Let us see where he went."
The back garden was a small, fenced patch of ground, with an earth path
leading down to the back gate. A little way beyond the gate was a small
barn or outhouse.
"We are in luck," Thorndyke remarked, with a glance at the path.
"Yesterday's rain has cleared away all old footprints, and prepared the
surface for new ones. You see there are three sets of excellent
impressions--two leading away from the house, and one set towards it.
Now, you notice that both of the sets leading _from_ the house are
characterized by deep impressions and short steps, while the set leading
_to_ the house has lighter impressions and longer steps. The obvious
inference is that he went down the path with a heavy burden, came back
empty-handed, and went down again--and finally--with another heavy
burden. You observe, too, that he walked with his stick on each
occasion."
By this time we had reached the bottom of the garden. Opening the gate,
we followed the tracks towards the outhouse, which stood beside a
cart-track; but as we came round the corner we both stopped short and
looked at one another.
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