THE LION’S MANE

ライオンのたてがみ

IT IS a most singular thing that a problem which was certainly as abstruse and unusual as any which I have faced in my long professional career should have come to me after my retirement, and be brought, as it were, to my very door. It occurred after my withdrawal to my little Sussex home, when I had given myself up entirely to that soothing life of Nature for which I had so often yearned during the long years spent amid the gloom of London. At this period of my life the good Watson had passed almost beyond my ken. An occasional week-end visit was the most that I ever saw of him. Thus I must act as my own chronicler. Ah! had he but been with me, how much he might have made of so wonderful a happening and of my eventual triumph against every difficulty! As it is, however, I must needs tell my tale in my own plain way, showing by my words each step upon the difficult road which lay before me as I searched for the mystery of the Lion’s Mane.

これは本当に奇妙な事だ / 間違いなく、より難解かつ特異な事件が / 私の長い探偵の経歴の中で出会ったものよりも / 引退後に私のところに持ち込まれるとは / そして、あたかも私の家の戸口に置かれるように◆それは私が小さなサセックスの家に引退した後に起きた / 私が完全に仕事をやめて自然の中の穏やかな生活を送るようになった時 / 私が本当にしばしば切望していた / ロンドンの暗闇の中で長い年月を過ごしている時に◆この頃の私の生活で / 善良なるワトソンはほとんど私の視野の外に去っていた◆時々週末に尋ねてくる時くらいしか彼と会うことはなかった◆したがって私は自分の年代記の記録者とならねばならない◆ああ！ / 彼がもし私と一緒だったなら / どれほどのものを書き上げただろう / こんなにも素晴らしい出来事と / あらゆる困難を排して得た私の最終的な勝利で！ / しかし、現実は / 私は是が非でも自分の飾りのない方法で話をしなければならない / それぞれの段階を自分の言葉で示しながら / 私の前に差し出された困難な道の / 私がライオンのたてがみの謎を捜査していた時の

My villa is situated upon the southern slope of the downs, commanding a great view of the Channel. At this point the coast-line is entirely of chalk cliffs, which can only be descended by a single, long, tortuous path, which is steep and slippery. At the bottom of the path lie a hundred yards of pebbles and shingle, even when the tide is at full. Here and there, however, there are curves and hollows which make splendid swimming-pools filled afresh with each flow. This admirable beach extends for some miles in each direction, save only at one point where the little cove and village of Fulworth break the line.

私の家はイングランド南部丘陵地帯の南斜面にある / チャネル諸島の雄大な景色が見渡せる◆この場所では / 海岸線はすべて白亜の絶壁になっていた / そこから降りるには一本の長い曲がりくねった道しかなく / そこは急坂で滑りやすかった◆この道を一番下まで下りていったところに / 100ヤードの広さの小石の浜がある / 満潮時でも◆しかし所々に / 湾曲し窪んだところがあり / 潮が満ちるたびに水が入れ替わる素晴らしい遊泳プールとなっていた◆この見事な浜は / 左右に数マイル伸びていた / ただ一点だけ / 小さな入り江とフルワースの村が海岸線をとぎらせている以外は

My house is lonely. I, my old housekeeper, and my bees have the estate all to ourselves. Half a mile off, however, is Harold Stackhurst’s well-known coaching establishment, The Gables, quite a large place, which contains some score of young fellows preparing for various professions, with a staff of several masters. Stackhurst himself was a well-known rowing Blue in his day, and an excellent all-round scholar. He and I were always friendly from the day I came to the coast, and he was the one man who was on such terms with me that we could drop in on each other in the evenings without an invitation.

