Chapter 34 Chapter Fourteen

However, for death row inmate Joam.In Da Costa, public opinion has taken a 180-degree turn.Anger then turns to sympathy.Residents no longer go to Manao Prison clamoring for executions, quite the opposite!Those who had accused Joam of being the culprit in the Tijuca case now declared his innocence and demanded his immediate release, and so the crowd went from one extreme to the other. This shift is understandable. Indeed, what happened in the last two days, when Benito dueled with Torres, in search of the dead body, which reappeared so unnaturally, found the document, whose lines, if we may say so, were unreadable, People are convinced, or willing to be convinced, that this document contains Joam.The physical evidence of Da Costa's innocence, because it came from the hands of the real murderer, all this has changed public opinion. What people have thought of and urgently demanded for forty-eight hours has now become something that everyone fears and fears , that is, receiving an execution order from Rio de Janeiro.

But it's not too late. It is true, Joam.Da Costa was arrested on August 24.He was tried the next day, and the judge's report was issued on August 26.Today is the twenty-eighth day.In three or four days at most, the minister will make a verdict on the death row prisoner, and the court will uphold the original verdict. Yes, no one doubted that it would be so!But the documents can confirm that Joam.D'Acosta's innocence was assured by everyone, not only the Joam family, but even the mercurial inhabitants of Manao, who followed the drama of events enthusiastically. But, then again, those bystanders who have no interest or say they don't care can't feel the seriousness of the situation. In their eyes, how valuable is this document?And how can one be sure that this document has anything to do with the diamond murders?There is no doubt about the existence of documents.It couldn't be more certain that the documents had been found on Torres.It is even convincing that Joam was reported against Torres.Judging from Da Costa's letter, the document was not written by the adventurer.However, as Judge Jarry Gates said, wouldn't the scoundrel forge a document for extortion?What's more, Torres once declared that he would wait until he and Joam.The fact that the documents were handed over after D'Agosta's daughter was married, that is, when the rice was raw and cooked, was more likely to be a forgery.

All these arguments always hold water one way or the other, but we can understand that this case deserves the utmost attention.So, Joam.Da Costa's situation is indeed very bad.As long as the document cannot be deciphered, it means that it does not exist at all, and if the answer to the code cannot be magically guessed or revealed within three days, Tijuka's condemned prisoner will definitely pay with his blood. Why, this miracle, someone claims to be able to achieve it!This man is Judge Jarry Gates, and he is busy now, more for Joam.Da Costa's interests, not to satisfy his own analytical passion.Yes!There was a complete shift in his thinking.Was it not merely a moral riddle more important than any other that this man had voluntarily given up his seclusion in Iquitos and risked his life to clear his innocence in a Brazilian court?Therefore, if the judge can't find the password number, he will not give up the document for a day!So, he pondered crazily, forgot to sleep and eat, and spent all his time making number combinations so that he could assign a key to this difficult-to-open lock!

On the first evening, the idea lingered in the mind of Judge Jarry Gates.He was furious and roared.The whole house seemed to shake.None of his servants, black or white, dared to step forward.He was still a bachelor, which was fortunate, otherwise Mrs. Jarrigates would have had a hard time.Never had a question driven the strange man so madly, and he was determined to find out the answer, as long as his head had not exploded under the pressure of steam like a boiling boiler. However, Judge Jarry Gates racked his brains and brooded all day on August 28th with a superhuman enthusiasm for such a downright drudgery.

Trying to find that number by chance, as he said, is like looking for a needle in a haystack of millions of combinations, and it would take the life of a first-class calculator for nothing.But if you don't try your luck, wouldn't you lose the possibility of reasoning?No, maybe not. Judge Jarry Gates dozed off for several hours, trying to take a rest, but failed. At this moment, whoever rushes up to him in spite of the prohibition not to disturb him when he is alone will surely see him sitting in the study, at his desk, with the papers in front of him just as he was the day before, and he feels that there are thousands of papers Wan's letters were indistinct and confusing, as if they were flying around his head.

ah!He sighed, why didn't the bastard who wrote the document, whoever he was, separate the words in this paragraph!Otherwise, maybe you can try it but it doesn't work!However, words like arrayal (escort), diamants (diamonds), Tijuco (Tijuco), Dacosta (Dacosta) are impossible if the document really refers to the murder and theft. If it doesn't show up, who knows!By comparing these words with their code words, we can find out the code number!But there is nothing!There is no gap at all!The whole thing is one word!only one!A word made up of two hundred and seventy-six letters!ah!Let him be cursed two hundred and seventy-six times!This troublesome scoundrel!Based on this alone, he would have been hanged two hundred and seventy-six times!

As he spoke, he punched the document heavily, and cursed viciously. He cursed so viciously, and punched the document hard. But after all, the judge went on, if I can't find such a word in this document, shouldn't I at least try to find it at the beginning or end of each paragraph.Perhaps this is an opportunity that cannot be ignored. Following this line of thought, the judge sequentially tests the letters at the beginning or end of each paragraph of the document.See if they correspond to the letters that make up the most important word, the word Dacosta, which is sure to appear somewhere.

