The hypothesis that Ortega had given him the document in question had
now become admissible. Nothing was more probable than that this
document had reference to the crime of which Ortega was really the
author, and that it contained the confession of the culprit,
accompanied by circumstances which permitted of no doubt as to its
truth.
And so, if the document could be read, if the key had been found, if
the cipher on which the system hung were known, no doubt of its truth
could be entertained.
But this cipher Fragoso did not know. A few more presumptions, a
half-certainty that the adventurer had invented nothing, certain
circumstances tending to prove that the secret of the matter was
contained in the document--and that was all that the gallant fellow
brought back from his visit to the chief of the gang of which Torres
had been a member.
Nevertheless, little as it was, he was in all haste to relate it to
Judge Jarriquez. He knew that he had not an hour to lose, and that
was why on this very morning, at about eight o'clock, he arrived,
exhausted with fatigue, within half a mile of Manaos.
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