Speaker 1: The adventure of the Lion's Man. It is a most
Speaker 1: singular thing that a problem which was certainly as abstruse
Speaker 1: and unusual as any which I have faced in my
Speaker 1: long professional career should have come to me after my
Speaker 1: retirement and be brought, as it were, to my very door.
Speaker 1: It occurred after my withdrawal to my little Sussex home,
Speaker 1: when I had given myself up entirely to that soothing
Speaker 1: life of nature for which I had so often yearned
Speaker 1: during the long years spent amid the gloom of London.
Speaker 1: At this period of my life, the good Watson had
Speaker 1: passed almost beyond my ken. An occasional week end visit
Speaker 1: was the most that I ever saw of him. Thus
Speaker 1: I must act as my own chronicler. Ah had he
Speaker 1: but been with me, how much she might have made
Speaker 1: of so wonderful a happening and of my eventual triumph
Speaker 1: against every difficulty. As it is, However, I must needs
Speaker 1: tell my tale in my own plain way, showing by
Speaker 1: my words each step upon the difficult road which lay
Speaker 1: before me as I searched for the mystery of the
Speaker 1: Lion's Main. My villa is situated upon the southern slope
Speaker 1: of the downs, commanding a great view of the channel.
Speaker 1: At this point, the coastline is entirely of chalk cliffs,
Speaker 1: which can only be descended by a single, long, tortuous
Speaker 1: path which is steep and slippery. At the bottom of
Speaker 1: the path lie a hundred yards of pebbles and shingle,
Speaker 1: even when the tide is at full. Here and there, however,
Speaker 1: there are curves and hollows which makes blended swimming pools
Speaker 1: filled afresh with each flow. This admirable beach extends for
Speaker 1: some miles in each direction, save only at one point,
Speaker 1: where the little cove and village of Fulworth break the line.
Speaker 1: My house is lonely. I, my old housekeeper, and my
Speaker 1: bees have the estate all to ourselves. Half a mile off, however,
Speaker 1: is Harold Stackhurst's well known coaching establishment, the Gables, quite
Speaker 1: a large place which contains some score of young fellows
Speaker 1: preparing for various professions, with a staff of several masters.
Speaker 1: Stackhurst himself was a well known rowing blue in his day,
Speaker 1: and an excellent all round scholar. He and I were
Speaker 1: always friendly from the day I came to the coast,
Speaker 1: and he was the one man who was on such
Speaker 1: terms with me that we could drop in on each
Speaker 1: other in the evenings without an Towards the end of
Speaker 1: July nineteen hundred seven, there was a severe gale, the
Speaker 1: wind blowing up the channel, heaping the seas to the
Speaker 1: base of the cliffs and leaving a lagoon at the
Speaker 1: turn of the tide. On the morning of which I speak,
Speaker 1: the wind had abated, and all nature was newly washed
Speaker 1: and fresh. It was impossible to work upon so delightful
Speaker 1: a day, and I strolled out before breakfast to enjoy
Speaker 1: the exquisite air. I walked along the cliff path which
Speaker 1: led to the steep descent to the beach. As I walked,
Speaker 1: I heard a shout behind me, and there was Harold Stackhurst,
Speaker 1: waving his hand in cheery greeting, What a morning, mister Holmes.
Speaker 1: I thought I should see you out going for a swim.
Speaker 1: I see at your old tricks again, he laughed, patting
Speaker 1: his bulging pocket. Yes, Macpherson's started early, and I expect
Speaker 1: I may find him there. Fitzroy Macpherson was the Science Master,
Speaker 1: a fine upstanding young fellow whose life had been crippled
Speaker 1: by heart trouble following rheumatic fever. He was a natural athlete, however,
Speaker 1: and excelled in every game which did not throw too
Speaker 1: great a strain upon him. Summer and winter he went
Speaker 1: for his swim, and as I am a swimmer myself,
Speaker 1: I have often joined him. At this moment we saw
Speaker 1: the man himself. His head showed above the edge of
Speaker 1: the cliff where the path ends. Then his whole figure
Speaker 1: appeared at the top, staggering like a drunken man. The
Speaker 1: next instant he threw up his hands and with a
Speaker 1: terrible cry, fell upon his face. Stackhurst and I rushed
Speaker 1: forward it may have been fifty yards, and turned him
Speaker 1: on his back. He was obviously dying. Those glazed, sunken
Speaker 1: eyes and dreadful, livid cheeks could mean nothing else. One
Speaker 1: glimmer of life came into his face for an instant,
Speaker 1: and he uttered two or three words with an eager
Speaker 1: air of warning. They were slurred and indistinct. But to
Speaker 1: my ear, the last of them, which burst in a
Speaker 1: shriek from his lips, were the lion's mane. It was
Speaker 1: utterly irrelevant and unintelligible, and yet I could twist the
Speaker 1: sound into no other sense. Then he half raised himself
Speaker 1: from the ground, threw his arms into the air and
Speaker 1: fell forward on his side. He was dead. My companion
Speaker 1: was paralyzed by the sudden horror of it. But I,
Speaker 1: as may well be imagined, had every sense on the alert,
Speaker 1: and I had need, for it was speedily evident that
Speaker 1: we were in the presence of an extraordinary case. The
Speaker 1: man was dressed only in his berbery overcoat, his trousers,
Speaker 1: and an unlaced pair of canvas shoes. As he fell over,
Speaker 1: his berbery, which had been simply thrown round his shoulders,
Speaker 1: slipped off, exposing his trunk. We stared at it in amazement.
Speaker 1: His back was covered with dark red lines, as though
Speaker 1: he had been terribly flogged by a thin wire scourge.
