Lord Stranleigh seems the very picture of idle wealth: exquisitely dressed, languid, and impossible to rouse. But when Peter Mackeller, a hard-headed mining engineer with a practical turn of mind, arrives bearing a letter from John Hazel, the bored aristocrat is drawn into a world of fraud, speculation, and ruthless finance. Mackeller lays out the danger with blunt urgency: his father, a northern stockbroker of strict honesty, has been caught in the collapse of a West African gold venture, Red Shallows, after a syndicate turned on its own shares to frighten investors into selling cheaply. He needs five thousand pounds to hold the line. Stranleigh, amused and skeptical, unexpectedly provides the money and agrees to meet the elder Mackeller, stepping deeper into a struggle where mining judgment, family loyalty, and market manipulation collide. His investigation soon carries him by launch to a suspicious river operation, where he confronts men guarding a claimed mineral territory and, with effortless courtesy, talks his way aboard their yacht. Behind his polished wit and social ease lies a keen intelligence, as he probes ownership, wireless equipment, and hidden motives. In this tale of high-stakes adventure and financial intrigue, the seemingly frivolous lord may prove the shrewdest player of all. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.