"See anythin' peculiar 'bout those lucifers, Rube?" he asked.
"Guess I see the same as you do, Kiddie," was Rube's reply. "They're dirty, an' the charcoal's wore off their tips. Looks as if they'd been carried in some chap's pocket."
Kiddie stood up.
"Now let's get along t' the cabin," he said. "Will you come, Sheriff?"
Isa and Rube both accompanied him. They went down to Grizzly Notch, where the still loaded canoe had been left overnight. While Rube was loosening the painter, Kiddie went aside to the spare canoe, and searched about on the bank. Presently he stood still, and called Rube to his side.
"Take stock of that footprint," he began, pointing to the moist ground. "Horseshoe heel, a toecap, an' two rows of hob-nails; one nail missin'. D'ye know anythin'?"
Rube shook his head.
"None of our men wears boots like that," he declared. "But I've a idea I've seen the same impression before—somewhere. Lemme think."
Later, when the three of them were landing at the little pier, close to Kiddie's cabin, Rube said quietly—
"I remember now, Kiddie, 'bout that footprint—or the boot that made it. Nick Undrell wears boots nailed an' clamped like that. An' didn't Abe tell us as Nick had bin seen prowlin' round here? Guess it was Nick's pipe you found in the canoe. What you whistlin' for?"