John Thorndykes Cases | Page 2

welcomed him with
open arms.
"You certainly don't seem to be overworked, Jervis," he remarked, as
we turned out of the gate after tea, on the day of his arrival, for a stroll
on the shore. "Is this a new practice, or an old one in a state of senile
decay?"
"Why, the fact is," I answered, "there is virtually no practice.
Cooper--my principal--has been here about six years, and as he has
private means he has never made any serious effort to build one up; and
the other man, Dr. Burrows, being uncommonly keen, and the people
very conservative, Cooper has never really got his foot in. However, it
doesn't seem to trouble him."
"Well, if he is satisfied, I suppose you are," said Thorndyke, with a
smile. "You are getting a seaside holiday, and being paid for it. But I

didn't know you were as near to the sea as this."
We were entering, as he spoke, an artificial gap-way cut through the
low cliff, forming a steep cart-track down to the shore. It was locally
known as Sundersley Gap, and was used principally, when used at all,
by the farmers' carts which came down to gather seaweed after a gale.
"What a magnificent stretch of sand!" continued Thorndyke, as we
reached the bottom, and stood looking out seaward across the deserted
beach. "There is something very majestic and solemn in a great expanse
of sandy shore when the tide is out, and I know of nothing which is
capable of conveying the impression of solitude so completely. The
smooth, unbroken surface not only displays itself untenanted for the
moment, but it offers convincing testimony that it has lain thus
undisturbed through a considerable lapse of time. Here, for instance, we
have clear evidence that for several days only two pairs of feet besides
our own have trodden this gap."
"How do you arrive at the 'several days'?" I asked.
"In the simplest manner possible," he replied. "The moon is now in the
third quarter, and the tides are consequently neap-tides. You can see
quite plainly the two lines of seaweed and jetsam which indicate the
high-water marks of the spring-tides and the neap-tides respectively.
The strip of comparatively dry sand between them, over which the
water has not risen for several days, is, as you see, marked by only two
sets of footprints, and those footprints will not be completely
obliterated by the sea until the next spring-tide--nearly a week from
to-day."
"Yes, I see now, and the thing appears obvious enough when one has
heard the explanation. But it is really rather odd that no one should
have passed through this gap for days, and then that four persons
should have come here within quite a short interval of one another."
"What makes you think they have done so?" Thorndyke asked.
"Well," I replied, "both of these sets of footprints appear to be quite

fresh, and to have been made about the same time."
"Not at the same time, Jervis," rejoined Thorndyke. "There is certainly
an interval of several hours between them, though precisely how many
hours we cannot judge, since there has been so little wind lately to
disturb them; but the fisherman unquestionably passed here not more
than three hours ago, and I should say probably within an hour;
whereas the other man--who seems to have come up from a boat to
fetch something of considerable weight--returned through the gap
certainly not less, and probably more, than four hours ago."
I gazed at my friend in blank astonishment, for these events befell in
the days before I had joined him as his assistant, and his special
knowledge and powers of inference were not then fully appreciated by
me.
"It is clear, Thorndyke," I said, "that footprints have a very different
meaning to you from what they have for me. I don't see in the least how
you have reached any of these conclusions."
"I suppose not," was the reply; "but, you see, special knowledge of this
kind is the stock-in-trade of the medical jurist, and has to be acquired
by special study, though the present example is one of the greatest
simplicity. But let us consider it point by point; and first we will take
this set of footprints which I have inferred to be a fisherman's. Note
their enormous size. They should be the footprints of a giant. But the
length of the stride shows that they were made by a rather short man.
Then observe the massiveness of the soles, and the fact that there 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,