this spaghetti thing sounds delicious. Yeah, funny that I'm eating spaghetti for lunch. I had spaghetti with pasta for lunch as well. I also had some pasta for lunch. Oh. I mean, for me, probably it's normal, but. Yeah, totally. Thank you, it was good pasta for lunch. Yeah, it would be a problem for Ricardo, I would say. Oh. Everyone had pasta for lunch. Thank you. I had a day off for breakfast. That's fair enough. Looks like the streaming's been started. Thank you, Allison. Yeah, no problem. Who should I make the host? I'm probably going to drop off, but I'll be around if y'all need me. Myself or Dimitri, either or. Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri. Oh. That's cool. Hi. OK, we voted Dimitri. Dimitri is the host. All right, well, let me know if y'all need anything, but otherwise have a good session. Thank you. Thank you. OK, round two. Yeah, I see that people are still joining. Yeah. Maybe we give it two minutes and no discussing pasta. Definitely. Since you can't really join the room if you don't have plain candy until the exact time. So where's the etherpad? I can't paste the link. I've got it almost here. I've got it. I'm sorry, I just read the first warming up question. Even if we are not starting yet, it's kind of interesting. If you were to write ironic from scratch today, how would you write images on nodes? So what's your answer? Well, by experience, I'd say like RAM disks. So not writing images directly on nodes, but just using images loaded on RAM. This is what we used to do, actually. So the RAM disk deploy you mean? What, sorry? The RAM disk deploy interface, pretty much. If I could stir completely over, I probably focus on Kexa and RAM disks. I guess the problem is at some point someone is going to have gone, I need this disk image. I need this file system created on disk. I need this special configuration done and demanded that we do it because VMs have images. So I do like we're seeing some use of the RAM disk interface, even though like building RAM disks is kind of a magical art that people don't really grasp or have common knowledge of, unless they've really done it more than once. Yeah, we have a use case for the RAM disk deploy interface now because for MetalCube we're trying to use a separate ISO for deploying essentially. So just make a running fire up this ISO. It's magic, magic, magic, then have a vendor pass through code to disconnect the ISO and leave it there as active. That should work. It should work. We don't have this vendor pass through for disconnecting ISOs. It shouldn't be a blocker, really. I mean, if we have first one, we do RAM disk boot, maybe we should have a cleanup periodic. What do you mean? Maybe we should have a cleanup periodic that runs every so often and if the deploy was x amount of time ago, go ahead and detach it. Some people may actually use this ISO as the one and only thing. So constantly accessing the ISO, you mean? Yeah, I mean, just running some smart software for my term. I mean, it's initial use case for HPC people. Connect the ISO, start some simulation. Yeah, I have that in mind, unfortunately. And unfortunately, no one knows. OK, we've got a couple more people that have joined. And we've already kind of started rambling into the top which is actually kind of awesome. And ended in a completely different direction because I actually spoke of K-Ink back. And yeah. So I guess the next question is, what would you omit completely today? I mean, I think to me, Triari answered ISO as a deploy. I think I'll second that. Honestly, I don't know. There's no gym here, right? I can say that maybe I would omit having an agent completely and just use the Ansible deploy. If I was to start ironic today, I would probably just do the Ansible deploy and the RAM disk deploy. Kickstart maybe. I've kind of been surprised how few people want to use Ansible and how few people want to actually leverage it. Because it's not a perfectly canned solution for all things or for all possible cases that can be encountered. You have to know your scenario basically. And it's just been really surprising. Right. It's a good compromise between all the new in terms of deployment. You need to, I mean, I expect from my point of view, I expect when you do a deployment that someone should know their infrastructure or what they want to achieve in advance. And so using Ansible and having some kind of reconfiguration and knowledge about that, well, they feel kind of comfortable using a modern tool with some kind of old way to do a deployment. I think kind of that because there's part of our user bases, virtualization, compute-based, they're so abstracted they don't really know that much about the hardware.  So we do a really good job with the agent of trying to do the right thing and trying to go down the path required with what we have. And a lot of times the images are not perfect. They're like in some cases they may not they may be broken completely. And we kind of make it all work, which is kind of awesome at the same time. So I don't think that's something, I don't think you take different images like we do with virtualization, throw it at the RAMS interface and just expect it to work. You'd have to know, you'd have to have your trust to know good, this works in this hardware image, which is a much higher level of, I guess, barrier to entry. So operators, do we have operators this morning? Maybe one? Not many. It seems that we have a smaller session on Monday. Oh, well. Yeah, I guess my point against agent, and that's pretty weak point, actually two points, is memory consumption and the problematics of building it, all those mechanics around building, rebuilding and this stuff. But yeah, I'm not suggesting to deprecate. It's just speculating what you're most listening. I think it becomes a thing of you're trying to just push the problem around or the area of overhead or work around the plate, in a sense, at that point. I mean, see, each case has its valid use cases. It's just we can't support everything with the agent. And the answalsing and support everything the agent does, at least out of the box. And I guess, in a sense, it is kind of a good all-in-one, because we have inspection built in. So image types, we had one vote for partition images, two for whole disk images, no one vote for anything else. And there was a question about growing images. And then also, we went to everyone uses, or most everyone seems to still use legacy boot and starting to go to Ufie. Yeah, fine. You know, the cloud images are pretty much whole disk images that can be used with Ironic. I personally use CentOS image just the way I download it from clouds and to Sorg. Yeah, and most of the cloud images do just work. And they usually do boot, usually. I think I know CentOS 6 didn't Ufie boot. But I know more recent images, at least, it's always been dual booting. It always just generally just works. And yeah, I know we've had some operators expressed interest in like a TGZ-based image. But I guess TAR now does correctly called Identify and Preserve Character Devices. So it doesn't actually read the contents off the device. So it actually seems feasible. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? You need to ask. Yeah, I guess nobody cares enough to just push this work through. Yeah. Mirantis Houston then, Mirantis happened. I really liked their idea about TORN-based deployment. Quite sad they didn't have enough time to push that through. That was interesting. Yeah, that's true. Maybe I should add we've got users that actually quite like the TAR. We'd like to do the TAR thing. But with R-Sync in particular, to do the Delta. Is that satisfiable with an Ansible Playbook? I've not tried. Shouldn't be. Yeah, I mean it plausibly should be, right? Well, the idea is that you do it with minimal data going across the network. So you don't want to just download the TAR ball and then do R-Sync. You want to R-Sync from the kind of if you could mount NFS and then R-Sync that. But again, that should be doable in the same way. Yeah, that should absolutely be doable over an Ansible Playbook. And that kind of scenario is a completely different thing. So it's the perfect use case for the Ansible Play interface. I don't know if you were using stuff like, what's it called, ZFS. You could probably do snapshots live, couldn't you that way? ZFS or better FS, they both separate snapshots. Yeah, you could do the snapshot and extract. Yeah, I always forget about butter. I guess I would work on it. I mean, you could even snap other file systems that aren't knowledgeable of it. And if there's LVM in use. Yeah, that's true. You can go underneath, can't you? Yeah, I had a backup system once designed around snapshotting the big massive database and bringing the database back online and copying the database files out from under it off the snapshot. The fun of 1.6 terabyte full text databases. I'm glad you tested it for us. That's good. It does work pretty good. You just need enough disk space in the volume we pulled to account for Delta.  Oh, so you ended up with? Yeah. And that just caused the database backup to fail, LVM did the right thing and made our snapshot worthless and pointless and dead. