'Could a boat from a ship in the river go up it?' asked Albert.
'Oh, easy!' replied Chippy; and, in response to the other's request, he gave clear directions for finding the spot.
'I'll 'ave a look at it,' said the lodger. 'I like a good long walk. The doctor told me as that was the best thing for me. So I got a good strong pair o' trotter-cases, an' I tramp out wet an' dry.'
He raised one of his heavy boots for a moment, and let it fall.
'Got it,' said the pleased scout to himself, but gave no sign of his discovery. The heavy iron tips on Albert's heels were screwed on instead of nailed on, and the groove in the head of each screw had left a small but distinct ridge in the earth at each point where the screws came in the heel.
It was only practice, but Chippy was as keen in practice as he was when chasing the thievish tramp for the lost basket. He had mastered the idea that it will not do to be keen by fits and starts: you must be on the spot all the time. So he took away from Locking that afternoon one fact which he had discovered about his grandmother's lodger—the boots from a London hotel—that the tips on his heels were screwed on, whereas the common method is nailing.
CHAPTER XII
DICK AND CHIPPY MEET A SERGEANT—THE QUEER TRAIL—A STRANGE DISCOVERY
The Monday week after Chippy's visit to Locking was Easter Monday and a general holiday. The Wolves and the Ravens made it a grand field-day, and they were on the heath by nine o'clock, each with a day's food in pocket or haversack, and a grand scouting-run ahead—a run which had been planned from point to point by Mr. Elliott, who accompanied them. The patrols had by now worked together several times, and had become brothers in arms.