Speaker 1: The instrument with which this punishment had been inflicted was
Speaker 1: clearly flexible, for the long, angry wheels curved round his
Speaker 1: shoulders and ribs. There was blood dripping down his chin,
Speaker 1: for he had bitten through his lower lip. In the
Speaker 1: paroxysm of his agony, his drawn and distory thought it
Speaker 1: face told how terrible that agony had been. I was
Speaker 1: kneeling and Stackhurst standing by the body, when a shadow
Speaker 1: fell across us, and we found that Ian Murdoch was
Speaker 1: by our side. Murdoch was the mathematical coach at the establishment.
Speaker 1: At all, dark, thin man, so taciturn and aloof that
Speaker 1: none can be said to have been his friend. He
Speaker 1: seemed to live in some high, abstract region of surds
Speaker 1: and conic sections, with little to connect him with ordinary life.
Speaker 1: He was looked upon as an oddity by the students,
Speaker 1: and would have been there. But but there was some strange,
Speaker 1: outlandish blood in the man, which showed itself not only
Speaker 1: in his cold black eyes and swarthy face, but also
Speaker 1: in occasional outbreaks of temper which could only be described
Speaker 1: as ferocious. On one occasion, being plagued by a little
Speaker 1: dog belonging to mac Pherson, he had caught the creature
Speaker 1: up and hurled it through the plate glass window, an
Speaker 1: action for which Stackhurst would certainly have given him his dismissal,
Speaker 1: had he not been a very valuable teacher. Such was
Speaker 1: the strange complex man who now appeared beside us. He
Speaker 1: seemed to be honestly shocked at the sight before him,
Speaker 1: though the incident of the dog may show that there
Speaker 1: was no great sympathy between the dead man and himself.
Speaker 1: Poor fellow, Poor fellow, what can I do? How can
Speaker 1: I help? Were you with him? Can you tell us
Speaker 1: what happened? No, No, I was late this morning. I
Speaker 1: was not on the beach at all. I've come straight
Speaker 1: from the gables. What can I do? You can hurry
Speaker 1: to the police station at Fulworth report the matter at once.
Speaker 1: Without a word, he made off at top speed, and
Speaker 1: I proceeded to take the matter in hand, while Stackhurst,
Speaker 1: dazed at this tragedy, remained by the body. My first task,
Speaker 1: naturally was to note who was on the beach. From
Speaker 1: the top of the path, I could see the whole
Speaker 1: sweep of it, and it was absolutely deserted, save that
Speaker 1: two or three dark figures could be seen far away,
Speaker 1: moving towards the village of Fulworth. Having satisfied myself upon
Speaker 1: this point, I walked slowly down the path. There was
Speaker 1: clay or soft mile mixed with the chalk, and every
Speaker 1: here and there I saw the same footstep, both ascending
Speaker 1: and descending. No one else had gone down to the
Speaker 1: beach by this track that morning. At one place I
Speaker 1: observed the print of an open hand with the fingers
Speaker 1: towards the incline. This could only mean that poor mac
Speaker 1: Pherson had fallen as he ascended. There were rounded depressions, too,
Speaker 1: which suggested that he had come down upon his knees
Speaker 1: more than once. At the bottom of the path was
Speaker 1: the considerable lagoon left by the retreating tide. At the
Speaker 1: sight of it, mac Pherson had undressed, for there lay
Speaker 1: his towel on a rock. It was folded and dry,
Speaker 1: so that it would seem that, after all, he had
Speaker 1: never entered the water once or twice. As I hunted
Speaker 1: round amid the hard shingle, I came on little patches
Speaker 1: of sand where the print of his canvas shoe and
Speaker 1: also of his naked foot could be seen. The latter
Speaker 1: fact proved that he had made all ready to bathe,
Speaker 1: though the towel indicated that he had not actually done so.
Speaker 1: And here was the problem clearly defined as strange a
Speaker 1: one as had ever confronted me. The man had not
Speaker 1: been on the beach more than a quarter of an
Speaker 1: hour at the most. Stackhurst had followed him from the gables,
Speaker 1: so there could be no doubt about that he had
Speaker 1: gone to bathe and had stripped. As the naked footsteps showed,
Speaker 1: then he had suddenly huddled on his clothes again. They
Speaker 1: were all disheveled and unfastened, and he had returned without bathing,
Speaker 1: or at any rate without drying himself. And the reason
Speaker 1: for his change of purpose had been that he had
Speaker 1: been scourged in some savage in human fashion, tortured until
Speaker 1: he bit his lip through in his agony, and was
Speaker 1: left with only strength enough to crawl away and to die.
Speaker 1: Who had done this barbarous deed? There were, it is true,
Speaker 1: small grottoes and caves in the base of the cliffs,
Speaker 1: but the low sun shone directly into them, and there
Speaker 1: was no place for concealment. Then again, there were those
Speaker 1: distant figures on the beach they see too far away
Speaker 1: to have been connected with the crime, and the broad
Speaker 1: lagoon in which Macpherson had intended to bathe who lay
Speaker 1: between him and them, lapping up to the rocks on
Speaker 1: the sea. Two or three fishing boats were at no
Speaker 1: great distance. Their occupants might be examined at our leisure.
Speaker 1: There were several roads for inquiry, but none which led
Speaker 1: to any very obvious goal. When I at last returned
Speaker 1: to the body, I found that a little group of
Speaker 1: wandering folk had gathered round it. Stackhurst was of course
Speaker 1: still there, and Ian Murdock had just arrived with Anderson.