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I hadn't thought of that option until we just started talking about this stuff. But that sounds kind of promising. So we talked about kind of like images and ways. Bootloads, any more discussion there? How are the limitations? Yuki, like, is anyone trying to like turn secure boot on? Maybe we need to add that as a feature in Ironic? I'm actually trying to do that. I mean, I think it's a feature in Ironic. Or I mean, turning it on from Ironic side. Yeah. I law an RMC, I think, can do that. So the secure boot capability. We should implement it for Redfish. It should be doable to change the keys, I think, is doable to Redfish as well. Not on all BMC's looks like, at least. Obviously, it's Redfish. Yeah, it might be doable. That's actually probably something we should try and discuss this next week. Because I kind of, since people are suddenly rushing towards the UV, I feel like they're suddenly going to go, I need secure boot by default. And we're all going to go, oh, no. That's what happened to me downstream. No good. Look in the source code. Yeah, the different RMC code that checks for secure boot is requested. Yeah, they have a code to set secure boot mode. In ILOs, they also have some updates secure boot mode. So we have a prior work on that in Ironic. I think we should do that for Redfish. How far was story? I guess Redfish should probably go ahead and have generic methods that wrap that stuff to interface level. We may even have them. Yeah, double check. Yeah, I mean, just kind of drive that consistency. I can go from there. Is this about turning it on? Because I'm sure Pierre had secure boot working with Bifrost, but it was kind of turned on outside, I guess. Yeah, it'd be about, in my mind, it'd be about turning on secure boot so that it is running on these machines or able to be toggled on these machines based on the control. OK, got you. Something. And it might be, oh, your flavor defines it. OK. I mean, I think that that's the continuation of secure boot from the original pattern. So I'm going to make a note. Does anyone have any thoughts if I were to go ahead and request more PTG time for next week? Probably makes sense. I already have full schedule and got to skip popping up. Yeah, so let's see. We talked about partitioning. People want highly customizable partitioning as well. Architectures, we did talk about that. And I also talked about ARM in another session this week. There seems to be a lot of interest to start getting unit tests running on ARM hardware in addition to X86 hardware. And fundamentally, because the end results and some of the faults that you end up with are different on ARM. And because we've hard-coded X86 patterns and X86 binaries and tools in the source code. And it's not just us. It's all the projects have done this. So we should probably expect to see some of that. And I don't think it'd be hard for us to have an integration job at some point on ARM if the pool of machines at 1RO are reliable and available. Unit tests are a good start. I think there was already a template and project to just add them. Yeah. I didn't mention that. I know in our case, the only thing that I knew that was blocking us was that we need nitixie binary. And we can always add the code to do the cross compile on demand for ARM. Since there's no one builds it for ARM, it's doable. It might just be someone cursing CI for a week, though. Sorry. Just a wild idea because you like wild ideas. Did we plan on duplicating NBR support? No. No. It was a short discussion. Can we change the default? Yeah. Yeah, let's change the default. Let's change the default. Yeah, let's change the default. I thought we changed the default. Oh, no. Are these additional items that are showing up in our partitions LVM, ButterFS, and DFS? Are they all coming with Laker support? Oh, well, yes. It's fine if you don't know, the Fedora has switched to ButterFS by default as a partitioning schema, so not just as a file system, but as a way to partition the hard disk, because it has partitions, believe me or not. So this idea is crazy, but it's not as crazy as it may sound initially. I always want to type ButterFS out. So that's really interesting. The one concern I'd have is if we move away from supporting things, well, Windows would support like a GPT, we would make ourselves incompatible, potentially. We are very Linux-focused, though. So maybe I don't see a problem if we were to carry code to handle DPRFS partitioning as well. I just don't think it could ever be the default. Yeah, I don't think either. And honestly, there's no actual operator interest probably, it's premature. It's probably something to consider. Maybe actually doing LVM by default would be more interesting. Well, at least that allowing doing the same thing but with LVM, not like anything fancy. But partitioning, a partition image with partitioning but with LVM, that may bring some value? Maybe. Although I think one of the problems we're going to run into is partition file system is not in RAM just not having the appropriate things for LVM. And I think our downstream QA found such an issue on whole disk images coming out of DIP yesterday. So, yeah. This Cambridge build is honestly another discussion topic because it's a cool project, but it's pretty much in life support, in my opinion. I think it's in life. We should probably discuss why. Let's add a name, Disk Image Builder, to our stand. Because there's Ian and this guy whose name I never remember, who is pretty new to that. And just the two of them. And then infra people who approve page and demand. Yeah, and people like us that come, why did you do this? When we finally have the cycles to focus in on the problem and find it. Yeah, I think it's three boxes cycle and DIP or something. The one that they identified, I'm pretty much like, it's not an ironic bug. It's not a bug in our provisioning process. It's the fact the thing doesn't know what to do with itself. That's not anything we could fix. Right. It's like a software rate. We expect the operating system to understand software rate. Yeah, true. Very true. OK, so we briefly talked to the architectures before we move on. There was mention of power. Or PPCLE64, 64LT. I did offer to email Hugh Blemings of the Open Power Foundation to see if there are any thoughts or ideas about maybe seeing if there's some way somehow some sort of power CI could be built that is independent of PowerKVM. But PowerKVM still runs. So it's just the projects or reports too are less because it's like for ironic it broke and they haven't had time to fix it. So RAID, we talked about RAID briefly, interest with RAID. We started talking about RAMDIS deploy again. Someone asked about tempFS usage. And then we got to this interesting, are there interests in these ideas? Or am I moving too fast through the etherpad? I think it's OK. I hope that people can just speak up as they want. There are lots of plus ones on RAID. And this is more just a question. It's something I was banging my head against. I think specifically this was ILO hardware RAID to be quite specific. But to do with secure arrays because the disk supports secure arrays, but the rated volume isn't secure or raiseable, which is kind of a pain. Because you basically have to break apart the RAID, secure arrays the disks, and then put them back together again in the hope that's quicker than putting zeros everywhere. I'm just wondering if it's just me or I pressed the wrong button or I haven't bought enough license. No, if I remember well, it was exactly like that. You need to break the RAID and then clean the disks and rebuild the RAID. You cannot just, yeah. Yeah, I got the impression if I paid enough money to the right people got a license, they might do something magical. I can help. No problem. OK, I'm just glad it's not just me. So, you know, that's nice. So they did add, I think they added a feature, a clean step to help do that for the ILO 5 specifically, up to date firmware. Are you talking about total erasing? No, there was a different one I proposed. OK. Total erasing, I'm decommissioning the hardware, I'm never going to see it again. Yeah. I mean, this was relatively, this is quite modern hardware that was still the same. But it was still the same unless you fed it an expensive license, I think was my memory of it. And it could still be that there's a license required. Yeah. OK. The fun of computers. Yeah, it's good. Software ready for the win. Anyway, we briefly talked about partitioning. We just talked about secure race. Some interesting kicks start deploying. That's currently a spec. From the prior session, there was a question at LVM. And we just talked about LVM. Yeah, it was also for me. Oh, OK. It was the same idea I just voiced a few minutes ago. I mean, is it something you feel so strongly about that we should discuss? Or is it just an idea you're throwing out there? Well, I don't feel particularly strong about that. But I think if somebody ever has some time, it may be like a good checkbox to check. Like, do you support LVM? OK, we have these basics. We can talk to you about how to make it more of it. Well, I don't volunteer to writing this, to be honest. Well, someone just raised a point. If it would help snapshot plans, and if we had long-running agents inside the OS, then yes, it would absolutely help with snapshotting, which could be, as someone's typing, or no, it was a different line, someone's typing the kick start would be awesome. But I think snapshot in the running OS would be awesome as well. It just people would have to understand that they wouldn't get all their file system. Or we'd have to make it tunable. For what it's worth, there's almost an equivalent in Nova with the QMU guest agent, where it kind of says, if the agent's present, turn some features on and off in a different way. I'm not massive fans of persistent in-house agents, but I'm massive fans of in-place snapshots.  And we can still boot into a RAM disk, make a snapshot, or mount a file system, make a snapshot. True. Yeah, it makes it optional, doesn't it, I guess? Apart from that weird API problem. With the conundrum with friend, with doing the snapshots, do we delete the snapshot, or do we? And what happens to snapshot, basically? Do we keep it, stay in RAM disk and extract the data, or do we go into a running state and extract the data? Or do we just do it within the OS and extract the data? Or not? Yeah, I guess there's two things out there there, because I really like the idea of crash consistent snapshots going into Glance, just because it's so consistent with VMs, and it's kind of what people are used to. But it seems wrong not to have the feature where it's a proper shutdown and image the machine into Glance, right? I'm talking of the non-standalone case, of course. I'm typing, basically, what you just said. Why does it also seem wrong not to shut the machine down? Is it just file system consistency? Yeah, it's that crash consistent thing. It's, because as soon as you start going down this line, you then start talking about the, oh, is it? The QAS stuff, is you can try and QAS the file system while you take the in concert with taking the snapshot, right? She is theoretically possible here. Yeah, I mean, it is, but if we try and do it in host, then we run into a lot of risks. And I know there are gay-based platforms that, sorry, the corky overlords demanding attention and deal it out. I know they're- Bring them here. What was that? Bring them here. This is your king. The corky overlord. Hey, corky overlord. Hey. Okay, so he's going out now. Where are we? Shutting machines up or not? Yeah, people are still typing on Anaconda stuff. Yeah, we should get back to it afterwards. Okay, I know there's some database platforms that use shared memory mapping and they don't clean and purge out.  