After I retired, I encountered another rare and difficult case. It is no exaggeration to say that the difficulty of solving it was definitely no less difficult than any case I had handled before, and it came to me. This happened to me.

After retiring to my little house in Sussex, I was already fully enjoying the quiet pastoral life I had long dreamed of. After I retired, Watson almost completely withdrew from my life, and all my interactions with him were

He only came to spend a weekend occasionally. Therefore, I had to record the case myself. If my Watson were present, how would he play up the tense beginning of the incident and how I overcame the difficulties and finally won the victory?

?But he was not there after all, so I can only use my straightforward way of describing my difficult journey in solving the mystery of the lion's mane.

At the southern foot of the Sussex Hills, there is a small villa of mine, facing the vast strait. From this promontory, the entire coast is covered with chalk cliffs. If you want to walk to the sea, there is only one

It is a long, steep and rugged path, and it is also extremely slippery. At the end of the path, even when the tide is high, a 100-meter beach covered with pebbles remains. However, there are curved depressions everywhere on the beach, which is very natural.

A wonderful swimming pool that is refilled with seawater at every high tide. On a coastline that stretches for miles in either direction, there is only one village, Walworth.

My villa is isolated, and all the members of my villa are only me, the old housekeeper, and my bees. 0.8 kilometers away is Harold Stallhurst's famous private gable school.

, it is a large building with dozens of young students receiving various vocational training, as well as several teachers. In his youth, Stallhurst was a well-known rowing expert at Cambridge University and a well-known rowing expert at Cambridge University.

An all-round excellent college student. We have maintained a good relationship since I retired to the seaside, and he is the only friend with whom I can freely visit each other in the evening without invitation.

At the end of July 1907, a strong sea breeze blew here, and the rushing seawater was alluvial to the bottom of the cliff, forming a large saltwater lake after the tide receded. The sea was calm in the morning, and the washed beach was fresh and pleasant. On such a beautiful day,

, it was too difficult to work from home, so I walked out for a walk as soon as I got up and breathed in the fresh air around me. I was walking along the cliff on the path leading to the beach, when I suddenly heard Mr. Stallhurst behind me.

Shout and cheer.

"What a wonderful morning, Mr. Holmes! I bet you will come out."

"Go swimming, right?"

"Your set of inferences are here again." He smiled brightly and pointed at his bulging pockets: "Yes, McPherson came out early in the morning. Maybe I can meet him."

Mr. Fitzroy Macpherson is a young teacher who teaches science. His originally strong body was significantly weakened by heart disease after suffering from rheumatic fever. But he is a natural athlete no matter what.

, he is outstanding in almost all relatively soft sports. He insists on swimming all year round. Because I also love swimming, I often meet him unexpectedly.

At this time, we discovered Mr. McPherson. On the edge of the cliff at the end of the path, we first saw his head, and then his swaying figure. Like a drunken man, he suddenly let out a scream, and at the same time looked at

When he raised his hands to his head, he fell down in front of him. Stackhurst and I were about 50 meters away from him. We quickly ran over to support his body. It was obvious that he was not alive.

His sunken eyes and cheeks turned blue with horror all showed signs of death. Suddenly, a trace of anger appeared on his face, and he uttered a few vague words with a serious warning expression, but I only listened.

The last three words that came out of his lips were "lion's mane". Its meaning was incomprehensible, but I really couldn't pronounce it as any other word. After he finished speaking, he half arched his body, spread out his hands, and

He fell sideways, and to be more precise, he died. My companion was so frightened by the unexpected incident that he didn't know what to do. And I, yes, every nerve in my body was immediately alert, and this was inevitable.

, this situation immediately showed that this was not an ordinary case. He was only wearing a Burberry raincoat and trousers, and a pair of untied canvas shoes. When he fell, the Burberry was hurriedly draped over his shoulders.

The raincoat slipped down, exposing his body. We were very surprised to find that there were many dark red stripes on his back, as if someone had whipped him violently with a thin whip, and the whip must be elastic.

