"_Mrs. Sharp is ill this morning; and Johnny Milne has been to the
railway station to fetch some newspapers._"
This was how I got at it.
There were only two fresh tracks. One was of a boy walking and the
other of a bicycle.
The boy's footmarks showed a nailed boot, not big enough for a man,
walking along the road which led to the school and to the railway
station. It was Saturday, a whole holiday, so he could not be going to
school; he would therefore be going to the station.
Why to the station? Because at 7.33 the train came with the
newspapers, and there were his tracks going back again, (_They
occasionally overtrod the outgoing footprints._)
One boy in the village, Johnny Milne, was employed by the shop to
fetch the papers from the train.
So if the train were punctual he would have passed this spot on his
way back about twenty minutes later; that was at seven minutes to
eight.
[Illustration: "Mrs. Sharp is ill, and Johnny Milne has brought the
newspapers from the station."]
Now, the bicycle track showed that the machine was ridden up the hill
(_the track zig-zagged along the road, whereas if it had been
running downhill it would have gone pretty straight_), the rider
getting very tired (more _zig-zag_) near the top. There the
bicycle had stopped (_sharp turn and slither of the wheels in the
sand_), and the rider had got off to rest. It was a woman (_small
foot, no nail marks, small, sharp heel_).
She had stood a short time (_footmarks on top of each other_),
and had then remounted and ridden on. She had passed this spot between
7.15 and ten minutes to eight. (_The bicycle tracks had passed over
Johnny Milne's outgoing track of 7:15, but his returning footmarks of
ten minutes to eight overtrod the cycle tracks, so they had been made
since it passed._)
What lady would be cycling along this road at that hour of the
morning? (_A rather stout lady, too, judging from the breadth of her
foot and the fact that she had to rest on arriving at the top of the
hill_.)
The road led to a cottage where lived Mrs. Sharp, who was not very
well.
The lady must surely be Mrs. Clarke, the matronly district nurse on
her bicycle going to see Mrs. Sharp and she was still there (_as
there were no return wheel marks_).
That is how a Scout can read news from the ground, and, though this
morning's news was not important, it is always worth while to practise
reading, because some day you will probably want to pick up some
important information, and it is only everyday practice that will
enable you to do it.