So you can't actually snapshot the system and expect it to work. Yeah, and I, that's, I think it's a very valid concern. I think if we did snapshot without the ability to do a, well, I suppose you can just power the machine off, can't you? If the machine's in the power off state and you do a snapshot, you just do it the other way.  Well, I mean, if you do snapshot when it is in a powered off state, having it, if it has been gracefully shut down. Yeah, you could bring it back up and then start extracting the data once it's rebooted. Do it as a, I mean, we've maybe given ourselves another excuse for Kexec. Maybe. But at the same time, we've probably also just, we are now in the, if we can meet back in Dublin at some point and just start drawing on the glass walls, we might fill one of those glass walls with the workflows that could be. Well, this is a random idea. That might be an easy first step for snapshot. If you just require that it's in the powered off state for snapshot to work and just send a 409 conflict of everything else, that would work. Yeah, that actually would work really well. That would require that the operator has done something or knows how to, has considered the fact that they have to turn it off. Yeah, I mean, but that's better than not having any support. Because I think from, like the particular use cases I'm thinking about, well, what are they? It's really just creating an image for a cluster, right? So if I just take an arbitrary node, power it off and call snapshot. And I just call success on that for any. Yeah. I don't know why I haven't thought of that before. That could be useful. Could be. So we briefly talked about Anaconda again. I think, did we? Maybe, maybe. No, yes. Yeah, there was a short exchange here. I'm not sure who is green. I'm green, I'm young. Yeah. Yeah, not a user of ironic, just more or less trying to figure out the deltas to adopt ironic. So your concern is that kickstart scripts will be different from whatever you're using right now, right? Yeah, so the trick comes in that if you have legacy kickstart scripts, there's an immense hesitance to modify them because they're kind of tied to OS plus a machine configuration. So yeah, technical data in other words. So I, if I remember how that works specifically, that could be a good case for just doing something around the RAM just deployed. The conundrum I guess is there's never work. There's unlikely to ever be a really clean way to ask Nova to give you a bare metal machine that was fired up with this kickstart file you just provided unless we figure out the delineation, how to identify the differences and when to do those things. That being said, it's probably good to go make such comments on the spec as, hey, this is an aspect that needs to be considered from our operational experience because it's something we have to deal with and think of. So Richard, I didn't quite get your comment on not being able to request from Nova. I think the spec proposes that kickstart file can be passed through image metadata, no? No, I wouldn't. What? Yay. Sorry. What I'm saying is if we have another case where we need a slightly different kickstart behavior, then we need to probably, we probably won't be able to support it in the same exact path using Nova or we'd have to somehow identify that we need to have different logic and ironic to handle it slightly differently. You mean for an old? Yeah, or per kickstart file, what it sounds like. A broken kickstart file, for example, will time out because it will never inform ironic that it's successful? I think it's a current proposal to end up with a timeout. We can, of course, have a flag just being an assumed success in a way, but that's for sure. I thought that the Anaconda stuff, if it knew that there was an error, would indicate that to ironic at one time out. Well, if there's an error. I could be wrong. But if it's still spinning away there and ironic doesn't know what's going on, yes, it'll time out. Another way is just assume success. Is there any reason why ironic can't just say, this node is now, this node is under a kickstart. We don't have any success feedback at all, just. So it's interesting, you mentioned that. That's the exact behavior of the Rambus deploy interface. We boot and we just assume it works because we have no way of knowing. I guess this mode has a right to exist, even in an Anaconda deploy. I'm not sure we should do it by default. I'm pretty open to have this as an option, just assume success with kickstart deploy as long as you manage to start it and you're done. Yeah, as long as we didn't raise an exception on turning the power on, we're probably okay. Yeah, at least I have an option where you can say, basically, this is a blind deploy. We're assuming that external polling is gonna check the health of the machine later. Yeah, that's a useful comments to make to the spec if you could do that because. Post on there? I think we want it to be more secure, more robust by default, but as an option. I think it's cool to have. Yeah, well, that at least gives you the option that you can use unmodified kickstart images if you're confident that you can do tooling outside. Anyway, what else? Do you wanna talk about that for a few minutes? So as to snapshoting, I can throw a crazy idea that I mentioned on the spec and I think I frightened KFM too much and all that. So what you currently describes, so this booting IPA, I'm not taking any instance agents into account right now, booting IPA, snapshoting sending back. The whole mechanics around that sounds a lot like rescue. Even more, it sounds like the update steps or active steps which we are planning on. So I was like, should it snapshoting be implemented through update steps? And there was silence after that, which maybe may mean I'm crazy. Here's the conundrum. It probably could be articulated that way, but because we're throwing out a nebulous future feature or a nebulous feature that is not clearly defined and already in development, he is blocked and effectively cannot contribute. Cody's already written. Yeah, that's the problem. On the other hand, we're gonna have another duplication of the same code. I think we'll have a duplication regardless. It's just we have to figure out where the happy path is. And without getting people to upload code and participating in the community actively with the things we're working on downstream, we end up in a situation where if we don't actually make the progress they feel we need to feel as if they're part of the community. That makes sense. It makes, yeah. It's definitely conundrum because as engineers that care about a project, we're focused on its success and taking the right path and not building too much technical debt and not just shooting ourselves in the foot. And it's a big ask when someone comes on saying, I want a code dump. It's not fun. Right. I feel it for him also. I remember my last refactoring of the steps code adding another dimension to its own scary to me. Yeah. It may also be that he's got something elegant. There's no way of knowing until we see the code. Right. So I didn't block the spec. I think I was just kind of like a comment. Yeah. I thought about this. Well, we're functioning at time but I want to talk about this image builder briefly. Let's do it. So I agree that we're facing a situation where this image builder is an open stack center tool that is barely being maintained because it's built around a specific use case or has evolved to be a specific use case. I don't know how we fix this. So multiple times we had to actually intervene to maintain some parts of this image builder ourselves and maybe it could be, I don't know, something that, I know that it takes resources but it's something that we could think about or. Yeah. And it's not even about like writing a lot of code because the project works. No, no, exactly. It's just small corrections, I mean. Yeah. Maybe we should help them define, for example, the CI testing metrics better so that it matches what people are trying to do rather than what they presume people are trying to do. That seems like what we should do then is we should schedule a call or meeting or something with them and actually try and talk through some of the issues and maybe see if we can find a happy, happy path forward to improve testing and improve that feedback loop. Right. And how we can help because we're relying on it quite substantially. Yeah, true. I suspect they'd appreciate that. Who's, except like, besides us in terms of ironic project, who else is using this image builder directly in the open style community? For example, and infra. Yeah. Okay. Notepool. Okay. Okay. I honestly don't know how other people build disc images. The only comparable tool I've ever seen was a web interface from Susie that told you you could download your images in 30 minutes. Okay. We can use guestfish as people sometimes propose if you have a good base image, I mean. Yeah. It's always the best, but yeah, it's in a crunch, it works. Strangely enough, I was looking up how the CentOS disk images or CentOS cloud images get generated. They get generated via kickstart. Right. Oh, I think Arne mentioned yesterday that they're creating images by installing an operating system in a VM and just taking this VM disk. That is exactly what they do. It's pretty weird. Yeah. And I think actually Arne mentioned the same thing occurs at CERN. Yeah. It's actually a common practice. It happened as well in my former company. Yeah. I've done it as well. I mean, I've built a lesson just that way many, many times. I'm using guestfish for my purposes. There are positives and negatives to it. Anyway, everyone, thank you. And I guess we'll talk again soon. Hopefully next week. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks.


