"Come here," he said. "Bend over where you can see. Now look at those
marks. Do you see anything different in them from the marks below?"
The sheriff and I gazed intently at the prints of bare feet which
marked the entire vicinity of the struggle. We had both examined them
more than once before, and we saw nothing now but what had already
appeared. We straightened up and shook our heads.
"They're the prints of bare feet," said Mattison, stolidly. "But I don't
see that they're any different from any other bare feet."
Terry handed him the ruler.
"Measure them," he said. "Measure this one that's flat on the ground.
Now go down and measure one of those prints by the borders of the pool."
Mattison took the ruler and complied. As he bent over the marks on the
lower border we could see by the light of his candle the look of
astonishment that sprang into his face.
"Well, what do you find?" Terry asked.
"The marks up there are nearly two inches longer and an inch broader."
"Exactly."
"Terry," I said, "you can't blame us for not finding that out. We
examined everything when we took away the body, and those marks below
were simply not there. Someone has been in since."
"So I conclude. Now, Mattison," he added to the sheriff, "come here and
show me the marks of Radnor Gaylord's riding boots."
Mattison returned and pointed out the mark which he had produced at the
inquest, but his assurance, I noticed, was somewhat shaken.
"That," said Terry half contemptuously, "is the mark of Colonel Gaylord.
You must remember that he was struggling with his assailant. He did not
plant his foot squarely every time. Sometimes we have only the heel
mark: sometimes only the toe. In this case we have more than the mark of
the whole foot. How do I account for it? Simply enough. The Colonel's
foot slipped sideways. The mark is, you see, exactly the same in length
as the others, but disproportionately broad. At the heel and toe it is
smudged, and on the inside where the weight was thrown, it is heavier
than on the outside. The thing is easy enough to understand. You ought
to have been able to deduce it for yourselves. And besides, how did you
account for the fact that there was only one mark? A man engaged in a
struggle must have left more than that behind him. No; it is quite
clear. At this point on the edge of the bank there was no third person.
We are dealing with only two men--Colonel Gaylord and his murderer; and
the murderer was bare-footed."
"Mose?" I asked.
"No," said Terry, patiently, "not Mose."
"Then who?"
"That--remains to be seen. I will follow him up and find out where he
comes from."
Terry held his candle close to the ground and followed along the path.
At the entrance to the little gallery of the broken column it diverged,
one part leading into the gallery, and the other into a sort of blind
alley at one side. Terry paused at the opening.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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