Very confused footsteps, you will please to observe--purposely confused, I should say.

Ah, poor soul, she understands the detective virtues of sand as well as I do! But hasn't she been in rather too great a hurry to tread out the marks thoroughly?
I think she has.

Here's one footstep going FROM Cobb's Hole; and here is another going back to it.

Isn't that the toe of her shoe pointing straight to the water's edge?
And don't I see two heel-marks further down the beach, close at the water's edge also?
I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm afraid Rosanna is sly.

It looks as if she had determined to get to that place you and I have just come from, without leaving any marks on the sand to trace her by.