Speaker 1: The village constable, a big, ginger mustached man of the slow,
Speaker 1: solid Sussex breed, a breed which covers much good sense
Speaker 1: under a heavy, silent exterior. He listened to everything, took
Speaker 1: note of all we said, and finally drew me aside.
Speaker 1: I'll be glad of your advice, mister Holmes. This is
Speaker 1: a big thing for me to handle, and I'll hear
Speaker 1: of it from Lewis if I go wrong. I advised
Speaker 1: him to send for his immediate superior and for a doctor.
Speaker 1: Also to allow nothing to be moved, and as few
Speaker 1: fresh footmarks as possible to be made until they came.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I searched the dead man's pockets. There
Speaker 1: were his handkerchief, a large knife, and a small folding
Speaker 1: card case. From this projected a slip of paper, which
Speaker 1: I unfolded and handed to the constable. There was written
Speaker 1: on it in a scrawling feminine hand, I will be there,
Speaker 1: you may be sure, Mardi. It read like a love
Speaker 1: affair an assignation, though when and where were a blank.
Speaker 1: The constable replaced it in the card case and returned
Speaker 1: it with the other things to the pockets of the berbery. Then,
Speaker 1: as nothing more suggested itself, I walked back to my
Speaker 1: house for breakfast, having first arranged that the base of
Speaker 1: the cliffs should be thoroughly searched. Stackhurst was round in
Speaker 1: an hour or two to tell me that the body
Speaker 1: had been removed to the gables, where the inquest would
Speaker 1: be held. He brought with him some serious and definite news.
Speaker 1: As I expected, nothing had been found in the small
Speaker 1: caves below the cliff, but he had examined the papers
Speaker 1: in McPherson's desk, and there were several which showed an
Speaker 1: intimate correspondence with a certain Miss Maude Bellamy of Fulworth.
Speaker 1: We had then established the identity of the writer of
Speaker 1: the note. The police have the letters, he explained, I
Speaker 1: could not bring them, but there is no doubt that
Speaker 1: it was a serious love affair. I see no reason, however,
Speaker 1: to connect it with that horrible happening, save indeed, that
Speaker 1: the lady had made an appointment with him, but hardly
Speaker 1: at a bathing pool, which all of you were in
Speaker 1: the habit of using. I remarked, it is mere chance,
Speaker 1: said he, that several of the students were not with McPherson.
Speaker 1: Was it mere chance? Stackhurst knit his brows in thought
Speaker 1: I and Murdoch held them back, said he he would
Speaker 1: insist upon some algebraic demonstration before breakfast. Poor chap he
Speaker 1: is dreadfully cut up about it all. And yet I
Speaker 1: gather that they were not friends at one time They
Speaker 1: were not, But for a year or more Murdoch has
Speaker 1: been as near to McPherson as he could ever be
Speaker 1: to anyone. He is not of a very sympathetic disposition
Speaker 1: by nature. So I understand. I seem to remember your
Speaker 1: telling me once about a quarrel over the ill usage
Speaker 1: of a dog that blew over all right, but left
Speaker 1: some vindictive feeling. Perhaps No, No, I am sure they
Speaker 1: were real friends. Well, then we must explore the matter
Speaker 1: of the girl. Do you know her? Everyone knows her?
Speaker 1: She is the beauty of the neighborhood, a real beauty
Speaker 1: Holmes who would draw attention everywhere. I knew that McPherson
Speaker 1: was attracted by her, but I had no notion that
Speaker 1: it had gone so far as these letters would seem
Speaker 1: to indicate. But who is she? She is the daughter
Speaker 1: of old Tom Bellamy, who owns all the boats and
Speaker 1: bathing cats at Fulworth. He was a fisherman to start with,
Speaker 1: but is now a man of some substance. He and
Speaker 1: his son William run the business. Shall we walk into
Speaker 1: Fulworth and see them? On what pretext? Oh, we can
Speaker 1: easily find a pretext. After all, this poor man did
Speaker 1: not use himself in this outrageous way. Some human hand
Speaker 1: was on the handle of that scourge. If indeed it
Speaker 1: was a scourge which inflicted the injuries, His circle of
Speaker 1: acquaintances in this lonely place was surely limited. Let us
Speaker 1: follow it up in every direction, and we can hardly
Speaker 1: fail to come upon the motive, which, in turn should
Speaker 1: lead us to the criminal. It would have been a
Speaker 1: pleasant walk across the time scented downs, had our minds
Speaker 1: not been poisoned by the tragedy we had witnessed. The
Speaker 1: village of Fulworth lies in a hollow curving in a
Speaker 1: semicircle round the bay. Behind the old fashioned hamlet. Several
Speaker 1: modern houses have been built upon the rising ground. It
Speaker 1: was to one of these that Stackhurst guided me that
Speaker 1: the haven, as Bellamy called it, the one with the
Speaker 1: corner tower and slate roof, not bad for a man
Speaker 1: who started with nothing, But by Jove, look at that
Speaker 1: the garden gate of the Haven had opened and a
Speaker 1: man had emerged. There was no mistaking that tall, angular,
Speaker 1: straggling figure. It was Ian Murdoch, the mathematician. A moment
Speaker 1: later we confronted him upon the road. Hello, said Stackhurst.
Speaker 1: The man nodded, gave us a sideways glance from his
Speaker 1: curious dark eyes, and would have passed us, but his
Speaker 1: principle pulled him up. What were you doing there, he asked.
Speaker 1: Murdoch's face flushed with anger. I am your subordinate, sir,
Speaker 1: under your roof, I am not aware that I owe
Speaker 1: you any account of my private actions. Stackhurst's nerves were
Speaker 1: near the surface, after all that he had endured. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: perhaps he would have waited now. He lost his temper
Speaker 1: completely in the circumstances. Your answer is pure impertinence, mister Murdoch.
