Explore "The Seal of Nebuchadnezzar" by R. Austin Freeman on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"I suppose, Thorndyke," said I, "footprints yield quite a lot of information if you think about them enough?"
The question was called forth by the circumstance of my friend halting and stooping to examine the little pit made in the loamy soil of the path by the walking stick of some unknown wayfarer. Ever since we had entered this path -- to which we had been directed by the station-master of Pinwell Junction as a short cut to our destination -- I had noticed my friend scanning its surface, marked with numerous footprints, as if he were mentally reconstructing the personalities of the various travellers who had trodden it before us. This I knew to be a habit of his, almost unconsciously pursued; and the present conditions certainly favoured it, for here, as the path traversed a small wood, the slightly moist, plastic surface took impressions with the sharpness of moulding wax.