on his nerves
too.

"Terry," I said uneasily, "I never saw them before. I thought I examined
everything thoroughly, but I was so excited I suppose--"

"What did you make of them?" he interrupted, whirling about on Mattison
who was looking over our shoulders.

"I--I didn't see them," Mattison stammered.

"For heaven's sake, men," said Terry impatiently. "Do you mean they
weren't there or you didn't notice them?"

The sheriff and I looked at each other blankly, and neither answered.

Terry stood with his hands in his pockets frowning down at the marks,
while the rest of us waited silently, scarcely daring to think. Finally
he turned away without saying a word, and, motioning us to keep back,
commenced examining the path which led up the incline. He mounted the
three stone steps, and with his eyes on the ground, slowly advanced to
the spot where the struggle had taken place.

"How tall a man did you say Mose was?" he called down to us.

"Little short fellow--not more than five feet high," returned the
sheriff.

Terry took his ruler from his pocket and bent over to study the marks at
the scene of the struggle. He straightened up with an air of
satisfaction.

"Now I want you men to look carefully at those marks on the lower
borders of the pool, and then come up here and look at these. Come along
up in single file, please, and keep to the middle of the path."

He spoke in the tone of one giving a demonstration before a kindergarten
class. We obeyed him silently and ranged in a row along the boards.

"Come here," he said. "Bend over where you can see. Now look at those
marks. Do you see anything different in them from the marks below?"

The sheriff and I gazed intently at the prints of bare feet which
marked the entire vicinity of the struggle. We had both examined them
more than once before, and we saw nothing now but what had already
appeared. We straightened up and shook our heads.

"They're the prints of bare feet," said Mattison, stolidly. "But I don't
see that they're any different from any other bare feet."

Terry handed him the ruler.

"Measure them," he said. "Measure this one that's flat on the ground.
Now go down and measure one of those prints by the borders of the pool."

Mattison took the ruler and complied. As he bent over the marks on the
lower border we could see by the light of his candle the look of
astonishment that sprang into his face.

"Well, what do you find?" Terry asked.

"The