are no nails in them. Note also the peculiar clumsy tread--the deep toe
and heel marks, as if the walker had wooden legs, or fixed ankles and
knees. From that character we can safely infer high boots of thick,
rigid leather, so that we can diagnose high boots, massive and stiff,
with nailless soles, and many sizes too large for the wearer. But the
only boot that answers this description is the fisherman's
thigh-boot--made of enormous size to enable him to wear in the winter
two or three pairs of thick knitted stockings, one over the other. Now
look at the other footprints; there is a double track, you see, one set
coming from the sea and one going towards it. As the man (who was
bow-legged and turned his toes in) has trodden in his own footprints, it
is obvious that he came from the sea, and returned to it. But observe
the difference in the two sets of prints; the returning ones are much
deeper than the others, and the stride much shorter. Evidently he was
carrying something when he returned, and that something was very heavy.
Moreover, we can see, by the greater depth of the toe impressions, that
he was stooping forward as he walked, and so probably carried the weight
on his back. Is that quite clear?"

"Perfectly," I replied. "But how do you arrive at the interval of time
between the visits of the two men?"

"That also is quite simple. The tide is now about halfway out; it is
thus about three hours since high water. Now, the fisherman walked just
about the neap-tide, high-water mark, sometimes above it and sometimes
below. But none of his footprints have been obliterated; therefore he
passed after high water--that is, less than three hours ago; and since
his footprints are all equally distinct, he could not have passed when
the sand was very wet. Therefore he probably passed less than an hour
ago. The other man's footprints, on the other hand, reach only to the