How they would laugh at me! But suddenly I remembered a thing I once heard in Rhodesia from old Peter Pienaar.

I have quoted Peter already in this narrative.

He was the best scout I ever knew, and before he had turned respectable he had been pretty often on the windy side of the law, when he had been wanted badly by the authorities.

Peter once discussed with me the question of disguises, and he had a theory which struck me at the time.

He said, barring absolute certainties like fingerprints, mere physical traits were very little use for identification if the fugitive really knew his business.