'Ay, that Lunnon do mek 'em lively!' replied Mrs. Ryder. 'He's the best o' comp'ny--a very nice young man, I'm sure! He's no trouble at all--blacks his own boots, an' looks arter hisself all ways! I worn't willin' at first to let him have my empty room, but I'm glad I did. The place has done him a power o' good, though he didn't look very ill time he come down!' 'What's his name?' asked Chippy. 'Albert,' replied the old woman. 'I know that one,' said the boy, 'What's t'other name?' 'I dunno,' returned Mrs. Ryder. 'He told me to call him Albert, and I niver asked his other name.' Everything that happens, everyone that appears, must furnish food for practice for a Boy Scout, and Chippy ran his eye over Albert from head to foot, and noted every detail of his perfectly commonplace appearance. Then the boy followed him into the garden, and, true to the habit which was rapidly becoming an instinct, he dropped a glance on Albert's track. There was a patch of damp earth near the door, and the lodger's footprint was plainly stamped on it. At the first swift look Chippy gathered that there was something slightly different from usual about the heel-print. He did not look closely, for you must never let anyone know that either he himself or the trail he leaves, is being watched; but there was something. Chippy strolled forward, but no other mark was to be seen; the garden path was hard, clean gravel. Albert had seated himself on a bench nailed against an elm in the garden fence, and was smoking calmly in the sunshine. As Chippy drew near, he turned his head and smiled in a friendly fashion. 'I s'pose you know all the creeks along the river pretty fair?' he asked. 'Most of 'em,' replied Chippy. 'I've heerd Jem Lacey talk of a place they called Smuggler's Creek, where the old smugglers used to run their boats in,' went on Albert; 'I should like to 'ave a look at that. When I was a kid I used to be fair crazy arter tales of old smugglers an' that sort o' thing.' 'I know it all right,' replied Chippy. 'There ain't no 'ouse nor anythin' for miles of it.' 'Not nowadays?' cried Albert. 'Yus!' returned Chippy. 'It's just as quiet as it used to be.' 'Could a boat from a ship in the river go up it?' asked Albert. 'Oh, easy!' replied Chippy; and, in response to the other's request, he gave clear directions for finding the spot. 'I'll 'ave a look at it,' said the lodger. 'I like a good long walk. The doctor told me as that was the best thing for me. So I got a good strong pair o' trotter-cases, an' I tramp out wet an' dry.' He raised one of his heavy boots for a moment, and let it fall. 'Got it,' said the pleased scout to himself, but gave no sign of his discovery. The heavy iron tips on Albert's heels were screwed on instead of nailed on, and the groove in the head of each screw had left a small but distinct ridge in the earth at each point where the screws came in the heel.