oaf, a tin of
sardines, a tin of tongue, and a packet of chocolate in my waterproof
pockets. Laden as I was, it took me some time to get up again, but I
managed it, and stored my belongings in a corner of the cave. Then I
set out to explore the rest of the crack.

It slanted down and then rose again to a small platform. After that it
dropped in easy steps to the moor beyond the tower. If the Portuguese
Jew had come here, that was the way by which he had reached it, for he
would not have had the time to make my ascent. I went very cautiously,
for I felt I was on the eve of a big discovery. The platform was partly
hidden from my end by a bend in the crack, and it was more or less
screened by an outlying bastion of the tower from the other side. Its
surface was covered with fine powdery dust, as were the steps beyond
it. In some excitement I knelt down and examined it.

Beyond doubt there was spoor here. I knew the Portuguese Jew's
footmarks by this time, and I made them out clearly, especially in one
corner. But there were other footsteps, quite different. The one showed
the rackets of rough country boots, the others were from un-nailed
soles. Again I longed for Peter to make certain, though I was pretty
sure of my conclusions. The man I had followed had come here, and he
had not stayed long. Someone else had been here, probably later, for
the un-nailed shoes overlaid the rackets. The first man might have left
a message for the second. Perhaps the second was that human presence of
which I had been dimly conscious in the night-time.

I carefully removed all traces of my own footmarks, and went back to my
cave. My head was humming with my discovery. I remembered Gresson's
word to his friend: 'Tomorrow night.' As I read it, the Portuguese Jew
had taken a message from Gresson to someone, and that someone had come
from somewhere and picked it up. The message contained an assignation
for this very night. I had found a point of observation, for no one was
likely to come near my cave, which was reached from the moor by such a
toilsome climb. There I should bivouac and see what the darkness
brought forth. I remember reflecting on the amazing luck which had so
far attended me. As I looked from my refuge at the blue haze of
twilight creeping over the waters, I felt my pulses quicken with a wild
anticipation.

Then I heard a sound below me, and craned my neck round the edge of the
tower. A man was climbing up the rock by the way