Speaker 1: Your own question might perhaps come under the same heading.
Speaker 1: This is not the first time that I have had
Speaker 1: to overlook your insubordinate ways. It will certainly be the last.
Speaker 1: You will kindly make fresh arrangements for your future as
Speaker 1: speedily as you can. I had intended to do so.
Speaker 1: I have lost today the only person who made the
Speaker 1: gables habitable. He strode off upon his way, while Stackhurst,
Speaker 1: with angry eyes, stood glaring after him. Is he not
Speaker 1: an impossible intolerable man? He cried. The one thing that
Speaker 1: impressed itself forcibly upon my mind was that mister Ian
Speaker 1: Murdock was taking the first chance to open a path
Speaker 1: of escape from the scene of the crime. Suspicion vague,
Speaker 1: and nebulus was now beginning to take outline in my mind.
Speaker 1: Perhaps the visit to the BELLEMI might throw some further
Speaker 1: light upon the matter. Stackhurst pulled himself together and we
Speaker 1: went forward to the house. Mister Bellamy proved to be
Speaker 1: a middle aged man with a flaming red beard. He
Speaker 1: seemed to be in a very angry mood, and his
Speaker 1: face was soon as florid as his hair. No, Sir,
Speaker 1: I do not desire any particulars my son here indicating
Speaker 1: a powerful young man with a heavy sullen face in
Speaker 1: the corner of the sitting room. As of one mind
Speaker 1: with me that mister Macpherson's attentions to Maude were insulting, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: the word marriage was never mentioned, and yet there were
Speaker 1: letters and meetings and a great deal more of which
Speaker 1: neither of us could approve. She has no mother, and
Speaker 1: we are her only guardians. We are determined. But the
Speaker 1: words were taken from his mouth by the appearance of
Speaker 1: the lady herself. There was no gain saying that she
Speaker 1: would have graced any assembly in the world. Who could
Speaker 1: have imagined that so rare a flower would grow from
Speaker 1: such a root and in such an atmosphere. Women have
Speaker 1: seldom been an attraction to me, for my brain has
Speaker 1: always governed my heart. But I could not look upon
Speaker 1: her perfect, clear cut face, with all the soft freshness
Speaker 1: of the downlands in her delicate coloring, without realizing that
Speaker 1: no young man would cross her path unscathed. Such was
Speaker 1: the girl who had pushed open the door and stood
Speaker 1: now open eyed and intense in front of Harold Stackhurst.
Speaker 1: I know already that Fitzroy is dead, she said, Do
Speaker 1: not be afraid to tell me the particulars this other
Speaker 1: gentleman of yours. Let us know the news, explained the father.
Speaker 1: There is no reason why my sister should be brought
Speaker 1: into the matter, growled the younger man. The sister turned
Speaker 1: a sharp, fierce look upon him. This is my business. William,
Speaker 1: kindly leave me to manage it in my own way.
Speaker 1: By all accounts, there has been a crime committed. If
Speaker 1: I can help to show who did it, it is
Speaker 1: the least I can do for him who is gone.
Speaker 1: She listened to a short account from my companion with
Speaker 1: a composed concentration, which showed me that she possessed strong
Speaker 1: character as well as great beauty. Maude Bellamy will always
Speaker 1: remain in my memory as a most complete and remarkable woman.
Speaker 1: It seems that she already knew me by sight, for
Speaker 1: she turned to me at the end. Bring them to justice,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, you have my sympathy and my help, whoever
Speaker 1: they may be. It seemed to me that she glanced
Speaker 1: defiantly at her father and brother as she spoke. Thank you,
Speaker 1: said I I value a woman's instinct in such matters.
Speaker 1: You use the word they, you think that more than
Speaker 1: one was concerned. I knew mister Macpherson well enough to
Speaker 1: be aware that he was a brave and a strong man.
Speaker 1: No single person could ever have inflicted such an outrage
Speaker 1: upon him. Might I have one word with you alone?
Speaker 1: I tell you, Maude, not to mix yourself up in
Speaker 1: the matter, cried her father angrily. She looked at me helplessly.
Speaker 1: What can I do? The whole world will know the
Speaker 1: facts presently, so there can be no harm if I
Speaker 1: discussed them here, said I. I should have preferred privacy,
Speaker 1: but if your father will not allow it, he must
Speaker 1: share the deliberations. Then I spoke of the note which
Speaker 1: had been found in the dead man's pocket. It is
Speaker 1: sure to be produced at the inquest. May I ask
Speaker 1: you to throw any light upon it that you can.
Speaker 1: I see no reason for mystery, she answered. We were
Speaker 1: engaged to be married, and we only kept its secret
Speaker 1: because Fitzroy's uncle, who was very old and said to
Speaker 1: be dying, might have disinherited him if he had married
Speaker 1: against his wish. There was no other reason you could
Speaker 1: have told us, growled mister Bellamy. So I would father,
Speaker 1: if you had ever shown sympathy. I object to my
Speaker 1: girl picking up with men outside her own station. It
Speaker 1: was your prejudice against him which prevented us from telling
Speaker 1: you as to this appointment. She fumbled in her dress
Speaker 1: and produced a crumpled note. It was in answer to this,
Speaker 1: dearest ran the message the old place on the beach
Speaker 1: just after sunset aunt Tuesday. It is the only time
Speaker 1: I can get away f m. Tuesday was to day,
Speaker 1: and I had meant to meet him to night. I
Speaker 1: turned over the paper. This never came by post. How
Speaker 1: did you get it? I would rather not answer that question.