私の家はひっそりとしていた◆私と / 年老いた家政婦と / 蜂たちが私達の地所を占拠していた◆しかし半マイル離れたところに / ハロルド・スタックハーストの有名なザ・ゲイブルズという訓練施設があった / 非常に広く / さまざまな仕事に就くために集った数十人の青年が住んでいた / それぞれの指導者となる教員と共に◆スタックハースト自身はかつて有名な漕艇の大学生選手で / 素晴らしく多才な学生だった◆彼と私はずっと親しくしていた / 私がこの沿岸地方に来て以来 / 彼は私とこういう間柄になった唯一の男だった / 夜、お互いの家を招待なしにちょっと訪れたりすることができる

Towards the end of July, 1907, there was a severe gale, the wind blowing up-channel, heaping the seas to the base of the cliffs and leaving a lagoon at the turn of the tide. On the morning of which I speak the wind had abated, and all Nature was newly washed and fresh. It was impossible to work upon so delightful a day, and I strolled out before breakfast to enjoy the exquisite air. I walked along the cliff path which led to the steep descent to the beach. As I walked I heard a shout behind me, and there was Harold Stackhurst waving his hand in cheery greeting.

1907年7月の終わり頃 / 激しい季節風が吹き荒れた / 風は海峡に吹きつけ / 崖の基部に砂利を積み上げ / 潮の変わり目に干潟を残した◆私がお話するその朝 / 風は収まっていた / 自然はすべて洗いたてで瑞々しかった◆こんなに気持ちのよい日に仕事をすることはできなかった / だから私は朝食前に最高の空気を満喫するためにぶらぶらと散歩にでた◆私は砂浜への急坂に続く道に沿って歩いた◆私が歩いていると後ろから叫ぶ声が聞こえた / そしてハロルド・スタックハーストが手を振って元気よく挨拶していた

“What a morning, Mr. Holmes! I thought I should see you out.”

「すばらしい朝ですね / ホームズさん！ / 外でお会いすると思っていましたよ」

“Going for a swim, I see.”

「泳ぎに行くみたいですね」

“At your old tricks again,” he laughed, patting his bulging pocket. “Yes. McPherson started early, and I expect I may find him there.”

「また例の推理ですか」 / 彼は笑った / 膨らんだポケットを叩きながら◆「ええ◆マクファーソンが早く出かけました / 海岸で彼に会えるかもしれないと思います」

Fitzroy McPherson was the science master, a fine upstanding young fellow whose life had been crippled by heart trouble following rheumatic fever. He was a natural athlete, however, and excelled in every game which did not throw too great a strain upon him. Summer and winter he went for his swim, and, as I am a swimmer myself, I have often joined him.

フィッツロイ・マクファーソンは理学修士を持っている / 素晴らしく実直な青年で / 彼の人生は心臓疾患とその後のリウマチ熱で損なわれた◆しかし彼は生まれながらの運動好きで / あまり激しい負担をかけないあらゆるスポーツに秀でていた◆暑くても寒くても彼は泳ぎに出かけ / そして / 私も泳ぐので / よく彼と一緒になった

At this moment we saw the man himself. His head showed above the edge of the cliff where the path ends. Then his whole figure appeared at the top, staggering like a drunken man. The next instant he threw up his hands and, with a terrible cry, fell upon his face. Stackhurst and I rushed forward – it may have been fifty yards – and turned him on his back. He was obviously dying. Those glazed sunken eyes and dreadful livid cheeks could mean nothing else. One glimmer of life came into his face for an instant, and he uttered two or three words with an eager air of warning. They were slurred and indistinct, but to my ear the last of them, which burst in a shriek from his lips, were “the Lion’s Mane.” It was utterly irrelevant and unintelligible, and yet I could twist the sound into no other sense. Then he half raised himself from the ground, threw his arms into the air, and fell forward on his side. He was dead.

この瞬間彼の姿が見えた◆道の突き当たりの崖の端の上に彼の頭が姿を現した◆その後、全身が崖の上に現れた / よっぱらいのようによろけながら◆次の瞬間彼は両手を上げて / 恐ろしい声で叫び / うつ伏せに倒れた◆スタックハーストと私は駆け出した / / おそらく50ヤードくらいだったろう / / そして彼を仰向けにした◆彼は明らかに虫の息だった◆ぼんやりして落ち込んだ目と恐ろしく真っ白になった頬は見間違えようがなかった◆一瞬、命の輝きが彼の顔に浮かんで / 彼は二言、三言必死で注意をしようというかのように言葉を口にした◆それは不明瞭でよく分からなかった / しかし私の耳にはその最後の部分は / それは金切り声のように彼の口から飛び出したのだが / 「ライオンのたてがみ」と聞こえた / これは完全に場違いで理解不能だった / それでも、私はその響きを他の意味にはとることが出来なかった◆その後、彼は地面から立ち上がり / 腕を振り上げ / 体の側面から前に倒れた◆彼は死んだ

