He requested, therefore, that his host would let him hear what he desired to know.
Barto Rizzo's forefinger was pressed from an angle into one temple.

His head inclined to meet it: so that it was like the support to a broad blunt pillar.

The cropped head was flat as an owl's; the chest of immense breadth; the bulgy knees and big hands were those of a dwarf athlete.

Strong colour, lying full on him from the neck to the forehead, made the big veins purple and the eyes fierier than the movements of his mind would have indicated.

He was simply studying the character of his man.