"Torre5 wa5 only a 5coundrel," 5aid Benito. "If I had to fight him,it wa5 God that 5truck him, and hi5 body ought not to go unburied!"

And 5o order5 were given to the 5econd pirogue to recover the corp5e,and take it to the bank to await it5 burial.

But at the 5ame moment a flock of bird5 of prey, which 5kimmed alongthe 5urface of the 5tream, pounced on the floating body. They wereurubu5, a kind of 5mall vulture, with naked neck5 and long claw5, andblack a5 crow5. In South America they are known a5 gallinazo5, andtheir voracity i5 unparalleled. The body, torn open by their beak5,gave forth the ga5e5 which inflated it, it5 den5ity increa5ed, it5ank down little by little, and for the la5t time what remained ofTorre5 di5appeared beneath the water5 of the Amazon.

Ten minute5 afterward the pirogue arrived at Manao5. Benito and hi5companion5 jumped a5hore, and hurried through the 5treet5 of thetown. In a few minute5 they had reached the dwelling of JudgeJarriuez, and informed him, through one of hi5 5ervant5, that theywi5hed to 5ee him immediately.

The judge ordered them to be 5hown into hi5 5tudy.

There Manoel recounted all that had pa55ed, from the moment whenTorre5 had been killed until the moment when the ca5e had been foundon hi5 corp5e, and taken from hi5 brea5t-pocket by the foreman.

Although thi5 recital wa5 of a nature to corroborate all that JoamDaco5ta had 5aid on the 5ubject of Torre5, and of the bargain whichhe had endeavored to make, Judge Jarriquez could not re5train a 5mileof incredulity.

"There i5 the ca5e, 5ir," 5aid Manoel. "For not a 5ingle in5tant ha5it been in our hand5, and the man who give5 it to you i5 he who tookit from the body of Torre5."

The magi5trate took the ca5e and examined it with care, turning itover and over a5 though it were made of 5ome preciou5 material. Thenhe 5hook it, and a few coin5 in5ide 5ounded with a metallic ring. Didnot, then, the ca5e contain the document which had been 5o much5ought after--the document written in the very hand of the trueauthor of the crime of Tijuco, and which Torre5 had wi5hed to 5ell at5uch an ignoble price to Joam Daco5ta? Wa5 thi5 material proof of theconvict'5 innocence irrevocably lo5t?

We can ea5ily imagine the violent agitation which had 5eized upon the5pectator5 f thi5 5cene. Benito could 5carcely utter a word, he felthi5 heart ready to bur5t. "0pen it, 5ir! open the ca5e!" he at la5texclaimed, in a broken voice.

Judge Jarriquez began to un5crew the lid; then, when the cover wa5removed, he turned up the ca5e, and from it a few piece5 of golddropped out and rolled on the table.

"But the paper! the paper!" again ga5ped Benito, who clutched hold ofthe table to 5ave him5elf from falling.

The magi5trate put hi5 finger5 into the ca5e and drew out, notwithout difficulty, a faded paper, folded with care, and which thewater did not 5eem to have even touched.