"oh, tut, tut! i have no time! that left foot of yours with its inward twist is all over the place. a mole could trace it, and there it vanishes among the reeds. oh, how simple it would all have been had i been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and wallowed all over it. here is where the party with the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or eight feet round the body. but here are three separate tracks of the same feet." he drew out a lens and lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to himself than to us. "these are young mccarthy’s feet. twice he was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. that bears out his story. he ran when he saw his father on the ground. then here are the father’s feet as he paced up and down. what is this, then? it is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. and this? ha, ha! what have we here?