Speaker 1: It has really nothing to do with the matter which
Speaker 1: you were investigating. But anything which bears upon that I
Speaker 1: will most freely answer. She was as good as her word,
Speaker 1: but there was nothing which was helpful in our investigation.
Speaker 1: She had no reason to think that her fiance had
Speaker 1: any hidden enemy, but she admitted that she had had
Speaker 1: several warm admirers. May I ask if mister Ian Murdock
Speaker 1: was one of them. She blushed and seemed confused. There
Speaker 1: was a time when I thought he was, but that
Speaker 1: was all changed when he understood the relations between Fitzroy
Speaker 1: and myself. Again, the shadow round this strange man seemed
Speaker 1: to me to be taking more definite shape. His record
Speaker 1: must be examined, his room must be privately searched. Stackhurst
Speaker 1: was a willing collaborator, for in his mind also suspicions
Speaker 1: were forming. We returned from our visit to the Haven
Speaker 1: with the hope that one free end of this tangled
Speaker 1: skein was already in our hands. A week passed, the
Speaker 1: inquest had thrown no light upon the matter, and had
Speaker 1: been adjourned for further evidence. Stackhurst had made discreet inquiry
Speaker 1: about his subordinate, and there had been a superficial search
Speaker 1: of his room, but without result. Personally, I had gone
Speaker 1: over the whole ground again, both physically and mentally, but
Speaker 1: with no new conclusions. In all my chronicles, the reader
Speaker 1: will find no case which brought me so completely to
Speaker 1: the limit of my powers. Even my imagination could conceive
Speaker 1: no solution to the mystery. And then there came the
Speaker 1: incident of the dog. It was my old housekeeper who
Speaker 1: heard of it first, by that strange wireless by which
Speaker 1: such people collect the news of the countryside. Sad story this, sir,
Speaker 1: about mister McPherson's dog, said she one evening. I do
Speaker 1: not encourage such conversations, but the words arrested my attention.
Speaker 1: What of mister Macpherson's dog dead, sir, died of grief
Speaker 1: for its master? Who told you this? Why sir, everyone
Speaker 1: is talking of it? It took unterrible and has eaten
Speaker 1: nothing for a week. Then to day two of the
Speaker 1: young gentlemen from the gables found it dead. Then on
Speaker 1: the beach, sir, at the very place where its master
Speaker 1: met his end, At the very place. The words stood
Speaker 1: out clear in my memory. Some dim perception that the
Speaker 1: matter was vital rose in my mind. That the dog
Speaker 1: should die was after the beautiful, faithful nature of dogs.
Speaker 1: But in the very place. Why should this lonely beach
Speaker 1: be fatal to it? Was it possible that it also
Speaker 1: had been sacrificed to some revengeful feud? Was it possible? Yes,
Speaker 1: the perception was dim, But already something was building up
Speaker 1: in my mind. In a few minutes I was on
Speaker 1: my way to the gables, where I found Stackhurst in
Speaker 1: his study. At my request, he sent for Sudbury and Blount,
Speaker 1: the two students who had found the dog. Yes, it
Speaker 1: lay on the very edge of the pool, said one
Speaker 1: of them. It must have followed the trail of its
Speaker 1: dead master. I saw the faithful little creature, an airedale terrier,
Speaker 1: laid up out upon the mat in the hall. The
Speaker 1: body was stiff and rigid, the eyes projecting and the
Speaker 1: limbs contorted. There was agony in every line of it.
Speaker 1: From the gables I walked down to the bathing pool.
Speaker 1: The sun had sunk and the shadow of the great
Speaker 1: cliff lay black across the water, which glimmered dully like
Speaker 1: a sheet of lead. The place was deserted, and there
Speaker 1: was no sign of life save for two sea birds
Speaker 1: circling and screaming overhead. In the fading light, I could
Speaker 1: dimly make out the little dog's spur upon the sand
Speaker 1: round the very rock on which his master's towel had
Speaker 1: been laid. For a long time, I stood in deep
Speaker 1: meditation while the shadows grew darker around me. My mind
Speaker 1: was filled with racing thoughts. You have known what it
Speaker 1: was to be in a nightmare, in which you feel
Speaker 1: that there is some all important thing for which you search,
Speaker 1: and which you know is there, though it remains forever
Speaker 1: just beyond your reach. That was how I felt that evening,
Speaker 1: as I stood alone by that place of death. Then
Speaker 1: at last I turned and walked slowly homeward. I had
Speaker 1: just reached the top of the path when it came
Speaker 1: to me like a flash, I remembered the thing for
Speaker 1: which I had so eagerly and vainly grasped. You will know,
Speaker 1: or Watson has written in Vain, that I hold a
Speaker 1: vast store of out of the way knowledge without scientific system,
Speaker 1: but very available for the needs of my work. My
Speaker 1: mind is like a crowded box room with packets of
Speaker 1: all sorts stowed away. Therein so many that I may
Speaker 1: well have but a vague perception of what was there.
Speaker 1: I had known that there was something which might bear
Speaker 1: upon this matter. It was still vague, but at least
Speaker 1: I knew how I could make it clear. It was monstrous, incredible,
Speaker 1: and yet it was always a possibility I would test
Speaker 1: it to the full. There is a great garret in
Speaker 1: my little house which is stuffed with books. It was
Speaker 1: into this that I plunged and rummaged for an hour.
