ssistant of Judge Ribeiro, who filled the position of the magistrate in the p

cals, that a prisoner's innocence seemed to him à priori inadmissable. To be sure, he did not come to a decision unconscientiously; but his conscience was strongly fortified and was not easily affected by the circumstances of the examination or the arguments for the defense. L

eyes, with their expression of surprising acuteness; his prominent nose, with which he would assuredly have gesticulated had it been movable; his ears wide open, so as to better catch all that was said, even when it was out of range of ordinary auditory

ess, of which he was a past master; and above all things for Chinese puzzles, enigmas, charades, rebuses, anagrams, riddles, and such thi

how much Joam Dacosta had lost by the death of Judge Ribeiro, in

e. Unfortunately for the fazender, such formalities were no longer necessary; Joam Dacosta had been arrested, convicted, and sentenced twenty-three years ago for the crime at Tijuco; no limitation had yet affected his sentence. No deman

duty, notwithstanding the opinions he held, would be to listen to him. The question would be, what proofs could the convict offer to

ch his past life should have taught him to dread, and herein would be one of those rare and curious cases which ought to interest even a magistrate hardened with all the surroundings of forensic strife. Was it impude

had succeeded in this building, which was but little adapted for the purpose, the compulsory prisoners of to-day. The room occupied by Joam Dacosta was nothing like one of those sad little cells which form part of our modern penitentiary system: but an old monk's room, with a barred window without s

e was in shadow while that of the accused remained in full daylight. His clerk, with the indifference which characterizes the

room, and at a sign from the judge th

ghtly forward and maintaining a becoming attitude, neither careless nor humb

" said Judg

Daco

ur

ty-t

do yo

the village

what

rral, which is th

o you bear

I wished to hide myself from t

d to confess everything concerning his past and present life, that Judge Jarriquez,

ed, "should Brazilian

to death in 1826 in the d

en that you are

Joam D

simply as possible. The little eyes of Judge J

oss anything li

riable reply from culprits of every category protesting their innocenc

asked, "what were y

d in managing a farming estab

s pros

y prosp

did you leave

nine

hy

costa, "I invented a pretext,

as the

Para a large raft, and a cargo of

the real motive

question Jarrique

et into denials

firm voice, "was the resolution I had taken to

judge, rising from his stool. "You g

own fre

d w

under a false name, of this impossibility to be able to restore to my

cau

s inn

s waiting for," sa

is head to Dacosta, which signified as clearly as possible, "Go on! Tell me your hi

hout omitting any circumstances which had preceded or succeeded his condemnation. In the same tone he insisted on the honored and honorable life he had led since his escape, on his duties as head of his family, as husband and father

d himself with opening and shutting his eyes like a man who heard the story told for the hundredth time;

finished

s,

ou only left Iquitos to procure the

other in

, without the denunciation which had brought abo

r, in the f

othing to show that had you not been arrested, you

at was not in my possession, and of the au

ha

sor, Judge Ribeiro, the letter which

you w

have arrived at its destination sh

ez, in a slightly incredulous to

could to save me. Twenty years later, when he had become chief justice at Manaos, I let him know who I was, where I was, and what I wished to attempt. His opinion about me had not changed, and it was at his ad

in defiance of all the traditions of the judicial bench, but he

g, indeed;

ntly hard of heart, and p

ed the room, and handed a se

elope. He opened it and read it, not without a c

you have been speaking about, addressed by you to Judge Ribeiro and sent on t

ect of all the circumstances of my life which I have brought t

est your innocence; but all prisoners do as much! After all, y

ve," answered

his was too much for him, and he had to take two