They hurried along the beach, following the trail. It seemed to present nothing of particular interest until, as they drew near the old wreck, Sir Clinton's eye ranged ahead and picked up something fresh. “See that new set of tracks—a third man—coming out from behind the old wreck's hull and joining the other two?” he asked, pointing as he spoke. “Keep well to the landward side as we come up to them, so as not to muddle them up with our own footprints. I think our best line would be to climb up on top of the wreck and make a general survey from above.” They followed his advice; and soon all three had climbed to the deck of the hulk, from which vantage-point they could look down almost straight upon the meeting-point of the three trails. “H'm!” said Sir Clinton reflectively. “Let's take No. 3 first of all. He evidently came down from the road and took up a position where the hull of the wreck concealed him from the other two. The moon must have risen three or four hours before, so there would be light enough on the beach. You'd better make a rough sketch of these tracks, inspector, while we're up here. We shan't have much time before that tide washes everything out.” The inspector set to work at once to make a diagram of the various tracks on the sand below, while Sir Clinton continued his inspection. “No. 3 evidently hung about behind the wreck for a long while,” the chief constable pointed out. “You can see how the sand's trampled at random as he shuffled around trying to keep himself warm during his waiting. Now we'll suppose that Fordingbridge and No. 2 are coming up. Look at their tracks, squire. They came up almost under the lee of the wreck; and then they turned right round, as if they intended to retrace their steps. It looks as though they'd come to the end of their walk and meant to turn back. But they seem to have stood there for a while; for the prints are indistinct—which is just what happens if you stand long enough on wet sand. The water oozes, owing to the long displacement of the sand particles, and when you lift your foot it leaves simply a mass of mushy stuff where you stood, with no clean impression.” [Illustration: a diagram of three sets of footmarks. Two sets come from the left. One set, labeled “Fordingbridge,” stops in the middle of the diagram, near a large triangular shape labeled “Wreck.” The other set of tracks, labeled “No. 2,” parallels the first set but then continues off to the right. The third set, labeled “No. 3 Light Trail,” comes from the lower right to the end of the Fordingbridge tracks. They then turn back to the right, alongside No. 2, where they are labeled “No. 3 Heavy Trail.”] He glanced again over the tracks before continuing.