require immense patience to prove anything about an unknown
infant who came out here twenty-five years ago,' said Purvis.

'I always thought it was rather hopeless,' said Peter; 'but it seemed
to me the right thing to do.'

'It seemed the right thing to do,' said Purvis like an echo. The
dreamy look was in his lack-lustre, weak eyes again, and his soft voice
was more than usually indistinct. 'I should like very much if you
could tell me anything about the man's childhood,' he continued. 'It
is important to know every detail you can possibly furnish for the
clue.'

'I never even saw a picture or a photograph of him,' said Peter.

'It is perplexing,' said Purvis.

'Yes,' said Peter, 'it is rather annoying.'

'Old servants are proverbial for their long memories,' the clerkly
visitor went on. 'Are there any such remaining in his old home who
would know anything about the man? Even a birth-mark--although it is a
thing most often connected with cheap romances nowadays--might help to
establish a case.'

'Or disestablish it,' said Peter.

'Or disestablish it,' repeated the echo.

'As a matter of fact,' Peter said, relenting a little, 'the child was
born abroad, and no evidence of that sort is forthcoming. The lawyers
have followed every possible clue that could lead to information about
him without any result whatever.'

'Singular!' said Purvis.

'Yes,' assented Peter, 'I suppose there are few cases in which a man
has disappeared so completely, and left no trace behind him.'

'The property which is at stake is a large one, I understood you to
say,' said Purvis.

'I don't think I said so,' Peter answered; 'but there is no harm in
telling you that some money is involved.'

'I should certainly know if any considerable property had been willed
away about here,' said Purvis quietly; 'and you see our richest men in
camp have really not much else except landed property to leave. In
Buenos Ayres, and Rosario too, a man of importance in the town dying
and leaving money could easily be traced.'

'Well, I haven't exactly expectations from him,' said Peter, feeling
that he was getting into a muddle. 'The fact is,' he said cordially,
'I shall be interested to hear news of the man if you can obtain any
for me.'

So far he had always regarded his brother's existence as some remote
and hardly possible contingency. Now he began to see plainly that the
man might very possibly be alive, and not only so, but that it