The Cask by Freeman Wills Crofts (feel good novels .txt) 📕

“Well then, conversely, the unknown must have taken a short one.”

“But did he? Assume it was Watty, as I think it must have been. You were with him and you saw him walking.”

“Oh, come now, Inspector. How could I tell that? He didn’t normally take very short steps or I should have noticed it, but I couldn’t possibly say that he never took one.”

“The point is not essential except that it calls attention to a peculiarity in the steps. But you must admit that while possible, it is quite unlikely he would take a step of that length⁠—nineteen inches as against a probable thirty-three⁠—without stumbling or making a false step.”

“But how do you know he didn’t stumble?”

“The impression, my dear sir, the impression. A false step or a stumble would have made a blurred mark or shown heavier on one side than the other. This print shows no slip and is evenly marked all over. It was clearly made quite normally.”

“That seems reasonable, but I don’t see how it matters.”

“To me it seems exceedingly suggestive though, I agree, not conclusive. But there is a nearly conclusive point, Mr. Felix. Look at those prints again.”

“They convey nothing to me.”

“Compare them.”

“Well, I can only compare the heels and there is not much difference between them, just as you would expect between the heels of a pair of boots.” Felix hesitated. “By Jove! Inspector,” he went on, “I’ve got you at last. They’re the same marks. They were both made by the same foot.”

“I think so, Mr. Felix; you have it now. Look here.” The Inspector stooped. “The fourth nail on the lefthand side is gone. That alone might be a coincidence, but if you compare the wear of the other nails and of the leather you will see they are the same beyond doubt.”

He pointed to several little inequalities and inaccuracies in the outline, each of which appeared in both the marks.

“But even if they are the same, I don’t know that I see what you get from that.”

“Don’t you? Well, look here. How could Watty, if it was he, have produced them? Surely only in one of two ways. Firstly, he could have hopped on one foot. But there are three reasons why it is unlikely he did that. One is that he could hardly have done it without your noticing it. Another, that he could never have left so clear an impression in that way. The third, why should he hop? He simply wouldn’t do it. Therefore they were made in the second way. What was that, Mr. Felix?”

Felix started.

“I see what you’re after at last,” he said. “He walked up the drive twice.”

“Of course he did. He walked up first with you to leave the cask. He walked up the second time with the empty dray to get it. If the impressions were really made by Watty that seems quite certain.”

“But what on earth would Watty want with the cask? He could not know there was money in it.”

“Probably not, but he must have guessed it held something valuable.”

“Inspector, you overwhelm me with delight. If he took the cask it will surely be easy to trace it.”

“It may or it may not. Question is, Are we sure he was acting for himself.”

“Who else?”

“What about your French friend? You don’t know whom he may have written to. You don’t know that all your actions with the cask may not have been watched.”

“Oh, don’t make things worse than they are. Trace this Watty, won’t you?”

“Of course we will, but it may not be so easy as you seem to think. At the same time there are two other points, both of which seem to show he was at least alone.”

“Yes?”

“The first is the watcher in the lane. That was almost certainly the man who walked twice up your drive. I told you I found his footmarks at three points along it. One was near your little gate, close beside and pointing to the hedge, showing he was standing there. That was at the very point my man saw the watcher.

“The second point concerns the horse and dray, and this is what leads me to believe the watcher was really Watty. If Watty was listening up the lane where were these? If he had a companion the latter would doubtless have walked them up and down the road. But if he was alone they must have been hidden somewhere while he made his investigations. I’ve been over most of the roads immediately surrounding, and on my fourth shot⁠—towards the north, as I already told you⁠—I found the place. It is fairly clear what took place. On leaving the cask he had evidently driven along the road until he found a gate that did not lead to a house. It was, as I said, that of a field. The marks there are unmistakable. He led the dray in behind the hedge and tied the horse to a tree. Then he came back to reconnoitre and heard you going out. He must have immediately returned and brought the dray, got the cask, and cleared out, and I imagine he was not many minutes gone before my man Walker returned. What do you think of that for a working theory?”

“I think it’s conclusive. Absolutely conclusive. And that explains the queer-shaped ladder.”

“Eh, what? What’s that you say?”

“It must have been the gangway business for loading barrels on the dray. I saw one hooked on below the deck.”

Burnley smote his thigh a mighty slap.

“One for you, Mr. Felix,” he cried, “one for you, sir. I never thought of it. That points to Watty again.”

“Inspector, let me congratulate you. You have got evidence that makes the thing a practical certainty.”

“I think it’s a true bill. And now, sir, I must be getting back to the Yard.” Burnley hesitated and then went on: “I am extremely sorry and I’m afraid you won’t like it, but I shall be straight with you and tell you I cannot⁠—I simply dare not⁠—leave you