It's been an amazing second heat here at National Capital Rally. We're our third place. Get us for the event in outright unbelievable debut by Harry Bates and John McCarthy. Well done, mate. You didn't expect that at all, did you? Not at all. I mean, yeah. The car we did it in, obviously the top cars have more power and yesterday we were struggling for pace but today we seem to do a bit better and then a couple of people's misfortunes I guess helped us and yeah, I can't believe it. It's a bit surreal. It is a bit surreal. Johnny, Mark, you've been in the car within the whole weekend. He has done a very good job on his debut here, hasn't he? Yeah, you're really right, mate. He's done a fabulous job on his debut for a guy of 20 years of age. He's shown a lot of maturity and it's paid off. Mate, well done. I mean, you're not registered in the championship so there's no championship points but event-wise, mate, the third jaws enjoy the podium and I think Molly might owe you a beer or two at the end of this. Yeah, thank you. I think I might get sprayed by the champagne pretty hard. Second outright for the National Capital Rally. It was a great job by Tony Sells and Julia Barclay. You've got the most points coming out with second for the weekend. It's been a really good weekend for you guys. It has. Well, really after this morning, the second stage this morning, I'd pretty much given up on any sort of a result and just to have all the cards sort of fall as they did and helped us immensely. So yeah, I'm really, really happy and really proud. Julia, heat-one win, of course, which goes on the CV and the points of collecting. It's been a good weekend for that point of view as well. Oh, definitely from that point of view. It has been a good weekend. I mean, today's been a bit disappointing for us and we'll be finished second. So that's a bonus. It certainly is. And I guess from that point of view, Tony, the way that went earlier on today, if I had to probably offered you up this position, you probably would have taken it despite everything that's gone on. Yeah, most definitely. You can't be not disappointed, that's for sure. And winners, unbelievable effort, Molly Taylor, Bill Hayes, congratulations, a really sort of amazing afternoon, really, wasn't it? Yeah, incredible for everyone, I think. Yeah, we didn't really know what to expect coming in the afternoon. It could have gone in about 10 different ways, depending on what we did and what everyone else did. So we just really had to keep it clean and, you know, AJ really put the pressure on as well. And so we just had to, yeah, keep it going and try and drive neat and fast and not make any mistakes. And Bill managed to keep us on the road, so thank you to him. Bill, you've been in the sport for a fair while. It's never ceases to amaze, yeah, you're right, I didn't say that. But just every time you turn around, something else just flicks up in the sport that you just don't expect, do you? Oh, look, it's the best thing about this sport. You can't give up. You've just got to keep working away. And the fact you don't race thought at all, like other forms of motorsport, allows you to just keep doing your job and you never know what comes of it. And today was one of those days. I've been on the receiving end of your time, so... Yeah, I love you as well. And Molly, the other thing, when you look at a championship point of view, a couple of main players obviously dropped heats and stuff, put you in a very strong position after two rounds. Yeah, exactly. And that was sort of part of the considerations today, because, you know, of course we knew that there was a chance for us to win the rally, and of course we wanted to do that. We also have to think about the points as well, and the fact that, you know, unfortunately suddenly we'll have problems and we do take away more points. So yeah, it was kind of a balancing act and, yeah, I think I've got a few grey hairs that I didn't have. Alrighty, that's such a young age, Bill. She gave me a few new ones today. You know what's also interesting is we're going to have a Bates and Taylor on the outright podium. Different cars. Could be interesting champagne-sprailing. Yeah, I actually just saw Harry a minute ago, and I said he's going down. That's a wrap for the rally in 2015. First outright, Willie Taylor, Bill Hayes, Tony Sheldon, Julia Barclay, second and third. Harry Bates and John McCarthy.


Chapter 1 of John Thorndyke's Cases. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Sandra Cullen. John Thorndyke's Cases by R. Austin Freeman. The Man with the Nailed Shoes. Part 1 There are, I suppose, few places, even on the east coast of England, more lonely and remote than the village of Little Sundersley and the country that surrounds it. Far from any railway and some miles distant from any considerable town, it remains an outpost of civilization, in which primitive manners and customs and old world tradition linger on into an age that has elsewhere forgotten them. In the summer, it is true, a small contingent of visitors, adventurous in spirit, though mostly of sedate and solitary habits, make their appearance to swell its meager population and impart the wide stretches of smooth sand that fringe its shores, a fleeting air of life and sober gaiety. But in late September, the season of the year in which I made its acquaintance, its pasture lands lie desolate, the rugged paths along the cliffs are seldom trodden by human foot, and the sands are a desert waste, on which, for days together, no footprint appears, save that left by some passing sea-bird. I had been assured by my medical agent, Mr. Tercival, that I should find the practice of which I was now taking charge, an exceedingly soft billet and suitable for a studious man, and certainly he had not misled me, for the patients were, in fact, so few that I was quite concerned for my principal, and rather dull for want of work. Hence, when my friend John Thorndike, the well-known medical legal expert, proposed to come down and stay with me for a weekend, and perhaps a few days beyond, I hailed the proposal with delight, and welcomed him with open arms. You certainly don't seem to be overworked, Jervis, he remarked, as we turned out of the gate after tea, on the day of his arrival, for a stroll on the shore. Is this a new practice, or an old one, in a state of senile decay? Why, the fact is, I answered, there is virtually no practice. Cooper, my principal, has been here about six years, and as he has private means, he has never made any serious effort to build one up, and the other man, Dr. Burrows, being uncommonly keen and the people very conservative, Cooper has never really got his foot in. However, it doesn't seem to trouble him. Well, if he is satisfied, I suppose you are, said Thorndike, with a smile. You are getting a seaside holiday, and being paid for it, but I didn't know you were as near to the sea as this. We were entering, as he spoke an artificial gap-way, cut through the low cliff, forming a steep cart-track down to the shore. It was locally known as Sundersley Gap, and was used principally, when used at all, by the farmer's carts which came down to gather seaweed after a gale. What a magnificent stretch of sand continued Thorndike as we reached the bottom, and stood looking out seaward across the deserted beach. There is something very majestic and solemn in a great expanse of sandy shore, when the tide is out, and I know of nothing which is capable of conveying the impressions of solitude so completely. The smooth, unbroken surface not only displays itself untenanted for the moment, but it offers convincing testimony that it has laid thus undisturbed through a considerable lapse of time. Here, for instance, we have clear evidence that for several days only two pairs of feet, besides our own, have trodden this gap. How do you arrive at the several days, I asked. In the simplest manner possible, he replied, the moon is now in the third quarter, and the tides are consequently neap tides. You can see quite plainly the two lines of seaweed and jetsam, which indicate the high water marks of the spring tides, and the neap tides respectively. The strip of comparatively dry sand between them, over which the water has not risen for several days, is, as you see, marked by only two sets of footprints, and those footprints will not be completely obliterated by the sea, until the next spring tide, nearly a week from today. Yes, I see now, and the thing appears obvious enough when one has heard the explanation, but it is really rather odd that no one should have passed through this gap for days, and then that four persons should have come here within quite a short interval of one another. What makes you think they have done so, Thorndike asked? Well, I replied, both of these sets of footprints appear to be quite fresh, and to have been made about the same time. Not at the same time, Jervis rejoined Thorndike, there is certainly an interval of several hours between them, though precisely how many hours we cannot judge, since there has been so little wind lately to disturb them. But the fisherman unquestionably passed here not more than three hours ago, and I should say probably within an hour, whereas the other man, who seems to have come up from a boat to fetch something of considerable weight, returned through the gap certainly not less, and probably more than four hours ago. I gazed at my friend in blank astonishment, for these events befell in the days before I had joined him as his assistant, and his special knowledge and powers of inference were not then fully appreciated by me. It is clear, Thorndike, I said, that footprints have a very different meaning to you from what they have for me. I don't see in the least how you have reached any of these conclusions. I suppose not was the reply, but you see, special knowledge of this kind is the stock in trade of the medical jurist, and has to be acquired by special study, though the present example is one of the greatest simplicity. But let us consider it point by point, and first we will take this set of footprints which I have inferred to be a fisherman's. Note their enormous size, they should be the footprints of a giant, but the length of the stride shows that they were made by a rather short man. Then observe the massiveness of the souls, and the fact that there are no nails in them. Note also the peculiar clumsy tread, the deep toe and