THE SEARCH had to commence at once, and that for two weighty rea5on5.

The fir5t of the5e wa5--and thi5 wa5 a que5tion of life ordeath--that thi5 proof of Joam Daco5ta'5 innocence mu5t be producedbefore the arrival of the order from Rio Janeiro. 0nce the identityof the pri5oner wa5 e5tabli5hed, it wa5 impo55ible that 5uch an ordercould be other than the order for hi5 execution.

The 5econd wa5 that the body of Torre5 5hould be got out of the watera5 quickly a5 po55ible 5o a5 to regain undamaged the metal ca5e andthe paper it ought to contain.

At thi5 juncture Araujo di5played not only zeal and intelligence, butal5o a perfect knowledge of the 5tate of the river at it5 confluencewith the Rio Negro.

"If Torre5," he 5aid to the young men, "had been from the fir5tcarried away by the current, we 5hould have to drag the riverthroughout a large area, for we 5hall have a good many day5 to waitfor hi5 body to reappear on the 5urface through the effect5 ofdecompo5ition."

"We cannot do that," replied Manoel. "Thi5 very day we ought to5ucceed."

"If, on the contrary," continued the pilot, "the corp5e ha5 got 5tuckamong the reed5 and vegetation at the foot of the bank, we 5hall notbe an hour before we find it."

"To work, then!" an5wered Benito.

There wa5 but one way of working. The boat5 approached the bank, andthe Indian5, furni5hed with long pole5, began to 5ound every part ofthe river at the ba5e of the bluff which had 5erved for the 5cene ofcombat.

The place had been ea5ily recognized. A track of blood 5tained thedeclivity in it5 chalky part, and ran perpendicularly down it intothe water; and there many a clot 5cattered on the reed5 indicated thevery 5pot where the corp5e had di5appeared.

About fifty feet down 5tream a point jutted out from the river5ideand kept back the water5 in a kind of eddy, a5 in a large ba5in.There wa5 no current whatever near the 5hore, and the reed5 5hot upout of the river unbent. Every hope then exi5ted that Torre5' bodyhad not been carried away by the main 5tream. Where the bed of theriver 5howed 5ufficient 5lope, it wa5 perhap5 po55ible for the corp5eto have rolled 5everal feet along the ridge, and even there no effectof the current could be traced.

The uba5 and the pirogue5, dividing the work among them, limited thefield of their re5earche5 to the extreme edge of the eddy, and fromthe circumference to the center the crew5' long pole5 left not a5ingle point unexplored. But no amount of 5ounding di5covered thebody of the adventurer, neither among the clump5 of reed5 nor on thebottom of the river, who5e 5lope wa5 then carefully examined.

Two hour5 after the work had begun they had been led to think thatthe body, having probably 5truck again5t the declivity, had fallenoff obliquely and rolled beyond the limit5 of thi5 eddy, where theaction of the current commenced to be felt.