'If he is,' said Dunbar, folding up the telegram and putting it into his pocket, 'I think our future duties will not be heavy. The man who has come to light and told the story of the wreck of the _Rosana_ is a native of that favoured spot where already our friend Purvis is not too popular. God help the man if they get hold of him!' 'His little boy is here now,' said Toffy, starting up. 'Purvis came here to leave him in safety.' Dunbar was writing another telegram to ask the whereabouts of the steamer. 'Then,' he said, 'the story is probably known, and Purvis is aware of it, and has gone north. He daren't show himself near his estancia after this.' They began to put the story together, piecing it here and there, while Dunbar continued to send telegrams. Ross strolled in presently to discuss the matter again. 'I don't believe,' he said, 'that Purvis is far off.' 'He is a brave man if he is anywhere near La Dorada,' said Dunbar. 'Purvis is a brave man,' said Ross quietly. Peter was silent. Only last night he had had good reason to believe that the mystery of his brother's existence was going to be cleared up. But with Purvis gone the whole wearisome business would have to begin again. Why had he not detained the man last night, even if he had had to do it by force, until he had given him all the evidence he possessed? He could not exactly blame himself for not having done so. Purvis had declared that he was only going to Buenos Ayres for a couple of days, and it would have been absurd to delay him that he might give information which perhaps he did not fully possess. Still, the thing had been too cleverly worked out to be altogether a fraud, surely. His thought went back again to the belief that Purvis had got hold of his brother, and had extracted a great deal of information from him, and was only delaying to make him known to Peter until he had arranged the best bargain he could for himself. Looking back on all the talks they had had together there was something which convinced him that Purvis's close application to the search had not been made with a view only of extracting some hundreds of pounds from him, but that the man's game was deeper than that. Purvis was far too clever to waste his talents in dabbling in paltry matters, or in securing a small sum of money for himself. He was a man who worked in big figures, and it was evident that he meant to pull off a good thing. That his dishonesty was proved was beyond all manner of doubt, and the only thing was to watch events and to see what would now happen. If Purvis gave them the slip what was to be done in the future? 'I believe he will try to save his steamer,' said Ross, after a long silence. Every one was thinking of the same subject, and his abrupt exclamation needed no explanation. 'If he could trust his hands he might,' said the commissario in halting, broken English; 'but I doubt if they or the peons have been paid lately.'