heel marks, as if the walker had wooden legs, or fixed ankles and knees. From that character we can safely infer high boots of thick rigid leather, so that we can diagnose high boots, massive and stiff, with nailless soles, and many sizes too large for the wearer. But the only boot that answers this description is the fisherman's thigh boot, made of enormous size to enable him to wear in the winter two or three pairs of thick knitted stockings, one over the other. Now look at the other footprints, there is a double track you see, one set coming from the sea, and one going towards it. As the man, who was bow-legged and turned his toes in, has trodden in his own footprints, it is obvious that he came from the sea, and returned to it. But observe the difference in the two sets of prints, the returning ones are much deeper than the others, and the stride much shorter. Evidently he was carrying something when he returned, and that something was very heavy. Moreover, we can see by the greater depth of the toe impressions, that he was stooping forward as he walked, and so probably carried the weight on his back. Is that quite clear? Perfectly, I replied, but how do you arrive at the interval of time between the visits of the two men? That also is quite simple, the tide is now about halfway out, and it is thus about three hours since high water. Now the fisherman walked just about the neap tide high water mark, sometimes above it and sometimes below, but none of his footprints have been obliterated, therefore he passed after high water, that is, less than three hours ago. And since his footprints are all equally distinct, he could not have passed when the sand was very wet, therefore he probably passed less than an hour ago. The other man's footprints, on the other hand, reach only to the neap tide high water mark where they end abruptly. The sea has washed over the remainder of the tracks and obliterated them, therefore he passed not less than three hours and not more than four days ago, probably within 24 hours. As Thorndike concluded his demonstration, the sound of voices was born to us from above, mingled with the tramping of feet, and immediately afterwards a very singular party appeared at the head of the gap descending towards the shore. First came a short burly fisherman clad in oil skins and sowester, clumping along awkwardly in his great sea boots, then the local police sergeant, in company with my professional rival, Dr. Burrows, while the rear of the procession was brought up by two constables carrying a stretcher. As he reached the bottom of the gap, the fisherman, who was evidently acting as guide, turned along the shore, retracing his own tracks, and the procession followed in his wake. A surgeon, a stretcher, two constables, and a police sergeant observed Thorndike. What does that suggest to your mind, Jervis? A fall from the cliff, I replied, or a body washed up on the shore. Probably he rejoined, but we may as well walk in that direction. We turned to follow the retreating procession, and as we strode along the smooth surface left by the retiring tide, Thorndike resumed. The subject of footprints has always interested me deeply for two reasons. First, the evidence furnished by footprints is constantly being brought forward and is often of cardinal importance, and secondly, the whole subject is capable of really systematic and scientific treatment. In the main, the data are anatomical, but age, sex, occupation, health and disease all give their various indications. Clearly, for instance, the footprints of an old man will differ from those of a young man of the same height, and I need not point out to you that those of a person suffering from locomotor ataxia or paralysis agitans will be quite unmistakable. Yes, I see that plainly enough, I said. Here now, he continued, is a case in point. He halted to point with his stick at a row of footprints that appeared suddenly above high water mark, and having proceeded a short distance, crossed the line again and vanished where the waves had washed over them. They were easily distinguished from any of the others by the clear impressions of circular rubber heels. Do you see anything remarkable about them? he asked. I noticed that they are considerably deeper than our own, I answered. Yes, and the boots are about the same size as ours, whereas the stride is considerably shorter, quite a short stride in fact. Now there is a pretty constant ratio between the length of the foot and the length of the leg, between the length of leg and the height of the person, and between the stature and the length of stride. A long foot means a long leg, a tall man and a long stride, but here we have a long foot and a short stride. What do you make of that? He laid down his stick, a smooth, partridge cane, one side of which was marked by small lines into inches and feet, beside the footprints to demonstrate the discrepancy. The depth of the footprints shows that he was a much heavier man than either of us, I suggested. Perhaps he was unusually fat. Yes, said Thorndike, that seems to be the explanation. The carrying of a dead weight shortens the stride and fat is practically a dead weight. The conclusion is that he was about five feet ten inches high and excessively fat. He picked up his cane and we resumed our walk, keeping an eye on the procession ahead until it had disappeared round a curve in the coastline when we mended our pace somewhat. Presently we reached a small headland and turning the shoulder of cliff came full upon the party which had preceded us. The men had halted in a narrow bay and now stood looking down at a prostrate figure besides which the surgeon was kneeling. We were wrong, you see, observed Thorndike. He has not fallen over the cliff, nor has he been washed up by the sea. He is lying above high watermark and those footprints that we have been examining appear to be his. As we approached the sergeant turned and held up his hand. I'll ask you not to walk round the body just now, gentlemen, he said. There seems to have been foul play here and I want to be clear about the tracks before anyone crosses them. Acknowledging this caution we advanced to where the constables were standing and looked down with some curiosity at the dead man. He was a tall, frail-looking man, thin to the point of emaciation and appeared to be about thirty-five years of age. He lay in an easy posture with half-closed eyes and a placid expression that contrasted strangely enough with the tragic circumstances of his death. It is a clear case of murder, said Dr. Burrows, dusting the sand from his knees as he stood up. There is a deep knife wound above the heart which must have caused death almost instantaneously. How long should you say he has been dead, doctor? asked the sergeant. Twelve hours at least was the reply. He is quite cold and stiff. Twelve hours, eh? repeated the officer. That would bring it to about six o'clock this morning. I won't commit myself to a definite time, said Dr. Burrows hastily. I only say not less than twelve hours. It might have been considerably more. Ah! said the sergeant. Well, he made a pretty good fight for his life to all appearances. He nodded at the sand, which, for some feet around the body, bore the deeply indented marks of feet, as though a furious struggle had taken place.  There seems to have been only one man in it. There is only one set of footprints besides those of the deceased, and we've got to find out who he is. And I reckon there won't be much trouble about that, seeing the kind of trademarks he has left behind him. No, agreed the sergeant. There ought not to be much trouble in identifying those boots. He would seem to be a labourer judging by the hobnails. No, sir, not a labourer, dissented the sergeant. The foot is too small for one thing, and then the nails are not regular hobnails. There are a good deal smaller, and a labourer's boots would have the nails all round the edges, and there would be iron tips on the heels and probably on the toes, too. Now these have got no tips, and the nails are arranged in a pattern on the soles and heels. They are probably shooting boots or sporting shoes of some kind. He strode to and fro with his notebook in his hand, writing down hasty memoranda and stooping to scrutinise the impressions in the sand. The surgeon also busied himself in noting down the facts concerning which he would have to give evidence, while Thorndike, regarded in silence and with an air of intense preoccupation, the footprints around the body which remained to testify to the circumstances of the crime. 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 look out. 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 onto the stretcher, and the cortege, consisting of the burrows, 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 Thorndike, I should like to know what he wrote in his notebook.  Very, he noted the plain and essential facts, and drew the natural conclusions from them. But there are some very singular features in this case, so singular that I am disposed to make a few notes for my own information. He stooped over the place where the body had lain, and having narrowly examined the sand there, and in the place where the dead man's feet had rested, drew out his notebook and made a memorandum. He next made a rapid sketch plan of the bay, marking the position of the body, and the various impressions in the sand, and then, following the double track leading from and to the shepherd's path, scrutinized the footprints, with the deepest attention making copious notes and sketches in his book. We may as well go up by the shepherd's path, said Thorndike. I think we are equal to the climb, and there may be visible traces of the murderer, after all. The rock is only a sandstone, and not a very hard one, either. We approached the foot of the little rugged track which zigzagged up the face of the cliff, and, stooping down among the stiff dry urbage, examined the surface. Here, at the bottom of the path, there were several distinct impressions on the crumbling surface of the murderer's nailed boots, though they were somewhat confused by the tracks of the sergeant, whose boots were heavily nailed. But as we ascended, the marks became rather less distinct, and at quite a short distance from the foot of the cliff we lost them all together. Though we had no difficulty in following the more recent traces of the sergeant's passage up the path, when we reached the top of the cliff we paused to scan the path that ran along its edge. But here too, although the sergeant's heavy boots had left quite visible impressions on the ground, there were no signs of any other feat. At a little distance the sagacious officer himself was pursuing his investigations, walking backwards and forwards with his body bent double, and his eyes fixed on the ground. Not a trace of him anywhere, said he, straightening himself up as we approached. I was afraid there wouldn't be, after all, this dry weather. I shall have to try a different tack. This is a small place, and if those boots belong to anyone living here, they'll be sure to be known. The deceased gentleman, Mr. Hearn, I think you called him, said Thorndike, as we turned towards the village. Is he a native of the locality? Oh no, sir, replied the officer. He is almost a stranger.  