Still nothing. Indeed, taking the first seven letters of the last paragraph as an example, the resulting formula is p∥D h∥a y∥c J∥o s∥s l∥t y∥a However, Judge Jarry Gates stopped at the first letter.Because the interval between P and d in the alphabet is not a single digit, but two digits, that is, 12, and a letter in this type of ciphertext can only be replaced by a single digit. The same is true for the last seven letters psuvjhb of this paragraph. This group also starts with p, which cannot represent the D in Dacosta in any case, because there are also 12 letters between them.

In this way, the surname is not in this position. After trying arrayal and Tijuco in turn, the same result was obtained. The structure of these two words does not quite conform to the letter combination of the cipher text. Judge Yarrigates was dizzy after finishing his work. He stood up, paced around in the study, and walked to the window to get some air. He let out a loud roar, and startled a group of people flying among the branches of the acacia tree. Called the buzzing hummingbird, and then he returned to pondering the papers. He closed the file, turning it over and over. asshole!Scoundrel!Judge Jarry Gates grunted.He will drive me crazy!No, wait!Be calm!Let's not lose our minds!not the right time yet!

Then he took a cold shower and woke up; Try another way, he said, since I can't figure out the numbers for those damned alphabets, let's see what numbers the author of the document can choose, assuming he's also the Tijuka murderer! The judge is then committed to another method of reasoning, and he may well be right to do so, since there is some logic to it. Let's try the four digits of the year first!He said, why didn't the villain choose Joam?What about the year of D'Acosta's birth, when he let this innocent person be tortured in his place, even if he didn't want to forget this number that was so important to him?And Joam.Da Costa was born in 1804.Just use 1804 as the password number to try and see what kind of results you get!

Judge Jarry Gates wrote down the initial letters of the last paragraph, rewritten the number 1804 on it, repeated it three times, and arrived at the following new formula: 1804 1804 1804 phyj slyd dqfd Then push forward the numerical value on each letter according to the alphabetical order to get the following letter combinations: o. yfrdy. cif. Meaningless!Moreover, there are still three letters missing, so a period has to be used instead, because the numbers 8, 4, and 4 that determine the meaning of the letters h, d, and d cannot be deduced from the corresponding letters in the alphabet. This is not it!Judge Jarry Gates roared loudly, let's try another number! So, he thought, if it wasn't for the thousand digits representing the year, would the person who wrote the document choose the year when the crime occurred? That was in 1826. Then, according to the above method, he obtained the following formula: 1826 1826 1826 Phyj slyd dqfd This leads to: o. vd rdv. cid. Another string of meaningless letters, still the same as the previous formula, always missing a few letters, for the same reason. Damn number!This, too, cried the judge!To get another one!Wouldn't the rascal have chosen the Gondus, which represents the value of the stolen thing? [Note: A Gondus is about three thousand francs. ] Number? It is estimated that the value of the stolen diamonds is as high as 834 Gundus. Thus, the following formula is obtained: 834 834 834 834 Phy jslydd qf The result is also unsatisfactory: bet bph pa. ic. To hell with this document and whoever figured it out!Judge Jarrigates yelled, throwing the document away and it floated across the room.Even a saint would be troubled by it, and would rather be punished by heaven! But after a burst of anger, the judge was still not to be outdone, and picked up the documents again.What he had tried for the first letters of each paragraph, he tried again for the last letters of each paragraph, in vain.Then, his mind ran at high speed, trying all the possibilities imaginable.Tried Joam.Da Costa's age The real murderer must know this number Arrest date, Vera.The date of the verdict pronounced by the Rika court, the fixed execution date, etc., etc., even down to the number of victims of the Tijuca murders. Nothing!Always get nothing! Judge Jarrigates was so furious that one could not help but worry about his sanity.He racked his brains and desperately, as if he was fighting a hand-to-hand combat with an opponent!Suddenly, he sighed: Take your chances, and God help me now that logic has run its course! He reached out and tugged on a bell cord hanging by the desk.At this moment the bell rang loudly, and the judge went straight to the door, opened it, and cried: Bobo! after awhile. Bobo was an emancipated black slave, the favorite servant of Judge Jarry Gates, but he was not seen at the moment, obviously afraid to enter the master's room. The bell rang again!He called Bobo again, perhaps, he thought it was better to obediently pretend to be deaf and dumb. Finally, the third ring of the bell broke the organ and the rope snapped.This time, Bobo showed up. Master, what are your orders?Bobo stood cautiously at the door and asked. Come here, don't say a word!answered the judge, with fire in his eyes, that made the nigger tremble with terror. Bob came over. Bobo, Judge Jarry Gates said, listen carefully to the question I am about to ask, and answer me right away, without even thinking about it, or I will Bobo was dumbfounded, his eyes were staring straight, he was tongue-tied, and with his feet together, he took a military posture without a gun, waiting for an order. Are you ready?the master asked him. Ready. Notice!Don't think about it, listen up and tell me the first number that comes to your mind! 76223.Bobo said in one breath. He may want to report a large amount to please the owner. Judge Jarry Gates ran to the table, picked up a pencil, and made a formula according to the number Bobo said. Bobo was now only a messenger of luck. Everyone understands that if the number 76223 happens to be the key of the file, it would be incredible. The result can only be that Bobo was scolded by Judge Jarry Gates and quickly slipped away.