CHAPTER XX
BETWEEN THE TWO MEN
FOR A MOMENT, alone in the room, where none could see or hear them,
Joam Garral and Torres looked at each other without uttering a word.
Did the adventurer hesitate to speak? Did he suspect that Joam Garral
would only reply to his demands by a scornful silence?
Yes! Probably so. So Torres did not question him. At the outset of
the conversation he took the affirmative, and assumed the part of an
accuser.
"Joam," he said, "your name is not Garral. Your name is Dacosta!"
At the guilty name which Torres thus gave him, Joam Garral could not
repress a slight shudder.
"You are Joam Dacosta," continued Torres, "who, twenty-five years
ago, were a clerk in the governor-general's office at Tijuco, and you
are the man who was sentenced to death in this affair of the robbery
and murder!"
No response from Joam Garral, whose strange tranquillity surprised
the adventurer. Had he made a mistake in accusing his host? No! For
Joam Garral made no start at the terrible accusations. Doubtless he
wanted to know to what Torres was coming.
"Joam Dacosta, I repeat! It was you whom they sought for this diamond
affair, whom they convicted of crime and sentenced to death, and it
was you who escaped from the prison at Villa Rica a few hours before
you should have been executed! Do you not answer?"
Rather a long silence followed this direct question which Torres
asked. Joam Garral, still calm, took a seat. His elbow rested on a
small table, and he looked fixedly at his accuser without bending his
head.
"Will you reply?" repeated Torres.
"What reply do you want from me?" said Joam quietly.
"A reply," slowly answered Torres, "that will keep me from finding
out the chief of the police at Manaos, and saying to him, 'A man is
there whose identity can easily be established, who can be recognized
even after twenty-five years' absence, and this man was the
instigator of the diamond robbery at Tijuco. He was the accomplice of
the murderers of the soldiers of the escort; he is the man who
escaped from execution; he is Joam Garral, whose true name is Joam
Dacosta.'"
"And so, Torres," said Joam Garral, "I shall have nothing to fear
from you if I give the answer you require?"
"Nothing, for neither you nor I will have any interest in talking
about the matter."
"Neither you nor I?" asked Joam Garral. "It is not with money, then,
that your silence is to be bought?"
"No! No matter how much you offered me!"
"What do you want, then?"
"Joam Garral," replied Torres, "here is my proposal. Do not be in a
hurry to reply by a formal refusal. Remember that you are in my
power."
"What is this proposal?" asked Joam.
Torres hesitated for a moment.
The attitude of this guilty man, whose life he held in his hands, was
enough to astonish him. He had expected a stormy discussion and
prayers and tears. He had before him a man convicted of the most
heinous of crimes, and the man never flinched.
At length, crossing his arms, he said:
"You have a daughter!--I like her--and I want to marry her!"
Apparently Joam Garral expected anything from such a man, and was as
quiet as before.
"And so," he said, "the worthy Torres is anxious to enter the family
of a murderer and a thief?"
"I am the sole judge of what it suits me to do," said Torres. "I wish
to be the son-in-law of Joam Garral, and I will."
"You ignore, then, that my daughter is going to marry Manoel Valdez?"
"You will break it off with Manoel Valdez!"
"And if my daughter declines?"
"If you tell her all, I have no doubt she would consent," was the
impudent answer.
"All?"
"All, if necessary. Between her own feelings and the honor of her
family and the life of her father she would not hesitate."
"You are a consummate scoundrel, Torres," quietly said Joam, whose
coolness never forsook him.
"A scoundrel and a murderer were made to understand each other."
At these words Joam Garral rose, advanced to the adventurer, and
looking him straight in the face, "Torres," he said, "if you wish to
become one of the family of Joam Dacosta, you ought to know that Joam
Dacosta was innocent of the crime for which he was condemned."
"Really!"
"And I add," replied Joam, "that you hold the proof of his innocence,
and are keeping it back to proclaim it on the day when you marry his
daughter."
"Fair play, Joam Garral," answered Torres, lowering his voice, "and
when you have heard me out, you will see if you dare refuse me your
daughter!"
"I am listening, Torres."
"Well," said the adventurer, half keeping back his words, as if he
was sorry to let them escape from his lips, "I know you are innocent!
I know it, for I know the true culprit, and I am in a position to
prove your innocence."
"And the unhappy man who committed the crime?"
"Is dead."
"Dead!" exclaimed Joam Garral; and the word made him turn pale, in
spite of himself, as if it had deprived him of all power of
reinstatement.