What was his business then? asked Thorndike. Pleasure, I believe. He was down here for a holiday, though it's a good way past the season, but then he had a friend living here, and that makes a difference. Mr. Draper, up at the poplars, was an old friend of his, I understand. I am going to call on him now. We walked on along the footpath that led towards the village, but had only proceeded two or three hundred yards, when a loud hail drew our attention to a man running across a field towards us from the direction of the cliff. Why here is Mr. Draper himself exclaimed the sergeant, stopping short and waving his hand? I expect he has heard the news already. Thorndike and I also halted, and with some curiosity watched the approach of this new party to the tragedy. As the stranger drew near, we saw that he was a tall, athletic-looking man, of about forty, dressed in a Norfolk knickerbocker suit, and having the appearance of an ordinary country gentleman, accepting that he carried in his hand, in place of a walking stick, the staff of a butterfly net, the folding ring and bag of which partly projected from his pocket. Is it true, sergeant, he exclaimed, as he came up to us, panting from his exertions? About Mr. Hearn, I mean, there is a rumour that he has been found dead on the beach. It is quite true, sir, I am sorry to say, and what is worse, he has been murdered. My God, you don't say so! He turned towards us a face that must ordinarily have been jovial enough, but was now white and scared, and after a brief pause he exclaimed, murdered good God, poor Elhearn, how did it happen, sergeant, and when, and is there any clue to the murderer? We can't say for certain when it happened, replied the sergeant, and as to the question of clues, I was just coming up to call on you. On me exclaimed Draper with a startle glance at the officer. What for? Well, we should like to know something about Mr. Hearn, who he was and whether he had any enemies and so forth. Anything, in fact, that would give us a hint as to where to look for the murderer, and you are the only person in the place who knew him at all intimately. Mr.  I'm afraid he began in a hesitating manner. I'm afraid I shan't be able to help you much. I didn't know much about his affairs. You see, he was, well, only a casual acquaintance. Well, interrupted the sergeant, you can tell us who and what he was, and where he lived and so forth. We'll find out the rest if you give us the start. I see," said Draper. Yes, I expect you will. His eyes glanced restlessly to and fro, and he added presently. You must come up to-morrow and have a talk with me about him, and I'll see what I can remember. I'd rather come this evening," said the sergeant, firmly. Not this evening, pleaded Draper. I'm feeling rather—this affair, you know, has upset me. I couldn't give proper attention. His sentence petered out into a hesitating mumble, and the officer looked at him in evident surprise, at his nervous, embarrassed manner. His own attitude, however, was perfectly firm, though polite. I don't like pressing you, sir, said he, but time is precious. We'll have to go single file here. This pond is a public nuisance. The ought to bank it up at this end. After you, sir." The pond to which the sergeant alluded had evidently extended at one time right across the path, but now, thanks to the dry weather, a narrow isthmus of half-dried mud traversed the morass, and along this Mr. Draper proceeded to pick his way. The sergeant was about to follow, when suddenly he stopped short with his eyes riveted upon the muddy track. A single glance showed me the cause of his surprise, for on the stiff, putty-like surface standing out with the sharp distinctness of a wax mould, were the fresh footprints of the man who had just passed. Each footprint displaying on its sole the impression of stud nails arranged in a diamond-shaped pattern, and on its heel a group of similar nails arranged in a cross. The sergeant hesitated for only a moment in which he turned a quick startled glance upon us, then he followed, walking gingerly along the edge of the path, as if to avoid treading in his predecessor's footprints. Instinctively weeded the same, following closely, and anxiously awaiting the next development of the tragedy. For a minute or two we all proceeded in silence. The sergeant being evidently at a loss how to act, and Mr. Draper busy with his own thoughts, at length the former spoke. You think, Mr. Draper, you would rather that I looked in on you to-morrow about this affair? Much rather, if you wouldn't mind, was the eager reply. Then in that case, said the sergeant, looking at his watch, as I've got a good deal to see to this evening I'll leave you here, and make my way to the station. With a farewell flourish of his hand he climbed over a style, and when a few moments later I caught a glimpse of him through an opening in the hedge, he was running across the meadow like a hare. The departure of the police officer was apparently a great relief to Mr. Draper, who at once fell back and began to talk with us. You are, Dr. Jervis, I think, said he. I saw you coming out of Dr. Cooper's house yesterday. We know everything that is happening in the village, you see." He laughed nervously and added, But I don't know your friend. I introduced Thorndike, at the mention of whose name our new acquaintance knitted his brows, and glanced inquisitively at my friend. Thorndike, he repeated, the name seems familiar to me. Are you in the law, sir?"  You were present when my poor friend's body was found, I think. No, replied Thorndike, we came up afterwards, when they were removing it. Our companion then proceeded to question us about the murder, but received from Thorndike only the most general and ambiguous replies, Nor was the time to go into the matter at length, for the footpath presently emerged onto the road, close to Mr. Draper's house. You will excuse my not asking you in tonight, said he, but you will understand that I am not in much form for visitors just now. We assured him that we fully understood, and having wished him good evening, pursued our way towards the village. The sergeant is off to get a warrant, I suppose, I observed. Yes, and mighty anxious lest his man should be off before he can execute it, but he is fishing in deeper waters than he thinks, Jervis. This is a very singular and complicated case, one of the strangest, in fact, that I have ever met. I shall follow its development with deep interest. The sergeant seems pretty cock-sure all the same, I said. He is not to blame for that, replied Thorndike. He is acting on the obvious appearances, which is the proper thing to do in the first place. Perhaps his notebook contains more than I think it does. But we shall see. When we entered the village I stopped to settle some business with the chemist, who acted as Dr. Cooper's dispenser, suggesting to Thorndike that he should walk on to the house. But when I emerged from the shops and ten minutes later he was waiting outside, with a smallish brown paper parcel under each arm. Of one of these parcels I insisted on relieving him, in spite of his protests. But when he at length handed it to me its weight completely took me by surprise. I should have let them send this home on a barrow, I remarked. So I should have done, he replied, only I did not wish to draw attention to my purchase or give my address. Accepting this hint I refrained from making any inquiries as to the nature of the contents. Although I must confess considerable curiosity on the subject, and on arriving home I assisted him to deposit the two mysterious parcels in his room. When I came downstairs a disagreeable surprise awaited me. Hitherto the long evenings had been spent by me in solitary an undisturbed enjoyment of Dr. Cooper's excellent library. But tonight a perverse fate decreed that I must wander abroad because, forsooth, a preposterous farmer who resided in a hamlet five miles distant had chosen the evening of my guest's arrival to dislocate his bucolic elbow. I half hoped that Thorndike would offer to accompany me, but he made no such suggestion, and in fact seemed by no means afflicted at the prospect of my absence. I have plenty to occupy me while you are away, he said cheerfully, and with this assurance to comfort me I mounted my bicycle and rode off somewhat sulkily along the dark road. My visit occupied in all a trifle under two hours, and when I reached home ravenously hungry and heated by my ride, half-past nine had struck and the village had begun to settle down for the night. Sergeant Payne is awaiting in the surgery, sir, the housemaid announced as I entered the hall. Confound Sergeant Payne, I exclaimed, is Dr. Thorndike with him? No, sir, replied the grinning damsel. Dr. Thorndike is hoat. Hoat? I repeated, my surprise, leading to unintentional mimicry.  