Scotland/Scots > Wilson's tales of the Borders and of Scotland > Volume 3

THE CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN.
37
for some distance; but, farther on, they were again dis¬
cernible and traceable, and, at one place, the extraordinary
appearance presented itself to one of the otScers, of a well
defined figure of a pistol imprinted on the snow, with the
finger points of a hand applied to lifting it from the ground
—suggesting to the mind of every one present the una¬
voidable conclusion that the murderer had dropped the
instrument of his crime in the hurry of his retreat, and had
snatched it up again as he continued his flight.
We proceeded onwards slowly, aided by several lights
brought from the house; and, though the darkness of the
night presented many difficulties to a successful search, we
were still able to progress with certainty to the termination
of the murderer’s route. Whenever two distinct marks
were traced, we felt no difficulty in identifying them, from
the unusual circumstance of one of them bearing the im¬
press of nail heads, and the other not, as if only one of the
shoes worn by the culprit had undergone the coarse pro¬
cess of repair, in which, in Scotland, short nails with broad
heads are often used. As we proceeded onwards, some
one cried out that the prints led to the dwelling of Walter
T ; a remark which seemed to be about being verified
by that individual’s house now reflecting from its dark
walls the glare of the lights, while the footsteps were clearly
verging towards the door. I looked round and stared fall
in the face of the man, as it was darkly revealed to me by
the flickering tapers; and, though I could perceive no
indications of terror, there were clearly discernible signs
of confusion, which, however, might have been the conse¬
quence of innocence as well as of guilt.
In a few minutes, -we traced the foot-prints to the very
threshold of the door of Walter T ’s house; and, upon
the instant, one of the sheriff officers laid hold of the sus¬
pected man, who looked wildly around him, as if he wished
to escape from the grasp of justice, and at last appealed to