Because the long whip marks were around his shoulders and ribs. Blood was dripping from the corners of his mouth. He bit his lower lip in agony, and looked at us with a convulsed and abnormal face.

It showed that he had experienced extreme pain. Stallhurst was standing next to him, and when I was kneeling next to the deceased, a shadow suddenly came over me. When I looked up, I saw that it was Ian Murdoch walking beside us. He

He is a mathematics teacher, tall and thin, with dark complexion. Because he rarely talks and has a withdrawn temperament, it is difficult to call him a friend. He seems to live in an abstract conic section or an unknowable root world.

It has nothing to do with daily life. Students often regard him as a monster. He might have been the object of ridicule by the students, but this man exudes a foreign temperament. In addition to his black eyes and dark complexion, it is also reflected in his

His occasional temper tantrums can best be described as violent. Once, Mr. McPherson's puppy annoyed him. He grabbed the puppy and threw it out of the glass window. If it weren't for the fact that he was a

On the face of this outstanding teacher, this incident alone has already caused him to be fired by Stallhurst. Suddenly this weird man came to us. He was indeed shocked by the sight of the dead in front of him, although the dog throwing incident showed that

There was a lack of friendship between him and the deceased.

"God, poor man! What can I do? Can I be of any help?"

"Were you together just now? Do you know what happened?"

"We are not together. I came out late today. I just came out of school and haven't gone to the beach yet. What can I do?"

"You immediately go to the Volvos branch police station to report the crime."

So he turned around and ran away at a sprint speed of 100 meters. I couldn't help but take the case on my own initiative, while Mr. Stallhurst, who was stunned, was still guarding the deceased. My first step, of course, was

It was to find out who was at the seaside. From the top of the path, I could see the entire seaside at a glance. There was no one in sight, only two or three figures swaying in Volvos in the distance. After knowing this, I walked down the path.

The chalky soil is mixed with lime mudstone and clay. I saw the same person's footprints up and down the path. It seemed that no one else had gone to the seaside from this road this morning. In one place, there were still

There were traces of his palms pressed on the slope, which only showed that McPherson had fallen. Many small circular pits were also found, which showed that he had knelt down many times. By the saltwater lake left by the low tide at the lower end of the path

His towel was placed on a rock, which showed that he had taken off his clothes here. Since the towel was dry and folded, he must have never been in the water. I looked carefully among the cobblestones and found that there were two places where he had left his clothes.

The canvas shoe prints and barefoot footprints showed that he was preparing to enter the water, although the dry towel proved that he did not actually enter the water.

The problem before me is already very clear - it should be said that it is one of the strangest problems I have ever encountered in my life. It took McPherson only a quarter of an hour to reach the beach before his death, because Stallhurst followed closely from school.

This is certain. He was ready to swim and had taken off his clothes, which was proved by the barefoot footprints. Then he suddenly put on his clothes in a hurry - because the buttons were not fastened at all, and he had just entered the water or at least had not

He wiped himself dry and returned in a hurry. The reason why he changed his mind was because he was brutally whipped. He even bit his lip to endure the pain. He crawled away from that place with his last breath and died. What was it?

Why are people so cruel? Yes, there are many small holes at the base of the cliff, but under the sunlight, it is impossible to hide anything there. And those figures in the distance on the seaside, they are too far away

, it is impossible to connect with this case, and it is also across the saltwater lake where McPherson was preparing to swim before his death. The lake water rushes straight to the cliff. On the sea, there are two or three fishing boats in the distance. If you have time, you can go and explore the boats.

Because there were several clues for investigation in front of me, but none of them were clear. When I returned to the deceased, several people had gathered around to watch. Of course, Stackhurst still stayed there, silently

Doc has just summoned Anderson, the village policeman. Anderson is a tall man with a yellow moustache. He looks strong and slow. He is a representative of the typical Sussex type-this kind of people appear to be

Under his dull and bulky appearance, there is often a wise mind hidden. He listened without saying a word and wrote down the key points of what we said one by one. Finally, I was pulled aside by him and said: "Mr. Holmes, please

You don’t hesitate to give me your advice, this is a big case for me, if I don’t handle it well, my superior Lewis will look down on me.”

