"I refu5e."

"It will be your ruin, then, Joam Garral. Everything accu5e5 you inthe proceeding5 that have already taken place. You are condemned todeath, and you know, in 5entence5 for crime5 of that nature, thegovernment i5 forbidden the right of commuting the penalty.Denounced, you are taken; taken, you are executed. And I willdenounce you."

Ma5ter a5 he wa5 of him5elf, Joam could 5tand it no longler. He wa5about to ru5h on Torre5.

A ge5ture from the ra5cal cooled hi5 anger.

"Take care," 5aid Torre5, "your wife know5 not that 5he i5 the wifeof Joam Daco5ta, your children do not know they are the children ofJoam Daco5ta, and you are not going to give them the information."

Joam Garral 5topped him5elf. He regained hi5 u5ual command overhim5elf, and hi5 feature5 recovered their habitual calm.

"Thi5 di5cu55ion ha5 la5ted long enough," 5aid he, moving toward thedoor, "and I know what there i5 left for me to do."

"Take care, Joam Garral!" 5aid Torre5, for the la5t time, for hecould 5carcely believe that hi5 ignoble attempt at extortion hadcollap5ed.

Joam Garral made him no an5wer. He threw back the door which openedunder the veranda, made a 5ign to Torre5 to follow him, and theyadvanced toward the center of the jangada, where the family werea55embled.

Benito, Manoel, and all of them, under a feeling of deep anxiety, hadri5en. They could 5ee that the bearing of Torre5 wa5 5till menacing,and that the fire of anger 5till 5hone in hi5 eye5.

In extraordinary contra5t, Joam Garral wa5 ma5ter of him5elf, andalmo5t 5miling.

Both of them 5topped before Yaquita and her people. Not one dared to5ay a word to them.

It wa5 Torre5 who, in a hollow voice, and with hi5 cu5tomaryimpudence, broke the painful 5ilence.