He had a basket strapped onto it, least ways at amper, and he borrowed a basin and a kitchen spoon from the cook. I stared at the girl in astonishment. The ways of John Thorndike were, indeed, beyond all understanding. Well, let me have some dinner or supper once, I said, and I will see what the sergeant wants. The officer rose as I entered the surgery, and laying his helmet on the table approached me with an air of secrecy and importance. Well, sir, said he, the fat's in the fire. I've arrested Mr. Draper, and I've got him locked up in the courthouse, but I wish it had been someone else. So does he, I expect, I remarked. You see, sir, continued the sergeant. We all like Mr. Draper. He's been among us a matter of seven years, and he's like one of ourselves. However, what I've come about is this. It seems the gentleman who was with you this evening is Dr. Thorndike. The great expert. Now Mr. Draper seems to have heard about him, as most of us have, and he is very anxious for him to take up the defence. Do you think he would consent? I expect so, I answered, remembering Thorndike's keen interest in the case. But I will ask him when he comes in. Thank you, sir, said the sergeant, and perhaps you wouldn't mind stepping round to the courthouse presently yourself. He looks uncommon queer, does Mr. Draper, and no wonder, so I'd like you to take a look at him, and if you could bring Dr. Thorndike with you, he'd like it, and so should I. For, I assure you, sir, that although a conviction would mean a step up the ladder for me, I'd be glad enough to find that I'd made a mistake. I was just showing my visitor out when a bicycle swept in through the open gate, and Thorndike dismounted at the door, revealing a square hamper, evidently abstracted from the surgery, strapped onto a carrier at the back. I conveyed the sergeant's request to him at once, and asked if he was willing to take up the case. As to taking up the defence, he replied, I will consider the matter, but in any case I will come up and see the prisoner. With this the sergeant departed, and Thorndike, having unstrapped the hamper with as much care as if it contained a collection of priceless porcelain, bore it tenderly up to his bedroom, whence he appeared, after a considerable interval, smiling apologetic for the delay. I thought you were dressing for dinner. I grumbled as he took his seat at the table. No, he replied, I have been considering this murder. Really, it is a most singular case, and promises to be uncommonly complicated, too. Then I assume that you will undertake the defence. I shall, if Draper gives a reasonably straightforward account of himself. It appeared that this condition was likely to be fulfilled, for when we arrived at the courthouse, where the prisoner was accommodated in a spare office, under rather free and easy conditions, considering the nature of the charge, we found Mr Draper in an eminently communicative frame of mind. I want you, Dr Thorndike, to undertake my defence in this terrible affair, because I feel confident that you will be able to clear me, and I promise you that there shall be no reservation or concealment on my part of anything that you ought to know. Very well, said Thorndike. By the way, I see you have changed your shoes. Yes, the sergeant took possession of those I was wearing. He said something about comparing them with some footprints, but there can't be any footprints like those shoes here in Sundersley. The nails are fixed in the soles in quite a peculiar pattern. I have them made in Edinburgh. Have you more than one pair? No, I have no other nailed boots. That is important, said Thorndike, and now I judge that you have something to tell us that bears on this crime. Am I right? Yes, there is something that I am afraid it is necessary for you to know, although it is very painful to me to revive memories of my past that I had hoped were buried forever. But perhaps, after all, it may not be necessary for these confidences to be revealed to anyone but yourself. I hope not, said Thorndike, and if it is not necessary, you may rely upon me not to allow any of your secrets to leak out. But you are wise to tell me everything that may in any way bear upon the case. At this juncture, seeing that confidential matters were about to be discussed, I rose and prepared to withdraw, but Draper waved me back into my chair. You need not go away, Dr. Gervis, he said. It is through you that I have the benefit of Dr. Thorndike's help, and I know that you doctors can be trusted to keep your own counsel and your client's secrets. And now for some confessions of mine. In the first place it is my painful duty to tell you that I am a discharged convict, an old lag as the count phrase has it. He coloured a dusky red as he made this statement, and glanced, furtively at Thorndike, to observe its effect. But he might as well have looked at a wooden figurehead or a stone mask as at my friend's immovable visage, and when his communication had been acknowledged by a slight nod, he proceeded. The history of my wrongdoing is the history of hundreds of others. I was a clerk in a bank, and getting on as well as I could expect in that not very progressive avocation, when I had the misfortune to make four very undesirable acquaintances. They were all young men, though rather older than myself, and were close friends, forming a sort of little community or club. They were not what is usually described as fast. They were quite sober and decently behaved young fellows, but they were very decidedly addicted to gambling in a small way, and they soon infected me. Before long I was the keenest gambler of them all.  And not only was the bulk of my scanty salary often consumed in the inevitable losses, but presently I found myself considerably in debt, without any visible means of discharging my liabilities. It is true that my four friends were my chief in fact, almost my only creditors, but still the debts existed and had to be paid. Now these four friends of mine named respectively Leech, Pitford, Hearn, and Jezzard were uncommonly clever men, though the full extent of their cleverness was not appreciated by me until too late. And I, too, was clever in my way, and a most undesirable way it was, for I possessed the fatal gift of imitating handwriting and signatures with the most remarkable accuracy. So perfect were my copies that the writers themselves were frequently unable to distinguish their own signatures from my imitations, and many a time was my skill invoked by some of my companions to play off practical jokes upon the others. But these Jezz were strictly confined to our own little set, for my four friends were most careful and anxious, but my dangerous accomplishment should not become known to outsiders. And now follows the consequence which you have no doubt foreseen. My debts, though small, were accumulating, and I saw no prospect of being able to pay them. Then one night Jezzard made a proposition. We had been playing bridge at his rooms, and once more my ill luck had caused me to increase my debt. I scribbled out an IOU and pushed it across the table to Jezzard, who picked it up with a very rye face, and pocketed it. Look here, Ted, he said presently. This paper is all very well, but you know I can't pay my debts with it. My creditors demand hard cash. I'm very sorry, I replied, but I can't help it. Yes, you can, said he, and I'll tell you how. He then propounded a scheme which I at first rejected with indignation, but which, when the others backed him up, I at last allowed myself to be talked into, and actually put into execution. I contrived by taking advantage of the carelessness of some of my superiors at the bank to get possession of some blank check forms which I filled up with small amounts, not more than two or three pounds, and signed with careful imitations of the signatures of some of our clients. Jezzard got some stamps made for stamping on the account numbers, and when this had been done, I handed over to him the whole collection of forged checks in settlement of my debts to all of my four companions. The checks were duly presented, by whom I do not know, and although to my dismay, the modest sums for which I had drawn them had been skillfully altered into quite considerable amounts. They were all paid without demure, excepting one. That one, which had been altered from three pounds to thirty-nine, was drawn upon an account which was already slightly overdrawn. The cashier became suspicious, the check was impounded, and the client communicated with. Then, of course, the mine exploded. Not only was this particular forgery detected, but inquiries were set afoot which soon brought to light the others, presently circumstances which I need not describe, through some suspicion on me. I at once lost my nerve and finally made a full confession. The inevitable prosecution followed. It was not conducted vindictively. Still, I had actually committed the forgeries, and though I endeavoured to cast a part of the blame onto the shoulders of my treacherous confederates, I did not succeed. Jezzard, it is true, was arrested, but was discharged for lack of evidence, and consequently the whole burden of the forgery fell upon me. The jury, of course, convicted me, and I was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. During the time that I was in prison, an uncle of mine died in Canada, and by the provisions of his will I inherited the whole of his very considerable property, so that when the time arrived for my release I came out of prison, not only free, but comparatively rich. I at once dropped my own name, and assuming that of Alfred Draper began to look about for some quiet spot in which I might spend the rest of my days in peace, and with little chance of my identity being discovered.   But they had not. Only a month ago I met them once more to my sorrow, and from the day of that meeting all the peace and security of my quiet existence at Sundersley have vanished, like evil spirits they have stolen into my life, changing my happiness into bitter misery, filling my days with dark forebodings, and my nights with terror. Here Mr Draper paused and seemed to sink into a gloomy reverie. Under what circumstances did you meet these men? Thorn Dyke asked. Ah! exclaimed Draper, arousing with sudden excitement. The circumstances were very singular and suspicious. I had gone over to Eastwich for the day to do some shopping. