It is a question of life or death for him, and looked at in every way it will cost him something." And, scrutinizing the paper with greedy eyes, "At a conto (1) only for each word of this last sentence it will amount to a considerable sum, and it is this sentence which fixes the price.

It sums up the entire document.
It gives their true names to true personages; but before trying to understand it I ought to begin by counting the number of words it contains, and even when this is done its true meaning may be missed." In saying this Torres began to count mentally.
"There are fifty-eight words, and that makes fifty-eight contos.

With nothing but that one could live in Brazil, in America, wherever one wished, and even live without doing anything! And what would it be, then, if all the words of this document were paid for at the same price?
It would be necessary to count by hundreds of contos.

Ah! there is quite a fortune here for me to realize if I am not the greatest of duffers!" It seemed as though the hands of Torres felt the enormous sum, and were already closing over the rolls of gold.

Suddenly his thoughts took another turn.
"At length," he cried, "I see land; and I do not regret the voyage which has led me from the coast of the Atlantic to the Upper Amazon.