A Dr. John Thorndyke Mystery "This man Austin Freeman is a wonderful performer"- -- Raymond Chandler "It is pretty clear, up to a certain point," the sergeant observed, as he concluded his investigations, "how the affair happened, and it is pretty clear, too, that the murder was premeditated. You see, Doctor, the deceased gentleman, Mr. Hearn, was apparently walking home from Port Marston; we saw his footprints along the shore--those rubber heels make them easy to identify--and he didn't go down Sundersley Gap. He probably meant to climb up the cliff by that little track that you see there, which the people about here call the Shepherd's Path. Now the murderer must have known that he was coming, and waited upon the cliff to keep a lookout. When he saw Mr. Hearn enter the bay, he came down the path and attacked him, and, after a tough struggle, succeeded in stabbing him. Then he turned and went back up the path. You can see the double track between the path and the place where the struggle took place, and the footprints going to the path are on top of those coming from it." "If you follow the tracks," said Dr. Burrows, "you ought to be able to see where the murderer went to." "I'm afraid not," replied the sergeant. "There are no marks on the path itself--the rock is too hard, and so is the ground above, I fear. But I'll go over it carefully all the same." The investigations being so far concluded, the body was lifted on to the stretcher, and the cortège, consisting of the bearers, the Doctor, and the fisherman, moved off towards the Gap, while the sergeant, having civilly wished us "Good-evening," scrambled up the Shepherd's Path, and vanished above. "A very smart officer that," said Thorndyke. "I should like to know what he wrote in his notebook."
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