it as his opinion that the man was a worthless
scoundrel.

'I can't think,' said Peter, 'why Purvis did not claim the inheritance
sooner. He had the whole thing in his hands.'

'Yes; but Purvis did not know that!' exclaimed Dunbar. 'I 'll take my
oath he 's been pumping you about how much old servants knew, and the
like; and there are men working the case in England, judging by the
number of telegrams he has had. He would have been over in London
before many months were gone, or I am very much mistaken, and as soon
as the train was laid; but it would have been a fatal thing for him to
have attempted a case before he knew how much was known. Your arrival
in Argentine probably precipitated the very thing he was working for.'

'He remarkably nearly succeeded,' said Peter.

'There ought to be a training home for criminals,' Dunbar exclaimed,
'to teach them once and for all to destroy all evidence, rather than
retain that which incriminates alongside of that which may be useful.
A man will sometimes keep a bundle of letters which will bring him to
the gallows together with information which might make his fortune.'

Peter described how he had found the tin case on the top of a bundle of
shavings in the cabin of the river steamer. 'He was in a tight place
there, and must have known it,' said Peter. 'Why not have burned the
letters before our boat got up?'

Dunbar laughed. 'You can't very well make a holocaust on a small
steamer on a dark night without showing where you are, for one thing,'
he replied, 'nor can you overturn a paraffin lamp on the top of a
bundle of shavings without a possibility of burning yourself up at the
same time. There was a love of sensationalism, too, about the man. He
would like his steamer to flame away at the right moment, and
disappoint the men who meant to board her; or, what is still more
likely, there was a considerable amount of gunpowder on board the boat,
and a boarding-party arriving at the right moment would have been blown
sky-high.'

'He never showed mercy,' said Peter.

'The Lord will need to have mercy upon him if he gets into my hands,'
quoth Dunbar, 'for I have none to spare for him.'

'But I,' said Peter, 'have got to remember that my mother charges me to
befriend the man.'

'But then,' said Dunbar tersely, 'your mother never knew what sort of
man you would have to deal with.'

'God knows!' said Peter.

'Well, it's a hanging matter if we get him,' said Dunbar