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon I was making some purchases in a shop, when I noticed two men looking in the window, or rather pretending to do so whilst they conversed earnestly. They were smartly dressed in a horsey fashion, and looked like well-to-do farmers, as they might very naturally have been since it was market day. But it seemed to me that their faces were familiar to me. I looked at them more attentively, and then it suddenly dawned upon me, most unpleasantly, that they resembled leech and jezzard, and yet they were not quite like. The resemblance was there, but the differences were greater than the lapse of time would account for. Moreover, the man who resembled jezzard had a rather large mole on the left cheek just under the eye, while the other man had an eyeglass stuck in one eye, and wore a waxed moustache. Whereas leech had always been clean shaven, and had never used an eyeglass. As I was speculating upon the resemblance they looked up, and caught my intent an inquisitive eye, whereupon they moved away from the window, and when, having completed my purchases, I came out into the street, they were nowhere to be seen. That evening, as I was walking by the river outside the town, before returning to the station, I overtook a yacht which was being towed downstream. Three men were walking ahead on the bank with a long tow-line, and one man stood in the cockpit, steering. As I approached, and was reading the name, Otter, on the stern, the man at the helm looked round, and with a start of surprise I recognised my old acquaintance, Hearn. The recognition, however, was not mutual, for I had grown a beard in the interval, and I passed on without appearing to notice him. But when I overtook the other three men, and recognised as I had feared the other three members of the gang, I must have looked rather hard at Jezzard, for he suddenly halted and exclaimed, Why it's our old friend Ted, our long lost and lamented brother. He held out his hand with effusive cordiality, and began to make inquiries as to my welfare, but I cut him short with the remark that I was not proposing to renew the acquaintance, and turning off onto a footpath that led away from the river, strode off without looking back. Naturally this meeting exercised my mind a good deal, and when I thought of the two men whom I had seen in the town, I could hardly believe that their likeness to my quantum friends was a mere coincidence. And yet, when I had met Leech and Jezzard by the river, I had found them little altered, and had particularly noticed that Jezzard had no mole on his face, and that Leech was clean shaven as of old. But a day or two later all my doubts were resolved by a paragraph in the local paper. It appeared that on the day of my visit to Eastwich a number of forged checks had been cashed at the three banks. They had been presented by three well-dressed, horsey-looking men who looked like well-to-do farmers. One of them had a mole on the left cheek, another was distinguished by a wax moustache and a single eyeglass, while the description of the third I did not recognise. None of the checks had been drawn for large amounts, though the total sum obtained by the forgers was nearly four hundred pounds, but the most interesting point was that the check forms had been manufactured by photographic process. And the water marks skillfully, though not quite perfectly, imitated. Evidently the swindlers were clever and careful men, and willing to take a good deal of trouble for the sake of security, and the result of their precautions was that the police could make no guess as to their identity. The very next day, happening to walk over to Port Marston, I came upon the otter, lying moored alongside the key in the harbour. As soon as I recognised the yacht, I turned quickly and walked away, but a minute later I ran into Leech and Jezzard, who were returning to their craft. Jezzard greeted me with an air of surprise. What? Still hanging about here, Ted? he exclaimed. That is not discreet of you, dear boy, I should earnestly advise you to clear out. What do you mean? I asked. Tat, tat, said he. We read the papers like other people, and we know now what business took you to Eastwich, but it's foolish of you to hang about the neighbourhood where you might be spotted at any moment. The implied accusation took me aback so completely that I stood staring at him in speechless astonishment, and at that unlucky moment a tradesman from whom I had ordered some house-lin and passed along the key. Seeing me he stopped and touched his hat. Beg pardon, Mr. Draper, said he, but I shall be sending my cart up to Sundersey tomorrow morning, if that will do for you. I said that it would, and as the man turned away, Jezzard's face broke out into a cunning smile.  Well, I hope you won't be too proud to come and look in on your old friends. We shall be staying here for some time. That same night, Hearn made his appearance at my house. He had come as an emissary from the gang, to ask me to do some work for them, to execute some forgeries in fact. Of course I refused, and pretty bluntly too, whereupon Hearn began to throw out vague hints as to what might happen if I made enemies of the gang, and to utter veiled but quite intelligible threats.  The next thing that happened was that Hearn came and took lodgings in Sundersey, and in spite of my efforts to avoid him, he haunted me continually. The yacht too had evidently settled down for some time, at a berth in the harbour, for I heard that a local smack-boy had been engaged as a deck-hand, and I frequently encountered Jezzard and the other members of the gang, who all professed to believe that I had committed the East Witch forgeries. One day I was foolish enough to allow myself to be lured onto the yacht for a few minutes, and when I would have gone ashore I found that the shore-ropes had been cast off, and that the vessel was already moving out of the harbour. At first I was furious, but the three scoundrels were so jovial and good-natured, and so delighted with the joke of taking me for a sail against my will, that I presently cooled down and having changed into a pair of rubber-soled shoes, so that I should not make dents in the smooth deck with my hobnails, bore a hand at sailing the yacht, and spent quite a pleasant day. From that time I found myself gradually drifting back into a state of intimacy with these agreeable scoundrels, and daily becoming more and more afraid of them. In a moment of imbecility I mentioned what I had seen from the shop window at East Witch, and though they passed the matter off with a joke, I could see that they were mightily disturbed by it. Their efforts to induce me to join them were redoubled, and Hearn took to calling almost daily at my house, usually with documents and signatures, which he tried to persuade me to copy. A few evenings ago he made a new and startling proposition. We were walking in my garden, and he had been urging me once more to rejoin the gang. Unsuccessfully I need not say. Presently he sat down on a seat against a U-Hedge at the bottom of the garden, and after an interval of silence said suddenly, then you absolutely refused to go in with us. Of course I do, I replied, why should I mix myself up with a gang of crooks when I have ample means and decent position?  And you gave us away once before. Consequently you can take it from me that now Jezad has run you to earth, he won't leave you in peace, until you have given us some kind of a hold on you. You know too much you see, and as long as you have a clean sheet you are a standing menace to us. That is the position. You know it, and Jezad knows it, and he is a desperate man, and as cunning as the devil. I know that, I said gloomily. Very well, continued Hearn, now I'm going to make you an offer. Promise me a small annuity, you can easily afford it, or pay me a substantial sum down, and I will set you free for ever from Jezad and the others. How will you do that? I asked.  Now I am ready to clean off my own slate and set you free at the same time, but I must have some means of livelihood in view. You mean that you will turn King's evidence? I asked. Yes, if you will pay me a couple of hundred a year, or say, two thousand down on the conviction of the gang. I was so taken aback that for some time I made no reply, and as I sat considering this amazing proposition, the silence was suddenly broken by a suppressed sneeze from the other side of the hedge. Immediately hurried footsteps were heard in the lane outside the hedge. We raced up the garden to the gate and out through a side alley, but when we reached the lane there was not a soul in sight. We made a brief and fruitless search in the immediate neighbourhood, and then turned back to the house. Hearn was deathly pale and very agitated, and I must confess that I was a good deal upset by the incident. This is devilish awkward, said Hearn. It is rather, I admitted, but I expect it was only some inquisitive yokel. I don't feel so sure of that, said he, at any rate, we were stark lunatics to sit up against a hedge to talk secrets. He paced the garden with me for some time in gloomy silence, and presently, after a brief request that I would think over his proposal, took himself off. I did not see him again until I met him last night on the yacht. Pitford called on me in the morning and invited me to come and dine with them. I at first declined, for my housekeeper was going to spend the evening with her sister, at Eastwich, and stay there for the night, and I did not much like leaving the house empty. However, I agreed eventually, stipulating that I should be allowed to come home early, and I accordingly went. Hearn and Pitford were waiting in the boat by the steps, for the yacht had been moved out to a buoy, and we went on board and spent a very pleasant and lively evening. Pitford put me ashore at ten o'clock, and I walked straight home and went to bed. Hearn would have come with me, but the others insisting on his remaining, saying that they had some matters of business to discuss. Which way did you walk home? asked Thorndike. I came through the town and along the main road. And that is all you know about this affair? Absolutely all, replied Draper. I have now admitted you to secrets of my past life that I had hoped never to have to reveal to any human creature, and I still have some faint hope that it may not be necessary for you to divulge what I have told you. Your secrets shall not be revealed unless it is absolutely indispensable that they should be, said Thorndike, but you are placing your life in my hands, and you must leave me perfectly free to act as I think best. With this he gathered his notes together, and we took our departure.