Pip tore over to the patch from which the farmer had removed the turf. Yes - the criss-cross marking showed up quite clearly in the print. It was the same shoe, no doubt about that!
"Yes!" he yelled. "It's the same!" The others were thrilled. They really were getting on!
"Well," said Larry, looking down the lane. "I'm afraid it's not much good going any farther, because the surface of the lane is hard, and won't show anything. But we've found out what we wanted to know. We've found out that a man hid in the hedge for some reason, and we know that he wore shoes of a certain shape and size, with rubber soles that had criss-cross markings! Not bad for a day's work!"
"I'll make a drawing of the prints.," said Fatty. "I'll measure the exact size, and make an exact copy of the marks. Then we've only got to find the shoes, and we've got the man!"
"We know what sort of shoes he wore and what kind of suit," said Larry, thinking of the scrap of grey cloth in his match-box. "I bet old Clear-Orf won't have noticed anything at all."
"I'd better go back to the hotel and get some paper to copy the footprints," said Fatty importantly. "It's a good thing I can draw so well. I won first prize last term for Art."
"What art?" said Larry. "The art of boasting? Or the art of eating too much ? "
"Aren't you clever?" said Fatty crossly, who did not at all like this sort of teasing.
"Yes, he is clever!" said Daisy, "but he doesn't boast
about his brains as you do, Frederick Algernon Trotte ville!"