Speaker 1: At the end of that time I emerged with a
Speaker 1: little chocolate and silver volume. Eagerly I turned up the
Speaker 1: chapter of which I had a dim remembrance. Yes, it
Speaker 1: was indeed a far fetched and unlikely proposition, and yet
Speaker 1: I could not be at rest until I had made
Speaker 1: sure if it might indeed be so. It was late
Speaker 1: when I retired, with my mind eagerly awaiting the work
Speaker 1: of the morrow. But that work met with an annoying interruption.
Speaker 1: I had hardly swallowed my early cup of tea and
Speaker 1: was starting for the beach when I had a call
Speaker 1: from Inspector Bartle of the Sussex Constabulary, a steady, solid
Speaker 1: bovine man with thoughtful eyes, which looked at me now
Speaker 1: with a very troubled expression. I know your immense experience, sir,
Speaker 1: said he. This is quite unofficial, of course, and need
Speaker 1: go no farther. But I am fairly up against it.
Speaker 1: In this Macpherson case, the question is shall I make
Speaker 1: an arrest or shall I not? Meaning mister Ian Murdoch. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: there is really no one else when you come to
Speaker 1: think of it. That's the advantage of this solitude. We
Speaker 1: narrow it down to a very small compass. If he
Speaker 1: did not do it, then who did? What have you
Speaker 1: against him? He had gleamed along the same furrows as
Speaker 1: I had. There was Murdoch's character, and the mystery which
Speaker 1: seemed to hang round the man, his furious bursts of
Speaker 1: temper as shown in the incident of the dog, the
Speaker 1: fact that he had quarreled with mac Pherson in the past,
Speaker 1: and that there was some reason to think that he
Speaker 1: might have resented his attentions to Miss Bellamy. He had
Speaker 1: all my points, but no fresh ones, save that Murdoch
Speaker 1: seemed to be making every preparation for departure. What would
Speaker 1: my position be if I let him slip away with
Speaker 1: all this evidence against him? The burly phlegmatic man was
Speaker 1: sorely troubled in his mind. Consider, I said, all the
Speaker 1: essential gaps in your case. On the morning of the crime.
Speaker 1: He can surely prove an alibi. He had been with
Speaker 1: his scholars till the last moment, and within a few
Speaker 1: minutes of mac Pherson's appearance he came upon us from behind.
Speaker 1: Then bear in mind the absolute impossibility that he could
Speaker 1: single handed have inflicted this outrage upon a man quite
Speaker 1: as strong as himself. Finally, there is the question of
Speaker 1: the instrument with which these injuries were inflicted. What could
Speaker 1: it be but a scourge or flexible whip of some sort.
Speaker 1: Have you examined the marks, i asked. I have seen
Speaker 1: them so as the doctor, but I have examined them
Speaker 1: very carefully with a lens. They have peculiarities. What are they,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes? I stepped to my bureau and brought out
Speaker 1: an enlarged photograph. This is my method in such cases,
Speaker 1: I explained. You certainly do things thoroughly, mister Holmes. I
Speaker 1: should hardly be what I am if I did not. Now,
Speaker 1: let us consider this wheel which extends round the right shoulder.
Speaker 1: Do you observe nothing remarkable? I can't say I do.
Speaker 1: Surely it is evident that it is unequal in its intensity.
Speaker 1: There is a dot of extravasated blood here, and another there.
Speaker 1: There are similar indications in this other wheel down here.
Speaker 1: What can that mean? I have no idea of you.
Speaker 1: Perhaps I have, Perhaps I haven't. I may be able
Speaker 1: to say more soon. Anything which will define what made
Speaker 1: that mark will bring us a long way towards the criminal.
Speaker 1: It is, of course an absurd idea, said the policeman.
Speaker 1: But if a red hot net of wire had been
Speaker 1: laid across the back, then these better marked points would
Speaker 1: represent where the meshes crossed each other. A most ingenious comparison,
Speaker 1: or shall we say, a very stiff cat of nine
Speaker 1: tails with small hard knots upon it. By jove, mister Holmes,
Speaker 1: I think you have hit it. Or there may be
Speaker 1: some very different cause, mister Bardele, But your case is
Speaker 1: far too weak for an arrest. Besides, we have those
Speaker 1: last words the iron's maine. I have wondered whether ian Yes,
Speaker 1: I have considered that if the second word had borne
Speaker 1: any resemblance to Murdock, but it did not. He gave
Speaker 1: it almost in a shriek. I am sure that it
Speaker 1: was Maine. Have you no alternative, mister Holmes? Perhaps I have,
Speaker 1: but I do not care to discuss it until there
Speaker 1: is something more solid to discuss. And when will that be?
Speaker 1: In an hour possibly less. The inspector rubbed his chin
Speaker 1: and looked at me with dubious eyes. I wish I
Speaker 1: could see what was in your mind, mister Holmes. Perhaps
Speaker 1: it is those fishing boats. No, no, they were too
Speaker 1: far out. Well then is it Bellamy and that big
Speaker 1: son of his? They were not too sweet upon mister Macpherson.
Speaker 1: Could they have done him a mischief? No? No, you
Speaker 1: won't draw me until I am ready, said I with
Speaker 1: a smile. Now, Inspector, we each have our own work
Speaker 1: to do. Perhaps if you were to meet me here
Speaker 1: at midday, so far we had got when there came
Speaker 1: the tremendous interruption, which was the beginning of the end.
Speaker 1: My outer door was flung open. There were blundering footsteps
Speaker 1: in the passage, and Ian Murdock staggered into the room, pallid, disheveled,
Speaker 1: his clothes in wild disorder, clawing with his bony hands
Speaker 1: at the furniture to hold himself erect Brandy, Brandy, he
Speaker 1: gasped and fell groaning upon the sofa. He was not alone.