"Dead," repeated Torres; "but this man, whom I knew a long time after
his crime, and without knowing that he was a convict, had written out
at length, in his own hand, the story of this affair of the diamonds,
even to the smallest details. Feeling his end approaching, he was
seized with remorse. He knew where Joam Dacosta had taken refuge, and
under what name the innocent man had again begun a new life. He knew
that he was rich, in the bosom of a happy family, but he knew also
that there was no happiness for him. And this happiness he desired to
add to the reputation to which he was entitled. But death came--he
intrusted to me, his companion, to do what he could no longer do. He
gave me the proofs of Dacosta's innocence for me to transmit them to
him, and he died."
"The man's name?" exclaimed Joam Garral, in a tone he could not
control.
"You will know it when I am one of your family."
"And the writing?"
Joam Garral was ready to throw himself on Torres, to search him, to
snatch from him the proofs of his innocence.
"The writing is in a safe place," replied Torres, "and you will not
have it until your daughter has become my wife. Now will you still
refuse me?"
"Yes," replied Joam, "but in return for that paper the half of my
fortune is yours."
"The half of your fortune?" exclaimed Torres; "agreed, on condition
that Minha brings it to me at her marriage."
"And it is thus that you respect the wishes of a dying man, of a
criminal tortured by remorse, and who has charge you to repair as
much as he could the evil which he had done?"
"It is thus."
"Once more, Torres," said Joam Garral, "you are a consummate
scoundrel."
"Be it so."
"And as I am not a criminal we were not made to understand one
another."
"And your refuse?"
"I refuse."
"It will be your ruin, then, Joam Garral. Everything accuses you in
the proceedings that have already taken place. You are condemned to
death, and you know, in sentences for crimes of that nature, the
government is forbidden the right of commuting the penalty.
Denounced, you are taken; taken, you are executed. And I will
denounce you."
Master as he was of himself, Joam could stand it no longler. He was
about to rush on Torres.
A gesture from the rascal cooled his anger.
"Take care," said Torres, "your wife knows not that she is the wife
of Joam Dacosta, your children do not know they are the children of
Joam Dacosta, and you are not going to give them the information."
Joam Garral stopped himself. He regained his usual command over
himself, and his features recovered their habitual calm.
"This discussion has lasted long enough," said he, moving toward the
door, "and I know what there is left for me to do."
"Take care, Joam Garral!" said Torres, for the last time, for he
could scarcely believe that his ignoble attempt at extortion had
collapsed.
Joam Garral made him no answer. He threw back the door which opened
under the veranda, made a sign to Torres to follow him, and they
advanced toward the center of the jangada, where the family were
assembled.
Benito, Manoel, and all of them, under a feeling of deep anxiety, had
risen. They could see that the bearing of Torres was still menacing,
and that the fire of anger still shone in his eyes.
In extraordinary contrast, Joam Garral was master of himself, and
almost smiling.
Both of them stopped before Yaquita and her people. Not one dared to
say a word to them.
It was Torres who, in a hollow voice, and with his customary
impudence, broke the painful silence.
"For the last time, Joam Garral," he said, "I ask you for a last
reply!"
"And here is my reply."
And addressing his wife:
"Yaquita," he said, "peculiar circumstances oblige me to alter what
we have formerly decided as to the marriage of Minha and Manoel."
"At last!" exclaimed Torres.
Joam Garral, without answering him, shot at the adventurer a glance
of the deepest scorn.
But at the words Manoel had felt his heart beat as if it would break.
The girl arose, ashy pale, as if she would seek shelter by the side
of her mother. Yaquita opened her arms to protect, to defend her.
"Father," said Benito, who had placed himself between Joam Garral and
Torres, "what were you going to say?"
"I was going to say," answered Joam Garral, raising his voice, "that
to wait for our arrival in Para for the wedding of Minha and Manoel
is to wait too long. The marriage will take place here, not later
than to-morrow, on the jangada, with the aid of Padre Passanha, if,
after a conversation I am about to have with Manoel, he agrees with
me to defer it no longer."
"Ah, father, father!" exclaimed the young man.
"Wait a little before you call me so, Manoel," replied Joam, in a
tone of unspeakable suffering.
Here Torres, with crossed arms, gave the whole family a look of
inconceivable insolence.
"So that is you last word?" said he, extending his hand toward Joam
Garral
"No, that is not my last word."
"What is it, then?"
"This, Torres. I am master here. You will be off, if you please, and
even if you do not please, and leave the jangada at this very
instant!"
"Yes, this instant!" exclaimed Benito, "or I will throw you
overboard."
Torres shrugged his shoulders.
"No threats," he said; "they are of no use. It suits me also to land,
and without delay. But you will remember me, Joam Garral. We shall
not be long before we meet."
"If it only depends on me," answered Joam Garral, "we shall soon
meet, and rather sooner, perhaps, than you will like. To-morrow I
shall be with Judge Ribeiro, the first magistrate of the province,
whom I have advised of my arrival at Manaos. If you dare, meet me
there!"
