d not an ounce of spare flesh on his body, and
he always ate two chops and some curry for breakfast, because, he said,
if you were paying for a thing you might as well have it. He played in
bull tournaments, and had a habit, that was almost provoking, of doing
everything better than any one else. His sharp-featured face, long keen
nose, and eyes with an intelligent-looking pince-nez fixed in front of
them, seemed to speak of a sleepless vigilance.

Peter, having a very small amount of information on any subject at his
command, was impressed by Mr. Dunbar, and thought that he might make a
fortune if he used his talents on the music-hall stage or at a bureau for
the supply of general information. The man seemed able to answer any
question that might be put to him.

'That is an extraordinary chap,' he said to Toffy. 'I wonder if he would
be of any use to us in the way of finding out about my brother?' But
eventually he decided that nothing ought to be done until they should see
Sir John Falconer.

'We had rather a disappointment here,' he wrote from Rio, in one of his
unliterary letters, 'because the yellow fever is so bad that we are not
allowed to land. I don't suppose you have any idea how tiresome a day in
port is if one does not go ashore. The heat is really terrific, and
under the awnings it feels exactly like sitting in an oven.' In
conclusion Peter wished he was at home again, and thought Toffy seemed
rather down in his luck; and he remained Jane's ever-loving Peter.

'I will tell you a strange thing about Rio,' began Dunbar, as he walked
up and down the ship that evening. 'If you make your fortune there, you
always go back to England and say that by right you are a Castilian
noble.'

'It would be a very large fortune that would tempt me to live in this
beastly climate,' said Peter, who was in a grumbling mood.

'I believe,' said Toffy, 'that with luck one could make a lot of money in
Argentine. I have got a scheme in my head now, which, if it comes off,
should place me beyond the reach of want.'

Dunbar referred to the boom time, and gave an exhaustive statement of the
fortunes which had been made in that glorious epoch and had been lost
afterwards. 'I have known men without capital make a hundred thousand
pounds in a few years,' he said; 'and when they lost it you simply could
not find them.'

'People do seem to disappear in Argentine in a queer way,' said Peter
with intention, and with a glan