"They are a camel's footprints," he said, looking at the marks carefully. "And the marks of all the four feet are not quite the same. Three of them are quite deep and clear; but the fourth one is very faint." He followed the camel's footprints along the road for a long time. But now and again he stopped and looked at the shrubs and bushes which grew here and there, on both sides of the road. "Hello, that is strange!" he suddenly said. "The camel has eaten from the bushes and shrubs here and there on the left side of the road, but he hasn't eaten at all from those on the right side of the road." He went on for some time longer, then suddenly stopped to look at the road where the camel had walked. "Hello, this is also strange!" he said. "Here are a lot of _bees_ buzzing near the ground on the _right_ side of the road. And here are a lot of _ants_ scrambling over the ground on the _left_ side of the road." "Never mind about the camel, and the bees and the ants," the policemen said impatiently. "We want to know about the thief who stole the money. You have not found any other footprints except the camel's?" "That is quite true," the clever man said. "But as the _camel_ could not steal the money, there must be a _man_ riding on the camel. He must be the thief." "But why didn't the thief leave any footprints?" the policemen asked. "Because he must have ridden his camel from the roadway right to the edge of the grass," the clever man answered. "Then he must have jumped down upon the grass, where he knew he would not leave any footprint. He must have walked very quietly on the grass up to the tree where the traveler was sleeping, and stolen the money. Then he must have walked back quietly to the camel and ridden off." "But what sort of a man is the thief?" the police asked. "How can we find him, if you do not tell us what he is like?" "I cannot tell you a thing about the thief, or what he looks like, as he hasn't even left a footprint," the clever man answered. "But I can tell you _all about the camel_. The camel is _blind_ in his _right eye_, and _lame_ in his _left hind foot_. And on his back he is carrying two packages, one on each side; the package on the _right_ side has _honey_ in it, and the package on the _left_ side has _corn_ in it. So you must search for a man who is riding a camel loaded like that. He is the thief." So the police searched for a man who was riding a camel which was blind in his right eye, lame in his left hind foot, and carrying honey in a package on his right side, and corn in a package on his left side. After following the camel's footprints on the ground for a long time, the police at last came to a village.