"At Judge Ribeiro's?" said Torres, evidently disconcerted.
"At Judge Ribeiro's," answered Joam Garral.
And then, showing the pirogue to Torres, with a gesture of supreme
contempt Joam Garral ordered four of his people to land him without
delay on the nearest point of the island.
The scoundrel at last disappeared.
The family, who were still appalled, respected the silence of its
chief; but Fragoso, comprehending scarce half the gravity of the
situation, and carried away by his customary vivacity, came up to
Joam Garral.
"If the wedding of Miss Minha and Mr. Manoel is to take place
to-morrow on the raft----"
"Yours shall take place at the same time," kindly answered Joam
Garral.
And making a sign to Manoel, he retired to his room with him.
The interview between Joam and Manoel had lasted for half an hour,
and it seemed a century to the family, when the door of the room was
reopened.
Manoel came out alone; his face glowed with generous resolution.
Going up to Yaquita, he said, "My mother!" to Minha he said, "My
wife!" and to Benito he said, "My brother!" and, turning toward Lina
and Fragoso, he said to all, "To-morrow!"
He knew all that had passed between Joam Garral and Torres. He knew
that, counting on the protection of Judge Ribeiro, by means of a
correspondence which he had had with him for a year past without
speaking of it to his people, Joam Garral had at last succeeded in
clearing himself and convincing him of his innocence. He knew that
Joam Garral had boldly undertaken the voyage with the sole object of
canceling the hateful proceedings of which he had been the victim, so
as not to leave on his daughter and son-in-law the weight of the
terrible situation which he had had to endure so long himself.
Yes, Manoel knew all this, and, further, he knew that Joam Garral--or
rather Joam Dacosta--was innocent, and his misfortunes made him even
dearer and more devoted to him. What he did not know was that the
material proof of the innocence of the fazender existed, and that
this proof was in the hands of Torres. Joam Garral wished to reserve
for the judge himself the use of this proof, which, if the adventurer
had spoken truly, would demonstrate his innocence.
Manoel confined himself, then, to announcing that he was going to
Padre Passanha to ask him to get things ready for the two weddings.
Next day, the 24th of August, scarcely an hour before the ceremony
was to take place, a large pirogue came off from the left bank of the
river and hailed the jangada. A dozen paddlers had swiftly brought it
from Manaos, and with a few men it carried the chief of the police,
who made himself known and came on board.
At the moment Joam Garral and his family, attired for the ceremony,
were coming out of the house.
"Joam Garral?" asked the chief of the police.
"I am here," replied Joam.
"Joam Garral," continued the chief of the police, "you have also been
Joam Dacosta; both names have been borne by the same man--I arrest
you!"
At these words Yaquita and Minha, struck with stupor, stopped without
any power to move.
"My father a murderer?" exclaimed Benito, rushing toward Joam Garral.
By a gesture his father silenced him.
"I will only ask you one question," said Joam with firm voice,
addressing the chief of police. "Has the warrant in virtue of which
you arrest me been issued against me by the justice at Manaos--by
Judge Ribeiro?"
"No," answered the chief of the police, "it was given to me, with an
order for its immediate execution, by his substitute. Judge Ribeiro
was struck with apoplexy yesterday evening, and died during the night
at two o'clock, without having recovered his consciousness."
"Dead!" exclaimed Joam Garral, crushed for a moment by the
news--"dead! dead!"
But soon raising his head, he said to his wife and children, "Judge
Ribeiro alone knew that I was innocent, my dear ones. The death of
the judge may be fatal to me, but that is no reason for me to
despair."
And, turning toward Manoel, "Heaven help us!" he said to him; "we
shall see if truth will come down to the earth from Above."
The chief of the police made a sign to his men, who advanced to
secure Joam Garral.
"But speak, father!" shouted Benito, mad with despair; "say one word,
and we shall contest even by force this horrible mistake of which you
are the victim!"
"There is no mistake here, my son," replied Joam Garral; "Joam
Dacosta and Joam Garral are one. I am in truth Joam Dacosta! I am the
honest man whom a legal error unjustly doomed to death twenty-five
years ago in the place of the true culprit! That I am quite innocent
I swear before Heaven, once for all, on your heads, my children, and
on the head of your mother!"
"All communication between you and yours is now forbidden," said the
chief of the police. "You are my prisoner, Joam Garral, and I will
rigorously execute my warrant."
Joam restrained by a gesture his dismayed children and servants.
"Let the justice of man be done while we wait for the justice of
God!"
And with his head unbent, he stepped into the pirogue.
It seemed, indeed, as though of all present Joam Garral was the only
one whom this fearful thunderbolt, which had fallen so unexpectedly
on his head, had failed to overwhelm.
