feet in front of one another; that's because he was carryin'
somethin' heavy when he come an' nothin' when he left.'

"It was an observation on footprints," he went on, "that had
never occurred to me. The hobo saw my awakened interest, and he
added:

"`Did you never notice a man carryin' a heavy load? He kind of
totters, walkin' with his feet apart to keep his balance. That
makes his foot tracks side by side like, instead of one before
the other as he makes them when he's goin' light."'

Walker interrupted his narrative with a comment:

"It's the truth. I've verified it a thousand times since that
hobo put me onto it. A line running through the center of the
heel prints of a man carrying a heavy burden will be a zigzag,
while one through the heel prints of the same man without the
burden will be almost straight.

"The tramp went right on with his deductions:

"`If it come in and didn't go out, it's here.'

"And he began to go over the inside of the shed. He searched it
like a man searching a box for a jewel. He moved the pieces of
old castings and he literally fingered the shed from end to end.
He would have found a bird's egg.

"Finally he stopped and stood with his hand spread out over his