“Is that right, Sherlocko, you Sleuth?” asked Jimmie.
Ned turned to his chums with amusement showing in his eyes.
“Let me read you the story told by the salt sack,” he said whimsically. “And remember,” he went on, as the boys laughed and nudged each other, “this story will not be reprinted in book form, so you’ll have to catch it as I tell it. It will not even be told again!”
“Go on with your blessed old dope,” laughed Frank.
“Well,” Ned began, holding the sack up for inspection, “the person who stole our provisions took salt from this sack in order to season his meal. He took quite a lot, too, judging from the way the salt lowered during the night. Probably thought he’d take enough while the taking was good, for which we can’t blame him.”
“We knew all that before!” Jimmie declared.
“Now listen,” Ned went on, “here comes the magic part of the case! The person who took the salt from this sack was fifteen years of age. He was tall and slender, and had gone without food for three days. He did not come down from the divide, but crept up from the valley. He was lightly clad, and wore a ragged coat and broken shoes. He stood outside the cave for a long time before gaining courage to enter.”
The boys gathered around Ned with laughing faces and pretended to inspect the salt bag with reverential interest.
“Go on, now,” Jimmie demanded. “Go on and give us the answer to all this! Tell us how you know so much about a person you have never seen.”
“Look here,” Ned explained, “I know the person was a boy because the finger marks on the sack show a small, slender hand. Slender fingers represent a slender body, you know, and that’s why I say the person was young and slim.”