‘Don’t they?’ returned Simon combatively. ‘Somebody’s been up this track ahead of us. Didn’t you pick that?’

‘How could I “pick” anything when you did nothing but kick dust in my glasses? Show me a footprint and I’ll believe in it. Not before.’

‘Good-oh, then. There. What’s that?’

‘You’ve just made it with your own flat foot,’ said Dikon crossly.

‘What if I have? It’s a print, isn’t it? Goes to show.’

‘Possibly.’ Dikon wiped his glasses and peered round. ‘What are those things?’ he said. ‘Over by the bank. Dents in the ground?’

He pointed and Simon gave a raucous cry of triumph. ‘What did I tell you? Prints!’ He removed his boots and crossed to the bank. ‘You better take a look,’ he said. Dikon removed his shoes. He had a blister on each heel and was glad to do so. He joined Simon.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘The footprints after all, and I can tell you exactly how they would be described by the know-alls. Several confused impressions of the Booted Foot, two being more clearly defined and making an angle of approximately thirty degrees the one with the other. Distance between inside margins of heel, half an inch. Distance between position of outside margin of big toes, approximately ten inches. This latter pair of impressions was found in damp clay but had been protected from recent rain by a bank which overhung them at a height of approximately three feet. There’s great virtue in the word “approximately”.’

‘Good-ow!’ said Simon on a more enthusiastic inflection than he usually gave to this odious expression. ‘Nice work, go on.’

‘Nails in the soles and heels. Toes more deeply indented than heels. Right foot, four nails in heel; six in sole. Left foot, three in heel, six in sole. Ergo, he lost a nail.’

‘How much, he lost a nail?’

‘Ergo. I’m being affected.’

‘Huh! Yeh, well, what sort of chap is he? Does he act like Questing? Stands with his heels close together and his toes apart. Puts more weight on his toes than his heels. Say what you like, you can deduce quite a bit if you use your nut.’

‘As, for instance, he must be a dwarf.’

‘Eye?’

‘The bank overhangs the prints at a height of three feet. How could he stand?’

‘Aw heck!’

‘Would squatting fill the bill? The other prints show where he scuffled round trying to settle.’

‘That’s right. OK, he squatted. For a long time.’

‘With his weight forward on his toes,’ Dikon suggested. He had begun to feel mildly stimulated. ‘The clay was damp at the time. Yesterday’s rain was easterly and hasn’t got in under the bank. On Thursday night there was a light rain from the sea.’

‘Don’t I know it? I was away out there, don’t forget.’