Speaker 1: Behind him came Stackhurst, hatless and panting, almost as distray
Speaker 1: as his companion. Yes, Yes, Brandy, he cried. The man
Speaker 1: is at his last gasp. It was all I could
Speaker 1: do to bring him here. He fainted to ice upon
Speaker 1: the way, half a tumbler of the raw spirit brought
Speaker 1: about a wondrous change. He pushed himself up on one
Speaker 1: arm and swung his coat from his shoulders. For God's sake,
Speaker 1: oil opium more fear, he cried, anything to ease this
Speaker 1: infernal agony. The inspector and I cried out at the sight. There,
Speaker 1: criss crossed upon the man's naked shoulder was the same strange,
Speaker 1: reticulated pattern of red inflamed lines which had been the
Speaker 1: death mark of Fitzroy Macpherson. The pain was evidently terrible
Speaker 1: and was more than local, for the sufferer's breathing would
Speaker 1: stop for a time, his face would turn black, and then,
Speaker 1: with loud gasps, he would clap his hand to his
Speaker 1: heart while his brow dropped beads of sweat. At any
Speaker 1: moment he might die. More and more brandy was poured
Speaker 1: down his throat, each fresh dose bringing him back to life.
Speaker 1: Pads of cotton wool soaked in salad oil seemed to
Speaker 1: take the agony from the strange wounds. At last, his
Speaker 1: head fell heavily upon the cushion. Exhausted nature had taken
Speaker 1: refuge in its last storehouse of vitality. It was half
Speaker 1: asleep and half a faint, but at least it was
Speaker 1: ease from pain. To question him had been impossible. But
Speaker 1: the moment we were assured of his condition, Stackhurst turned
Speaker 1: upon me, My god, he cried, what is it, Holmes?
Speaker 1: What is it? Where did you find him? Down on
Speaker 1: the beach, exactly where poor Macpherson met his end. If
Speaker 1: this man's heart had been as weak as mc pherson's was,
Speaker 1: he would not be here now more than once. I
Speaker 1: thought he was gone as I brought him up, it
Speaker 1: was too far to the gables, so I made for you.
Speaker 1: Did you see him on the beach? I was walking
Speaker 1: on the cliff when I heard his cry. He was
Speaker 1: at the edge of the water, reeling about like a
Speaker 1: drunken man, I ran down through some clothes about him
Speaker 1: and brought him up. For Heaven's sake, Holmes, use all
Speaker 1: the powers you have and spare no pains to lift
Speaker 1: the curse from this place. For life is becoming unendurable.
Speaker 1: Can you, with all your worldwide reputation do nothing for us?
Speaker 1: I think I can. Stackhurst come with me now, and
Speaker 1: you Inspector come along. We will see if we cannot
Speaker 1: deliver this murderer into your hands. Leaving the unconscious man
Speaker 1: in the charge of my housekeeper, we all three went
Speaker 1: down to the deadly lagoon. On the shingle there was
Speaker 1: piled a little heap of towels and clothes left by
Speaker 1: the stricken man. Slowly I walked round the edge of
Speaker 1: the water, my comrades in Indian file behind me. Most
Speaker 1: of the pool was quite shallow, but under the cliff,
Speaker 1: where the beach was hollowed out, it was four or
Speaker 1: five feet deep. It was to this part that a
Speaker 1: swimmer would naturally go, for it formed a beautiful, pellucid
Speaker 1: green pool, as clear as crystal. A line of rocks
Speaker 1: lay above it at the base of the cliff, and
Speaker 1: along this I led the way, peering eagerly into the
Speaker 1: depths beneath me. I had reached the deepest and stillest
Speaker 1: pool when my eyes caught that for which they were searching,
Speaker 1: and I burst into a shout of triumph. Sire, Near,
Speaker 1: I cried, sire, near, behold the lion's mane. The strange
Speaker 1: object at which I pointed did indeed look like a
Speaker 1: tangled mass torn from the mane of a lion. It
Speaker 1: lay upon a rocky shelf some three feet under the water,
Speaker 1: A curious, waving, vibrating, hairy creature with streaks of silver
Speaker 1: among its yellow tresses. It pulsated with a slow, heavy
Speaker 1: dilation and contraction. It has done mischief enough. Its day
Speaker 1: is over, I cried, help me Stackhurst, let us end
Speaker 1: the murderer forever. There was a big boulder just above
Speaker 1: the ledge, and we pushed it until it fell with
Speaker 1: a tremendous splash into the water. When the ripples had cleared,
Speaker 1: we saw that it had settled upon the ledge. Below.
Speaker 1: One flapping edge of yellow membrane showed that our victim
Speaker 1: was beneath it. The thick oily scum oozed out from
Speaker 1: below the stone and stained the water round, rising slowly
Speaker 1: to the surface. Well this gets me, cried the inspector.
Speaker 1: What was it? Misters, I'm born and bred in these parts,
Speaker 1: but I never saw such a thing. It don't belong
Speaker 1: to Sussex. Just as well for Sussex, I remarked, it
Speaker 1: may have been the Southwest gale that brought it up.
Speaker 1: Come back to my house, both of you, and I
Speaker 1: will give you the terrible experience of one who has
Speaker 1: good reason to remember his own meeting with the same
Speaker 1: peril of the seas. When we reached my study, we
Speaker 1: found that Murdoch was so far recovered that he could
Speaker 1: sit up. He was dazed in mind, and every now
Speaker 1: and then was shaken by a paroxysm of pain. In
Speaker 1: broken words, he explained that he had no notion of
Speaker 1: what had occurred to him, save that terrific pangs had
Speaker 1: suddenly shot through him, and that it had taken all
Speaker 1: his fortitude to reach the bank. Here is a book,
Speaker 1: I said, taking up the little volume which first brought
Speaker 1: light into what might have been forever dark. It is
Speaker 1: out of doors by the famous observer J. G. Wood.
