge?”
This was the second question to solve: and a very difficult one it was.
A hundred paces away from the prison, however, the waste land was crossed by one of those canals which flow through the town into the Rio Negro. This canal afforded an easy way of gaining the river if a pirogue were in waiting for the fugitive19. From the foot of the wall to the canal side was hardly a hundred yards.
Benito and Manoel decided20 that about eight o’clock in the evening one of the pirogues, with two strong rowers, under the command of the pilot Araujo, should start from the jangada. They could ascend21 the Rio Negro, enter the canal, and, crossing the waste land, remain concealed22 throughout the night under the tall vegetation on the banks.
But once on board, where was Joam Dacosta to seek refuge? To return to Iquitos was to follow a road full of difficulties and peril23, and a long one in any case, should the fugitive either travel across the country or by the river. Neither by horse not pirogue could he be got out of danger quickly enough, and the fazenda was no longer a safe retreat. He would not return to it as the fazender, Joam Garral, but as the convict, Joam Dacosta, continually in fear of his extradition24. He could never dream of resuming his former life.
To get away by the Rio Negro into the north of the province, or even beyond the Brazilian territory, would require more time than he could spare, and his first care must be to escape from immediate25 pursuit.
To start again down the Amazon? But stations, village, and towns abounded26 on both sides of the river. The description of the fugitive would be sent to all the police, and he would run the risk of being arrested long before he reached the Atlantic. And supposing he reached the coast, where and how was he to hide and wait for a passage to put the sea between himself and his pursuers?
On consideration of these various plans, Benito and Manoel agreed that neither of them was practicable. One, however, did offer some chance of safety, and that was to embark27 in the pirogue, follow the canal into the Rio Negro, descend28 this tributary29 under the guidance of the pilot, reach the confluence30 of the rivers, and run down the Amazon along its right bank for some sixty miles during the nights, resting during the daylight, and so gaining the embouchure of the Madeira.
This tributary, which, fed by a hundred affluents31, descends32 from the watershed33 of the Cordilleras, is a regular waterway opening into the very heart of Bolivia. A pirogue could pass up it and leave no trace of its passage, and a refuge could be found in some town or village beyond the Brazilian frontier. There Joam Dacosta would be comparatively safe, and there for several months he could wait for an opportunity of reaching the Pacific coast and taking passage in some vessel34 leaving one of its ports; and if the ship were bound for one of the States of North America he would be free. Once there, he could sell the fazenda, eave his country forever, and seek beyond the sea, in the Old World, a final retreat in which to end an existence so cruelly and unjustly disturbed. Anywhere he might go, his family — not excepting Manoel, who was bound to him by so many ties — would assuredly follow without the slightest hesitation35.
“Let us go,” said Benito; “we must have all ready before night, and we have no time to lose.”
The young men returned on board by way of the canal bank, which led along the Rio Negro. They satisfied themselves that the passage of the pirogue would be quite possible, and that no obstacles such as locks or boats under repair were there to stop it. They then descended36 the left bank of the tributary, avoiding the slowly-filling streets of the town, and reached the jangada.
Benito’s first care was to see his mother. He felt sufficiently37 master of himself to dissemble the anxiety which consumed him. He wished to assure her that all hope was not lost, that the mystery of the document would be cleared up, that in any case public opinion was in favor of Joam, and that, in face of the agitation38 which was being made in his favor, justice would grant all the necessary time for the production of the material proof his innocence39. “Yes, mother,” he added, “before to-morrow we shall be free from anxiety.”
“May heaven grant it so!” replied Yaquita, and she looked at him so keenly that Benito could hardly meet her glance.
On his part, and as if by pre-arrangement, Manoel had tried to reassure40 Minha by telling her that Judge Jarriquez was convinced of the innocence of Joam, and would try to save him by every means in his power.
“I only wish he would, Manoel,” answered she, endeavoring in vain to restrain her tears.
And Manoel left her, for the tears were also welling up in his eyes and witnessing against the words of hope to which he had just given utterance.
And now the time had arrived for them to make their daily visit to the prisoner, and Yaquita and her daughter set off to Manaos.
For an hour the young men were in consultation41 with Araujo. They acquainted him with their plan in all its details, and they discussed not only the projected escape, but the measures which were necessary for the safety of the fugitive.
Araujo approved of everything; he undertook during the approaching night to take the pirogue up the canal without attracting any notice, and he knew its course thoroughly42 as far as the spot where he was to await the arrival of Joam Dacosta. To get back to the mouth of the Rio Negro was easy enough, and the pirogue would be able to pass unnoticed among the numerous craft continually descending43 the river.
Araujo had no objection to offer to the idea of following the Amazon down to its confluence with the Madeira. The course of the Madeira was familiar to him for quite two hundred miles up, and in the midst of these thinly-peopled provinces, even if pursuit took place in their direction, all attempts at capture could be easily frustrated44; they could reach the interior of Bolivia, and if Joam decided to leave his country he could procure45 a passage with less danger on the coast of the Pacific than on that of the Atlantic.
Araujo’s approval was most welcome to the young fellows; they had great faith in the practical good sense of the pilot, and not without reason. His zeal46 was undoubted, and he would assuredly have risked both life and liberty to save the fazender of Iquitos.
With the utmost secrecy47 Araujo at once set about his preparations. A considerable sum in gold was handed over to him by Benito to meet all eventualities during the voyage on the Madeira. In getting the pirogue ready, he announced his intention of going in search of Fragoso, whose fate excited a good deal of anxiety among his companions. He stowed away in the boat provisions for many days, and did not forget the ropes and tools which would be required by the young men when they reached the canal at the appointed time and place.
These preparations evoked48 no curiosity on the part of the crew of the jangada, and even the two stalwart negroes were not let into the secret. They, however, could be absolutely depended on. Whenever they learned what the work of safety was in which they were engaged — when Joam Dacosta, once more free, was confided49 to their charge — Araujo knew well that they would dare anything, even to the risk of their own lives, to save the life of their master.
By the afternoon all was ready, and they had only the night to wait for. But before making a start Manoel wished to call on Judge Jarriquez for the last time. The magistrate50 might perhaps have found out something new about the document. Benito preferred to remain on the raft and wait for the return of his mother and sister.
Manoel then presented himself at the abode51 of Judge Jarriquez, and was immediately admitted.
The magistrate, in the study which he never quitted, was still the victim of the same excitement. The document crumpled52 by his impatient fingers, was still there before his eyes on the table.
“Sir,” said Manoel, whose voice trembled as he asked the question, “have you received anything from Rio de Janeiro.”
“No,” answered the judge; “the order has not yet come to hand, but it may at any moment.”
“And the document?”
“Nothing yet!” exclaimed he. “Everything my imagination can suggest I have tried, and no result.”
“None?”
“Nevertheless, I distinctly see one word in the document — only one!”
“What is that — what is the word?”
“‘Fly’!”
Manoel said nothing, but he pressed the hand which Jarriquez held out to him, and returned to the jangada to wait for the moment of action.
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1
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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detention
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| n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下 | |
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jointed
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| 有接缝的 | |
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crumbled
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| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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extradition
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| n.引渡（逃犯） | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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confluence
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| n.汇合，聚集 | |
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affluents
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| n.富裕的，富足的( affluent的名词复数 ) | |
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descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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watershed
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| n.转折点，分水岭，分界线 | |
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34
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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36
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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41
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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42
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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43
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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44
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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47
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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48
evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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49
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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50
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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51
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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