“It isn’t. But that doesn’t matter much. We have certain landmarks, such as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have the slightest notion what your general direction was.”

I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:

“ ‘Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen hands.’ ”

“You turned round at once, I understand,” said Thorndyke, “so we draw no line in that direction. The next is⁠—?”

“ ‘Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North’; and the next is ‘Eight fifty-nine, Northeast.’ ”