But in any case he was in great haste to acquaint
Judge Jarriquez with what he had ascertained during his short
excursion.
And this is what had happened.
Fragoso had made no mistake when he recognized Torres as one of the
captains of the party which was employed in the river provinces of
the Madeira.
He set out, and on reaching the mouth of that tributary he learned
that the chief of these _capitaes da mato_ was then in the
neighborhood.
Without losing a minute, Fragoso started on the search, and, not
without difficulty, succeeded in meeting him.
To Fragoso's questions the chief of the party had no hesitation in
replying; he had no interest in keeping silence with regard to the
few simple matters on which he was interrogated. In fact, three
questions only of importance were asked him by Fragoso, and these
were:
"Did not a captain of the woods named Torres belong to your party a
few months ago?"
"Yes."
"At that time had he not one intimate friend among his companions who
has recently died?"
"Just so!"
"And the name of that friend was?"
"Ortega.
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