His future set and his fossils packed and sent on their way, Brown returned to Punta Arenas only to discover that no ships were scheduled to leave for New York for another four months, extending his time in South America once again. Loath to take on any new expenses without Osborn's approval, Brown "decided to do some exploring," he wrote. He soon fell in with a quasi-professional gambler named Saltpere, who was never seen without gloves on and could recite several full novels by Charles Dickens from memory. Brown begged Saltpere to take him on a joy ride around Cape Horn after the man casually mentioned that he had a six-ton boat. Saltpere agreed, but told him they would first need to work together to recover the boat from a one-armed man who had stolen it and moored it near a shipwreck of Tierra del Fuego when he realized he couldn't sail it on his own. Brown couldn't tell how much truth was attached to Saltpere's tale, but decided to go along with it to see where it led. Sure enough, a few days later Brown stood next to Saltpere as he confronted the one-armed thief on the stolen boat and retook possession of his vessel. Having secured what was his, Saltpere offered to take the thief along with them on the trip to Cape Horn and was disheartened when he refused (a smart move, given that Saltpere was likely to leave him on an island as punishment, Brown later surmised.)
- from The Monster's Bones, 108
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