Here there was no flagging,
the walk taking a diagonal course from the corner of the ell to the
kitchen door.
"What are those?" he asked, pointing to two oblong impressions brimming
with water which disfigured the center of this small plot.
"They look like footprints," ventured Ransom.
"They are footprints," decided Mr. Harper as they stooped to examine the
marks, "and the footprints of a person dropping from a height. Nothing
else explains their depth or general appearance."
"Couldn't they be those of a person approaching the ell to converse with
some one above? I see others similar to these in the open place over
there beyond the kitchen door."
"It is a trail. Let us follow it. It seems to lead anywhere but towards
the waterfall. This is an important discovery, Mr. Ransom, and may lead
to conclusions such as we might not otherwise have presumed to entertain,
especially if we come upon an impression clear enough to point in which
direction the person making it was going."
"Here is what you want," Ransom assured him in a low and curiously
smothered voice. He was evidently greatly excited by this result of their
inquiries, for all his apparent quiet and precise movements. "It's a
woman's step, and that woman was going from the ell when she left these
tokens of her passage behind her.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113