I suggested that he call their immediate superiors and a doctor immediately. Before they arrived, everything at the scene should be kept as it was, and there should be no more new footprints. Taking advantage of this time, I took the deceased's pocket and

After a search, there was a handkerchief, a folding knife, and a folding business card holder. A corner of paper was exposed from the inside. I opened it and showed it to the police. On it was a woman's cursory handwriting:

Please don't worry, I will definitely be there.

It seemed to be a lover's date, but neither the time nor the place was written down. The police put the paper back into the business card holder, and at the same time put the other items back into the deceased's Burberry raincoat pocket. Since there was no other situation at the moment, it was recommended to be thorough.

After searching the base of the cliff, I went home to have breakfast.

An hour or two later, Mr. Stackhurst came to my house. He said that the body had been moved to the school, and an autopsy was being conducted there. In addition, he also brought some more definite and important information. Yes, just as I expected.

, The search under the wall yielded no results. However, he carefully checked McPherson's desk and saw several closely related letters. The correspondent was Miss Maude Bellamy of Fulworth Village. In this way,

The author of the note on his body was found.

"The police took the letter away." He explained, "I can't get the letter, but I am sure that this is not a superficial and casual relationship. However, there is no connection between this matter and this accident. It is just that

The girl just had a date with him."

"But it can't be in a swimming pool that you are all familiar with!" I said.

"Today's situation was just a coincidence. Those students originally went with McPherson."

"Is it really a coincidence?"

Mr. Stackhurst frowned and fell into thought.

"It was Murdoch who didn't let the students go," he said. "He insisted on teaching algebra before breakfast. Now, he feels very sad about the tragedy that happened today."

"But I heard that they don't seem to have a good relationship."

"The relationship was not good for a while. However, over the past year, Murdoch and McPherson have become quite harmonious. It can be said that Murdoch has never been so close to others. His personality has always been a bit weird."

"I see. I seem to still have the impression that you once told me that they had a quarrel over the mistreatment of dogs."

"That happened a long time ago."

"Maybe there's some resentment left."

"No, absolutely not. I have no doubt that they are truly good friends."

"Then we need to know about that girl. Do you know her?"

"Almost everyone knows her. The girl is a local beauty, and a standard beauty. She will attract attention no matter where she is. I knew that Mr. McPherson was pursuing her, but I didn't expect that it had progressed to such an extent.

To the extent written above.”

"What kind of person is she?"

"That girl is the daughter of old Tom Bellamy. The fishing boats and swimming pool changing rooms in Volvos are all his father's assets. Old Tom was originally just a fisherman, but now he is very prosperous. His business is owned by

He runs it with his son William."

"Shall we go to Volvos and pay them a visit?"

"What's the excuse?"

"Excuses are not difficult to find. In any case, the deceased could not have died of self-abuse! Someone should have wielded a whip. Of course, if the whipping really caused trauma, in this remote place, there would not be many people he interacted with.

Many. If we search every corner carefully, we will always find some kind of motive, and motive is the trigger that leads to the criminal."

If the mood had not been disturbed by the tragedy that I witnessed, actually walking on this grassland filled with the fragrance of thyme would have been a very pleasant thing. This small seaside fishing village of Volvos is located in a semicircle near the bay.

, behind the old-fashioned village are several modern houses, Mr. Stallhurst led me there.

"This is what Bellamy calls 'Port Hill House'. It's the house with the turrets and bluestone tiles. For a man who works hard with nothing, this is really not bad - hey, look!"

The door to the garden of the villa opened, and a man came out. Looking at the tall, thin and lazy figure, it was none other than the math teacher Murdoch. We had met on the road a few minutes after the incident.

"Hi!" Mr. Stallhurst greeted him. He nodded, glanced at us with his strange black eyes, and was about to leave, but was stopped by his principal.

"What are you doing here?" Mr. Stackhurst asked him puzzledly.
To be continued...