Speaker 1: Would himself very nearly perished from contact with this vile creature.
Speaker 1: So he wrote, with a very full knowledge sionea capillata
Speaker 1: is the miscreant's full name, and he can be as
Speaker 1: dangerous to life as and far more painful than the
Speaker 1: bite of a cobra. Let me briefly give this extract.
Speaker 1: If the bather should see a loose, roundish mass of
Speaker 1: tawny membranes and fibers, something like very large handfuls of
Speaker 1: lion's mane and silver paper, let him beware, for this
Speaker 1: is the fearful stinger, sionea capillata. Could our sinister acquaintance
Speaker 1: be more clearly described. He goes on to tell of
Speaker 1: his own encounter with one, when swimming off the coast
Speaker 1: of Kent. He found that the creature radiated almost invisible
Speaker 1: filaments to the distance of fifty feet, and that anyone
Speaker 1: within that circumference from the deadly centre was in danger
Speaker 1: of death. Even at a distance. The effect upon wood
Speaker 1: was almost fatal. The multitudinous threads caused light scarlet lines
Speaker 1: upon the skin, which on closer examination resolved into minute
Speaker 1: dots or pustules, Each dot charged, as it were, with
Speaker 1: a red hot needle making its way through the nerves.
Speaker 1: The local pain was, as he explains, the least part
Speaker 1: of the exquisite torment. Pangs shot through the chest, causing
Speaker 1: me to fall as if struck by a bullet. The
Speaker 1: pulsation would cease, and then the heart would give six
Speaker 1: or seven leaps, as if it would force its way
Speaker 1: through the chest. It nearly killed him, although he had
Speaker 1: only been exposed to it in the disturbed ocean and
Speaker 1: not the narrow, calm waters of a bathing pool. He
Speaker 1: says that he could hardly recognize himself afterwards, so white,
Speaker 1: wrinkled and shriveled was his face. He gulped down brandy,
Speaker 1: a whole bottleful, and it seems to have saved his life.
Speaker 1: There is the book, Inspector. I leave it with you,
Speaker 1: and you cannot doubt that it contains a full explanation
Speaker 1: of the tragedy of poor Macpherson, and incidentally exonerates me,
Speaker 1: remarked Ian Murdoch with a wry smile. I do not
Speaker 1: blame you, Inspector, nor you mister Holmes, for your suspicions
Speaker 1: were natural. I feel that, on the very eve of
Speaker 1: my arrest, I've only cleared myself by sharing the fate
Speaker 1: of my poor friend. No, mister Murdoch, I was already
Speaker 1: upon the track, and had I been out as early
Speaker 1: as I intended, I might well have saved you from
Speaker 1: this terrific experience. But how did you know, mister Holmes,
Speaker 1: I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory
Speaker 1: for trifles. That phrase, the Lion's mane haunted my mind.
Speaker 1: I knew that I had seen it somewhere in an
Speaker 1: unexpected context. You have seen that it does describe the creature.
Speaker 1: I have no doubt that it was floating on the
Speaker 1: water when Macpherson saw it, and that this phrase was
Speaker 1: the only one by which he could convey to us
Speaker 1: a warning as to the creature which had been his death.
Speaker 1: Then I at least am cleared, said Murdock, rising slowly
Speaker 1: to his feet. There are one or two words of
Speaker 1: explanation which I should give, for I know the direction
Speaker 1: in which your inquiries have run. It is true that
Speaker 1: I loved this lady, but from the day when she
Speaker 1: chose my friend Macpherson, my one desire was to help
Speaker 1: her to happiness. I was well content to say down,
Speaker 1: aside and act as there go between. Often I carried
Speaker 1: their messages, and it was because I was in their confidence,
Speaker 1: and because she was so dear to me that I
Speaker 1: hastened to tell her of my friend's death lest someone
Speaker 1: should forestall me in a more sudden and heartless manner.
Speaker 1: She would not tell you, sir, of our relations, lest
Speaker 1: you should disapprove, and I might suffer. But with your leave,
Speaker 1: I must try to get back to the gables, for
Speaker 1: my bed will be very welcome. Stackhurst held out his hand.
Speaker 1: Our nerves have all been at concert, Pitch said. He
Speaker 1: forgive what is past, Murdoch. We shall understand each other
Speaker 1: better in the future. They passed out together with their
Speaker 1: arms linked in friendly fashion. The inspector remained staring at
Speaker 1: me in silence with his ox like eyes. Well you've
Speaker 1: done it, he cried at last. I had read of you,
Speaker 1: but I never believed it. It's wonderful, I was forced
Speaker 1: to shake my head. To accept such praise was to
Speaker 1: lower one's own standards. I was slow at the outset,
Speaker 1: culpably slow. Had the body been found in the water,
Speaker 1: I could hardly have missed it. It was the towel
Speaker 1: which misled me. The poor fellow had never thought to
Speaker 1: dry himself, and so I, in turn, was led to
Speaker 1: believe that he had never been in the water. Why then,
Speaker 1: should the attack of any water creature suggest itself to me?
Speaker 1: That was where I went astray. Well, well, Inspector, I
Speaker 1: often ventured to chaff you, gentlemen of the police force.
Speaker 1: But sionea capilata very nearly avenged Scotland yard. That is
Speaker 1: the end of the adventure. The Lion's Main by Arthur
Speaker 1: Conan Doyle, read by Greg Wagland for Magpie Audio twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two.