ver-bank. He was a gentle-mannered, nervous-looking individual, with
weak, pale eyes that watered incessantly, and he had a curious habit
unknown except to town dwellers in Argentine of dressing like a City
clerk. All the men in camp wore breeches and wide felt hats and polo
boots, but Purvis was habitually dressed in dark tweed clothes and a
bowler hat. Even on the steamer, and in the heat of the midday sun, he
wore the same kit, and walked up and down the deck with an umbrella
held over his head. He spoke half a dozen languages, but seemed to
think in Spanish, for whenever he spoke quickly or impulsively that was
the tongue which he used.

The crew of the steamer was composed of a queer mixture of elements;
and, whatever their moral qualities may have been, their appearance
would not have been altogether reassuring to a man, for instance,
travelling with a good many valuables about him. There was Grant the
engineer, who never spoke at all, and who loved his engines with a
personal love; Pedro, a man with big, melancholy eyes, half Basque and
half Italian; an old Belgian stoker and a nigger from South Carolina;
and, lastly, John Lewis (or Black John, as he was always called), who
came from a Danish West Indian island, and who said he was an Irishman
and had been a cabinetmaker.

The little steamer was not uncomfortable. She was a flat-bottomed
river-boat, and carried cargoes of hides and other Saladero produce.
There were some live pigs with immense tusks, and some tasajo in the
hold, and a raft of pipes of tallow which a hawser towed behind. The
boat was supposed to draw only two feet of water, but in her present
overloaded state she dragged heavily against the mud in the shallower
parts of the river.

Sir John Falconer, who had come down to the river to see the two
travellers off, drew Peter Ogilvie aside and had a considerable talk
with him before saying good-bye.

'Don't attempt amateur detective work yourself,' he urged, 'but stay
with Ross until proper official inquiries can be made into the case.
There is nothing for it but to remain inactive for the present, but
gather information quietly where you can. The law out here is a clumsy
mover, and you may have to wait months before you hear anything. Keep
your eyes and your ears open; travel about the country a little, and
get into conversation with as many people as possible. News in
Argentine is not carried by the newspapers but by the men who ride f