My companion was paralyzed by the sudden horror of it, but I, as may well be imagined, had every sense on the alert. And I had need, for it was speedily evident that we were in the presence of an extraordinary case. The man was dressed only in his Burberry overcoat, his trousers, and an unlaced pair of canvas shoes. As he fell over, his Burberry, which had been simply thrown round his shoulders, slipped off, exposing his trunk. We stared at it in amazement. His back was covered with dark red lines as though he had been terribly flogged by a thin wire scourge. The instrument with which this punishment had been inflicted was clearly flexible, for the long, angry weals curved round his shoulders and ribs. There was blood dripping down his chin, for he had bitten through his lower lip in the paroxysm of his agony. His drawn and distorted face told how terrible that agony had been.

スタックハーストは突然の恐怖に凍り付いていた / しかし私は / 当然想像いただけるように / 緊急事態に対応するあらゆる能力があった◆そして私はそうすべきだった / それは直ちに明らかだったので / 我々がとんでもない事件に出会った事が◆この男が着ていたのはただ / バーバリーのコート、ズボン、紐を締めていないズック靴だけだった◆彼が倒れるときに / バーバリーのコートが / それはただ肩の辺りにかかっていただけだったが / 脱げ落ちて / 胴体が見えた◆私たちは驚いてそこを見つめた◆彼の背中は赤黒い線に覆われていた / あたかも彼が細い針金の鞭でひどく打たれたように◆この懲罰を与えた器具は / 明らかに柔軟性があるものだった / 長い痛そうなみみずばれが肩や脇腹を回り込んでいたからだ◆彼の顎を血が滴り落ちていた / 苦痛の発作の中で下唇を噛み切っていたので◆彼の引き伸ばされて変形した顔は苦痛がどれほど凄まじいものだったかを物語っていた

I was kneeling and Stackhurst standing by the body when a shadow fell across us, and we found that Ian Murdoch was by our side. Murdoch was the mathematical coach at the establishment, a tall, dark, thin man, so taciturn and aloof that none can be said to have been his friend. He seemed to live in some high, abstract region of surds and conic sections, with little to connect him with ordinary life. He was looked upon as an oddity by the students, and would have been their butt, but there was some strange outlandish blood in the man, which showed itself not only in his coal-black eyes and swarthy face but also in occasional outbreaks of temper, which could only be described as ferocious. On one occasion, being plagued by a little dog belonging to McPherson, he had caught the creature up and hurled it through the plate-glass window, an action for which Stackhurst would certainly have given him his dismissal had he not been a very valuable teacher. Such was the strange complex man who now appeared beside us. He seemed to be honestly shocked at the sight before him, though the incident of the dog may show that there was no great sympathy between the dead man and himself.

死体の側に私はひざまずき、スタックハーストは立っていた / その時影が横切り / そして我々の隣に、イアン・マードックが来たと分かった◆マードックはその施設の数学教員だった / 背が高く、色黒の、痩せた男で / あまりにもむっつりして打ち解けないので誰も彼の友人だという者はいなかった◆彼は住んでいるように思えた / 無理数と円錐曲線のちょっと高い抽象の領域に / 日常生活にほとんど関係を持たずに◆彼は生徒達から変人とみなされていて / 彼らのあざけりを受けていた / しかしこの男には奇妙な外国起源の血が流れていて / それが姿を現した / 漆黒の目と浅黒い顔だけではなく / 時々起こす癇癪のなかに / それはただ凶暴としか表現しようがなかった◆ある時 / マクファーソンが飼っていた小さな犬に付きまとわれて / 彼はその犬を持ち上げると / 一枚ガラスの窓に叩きつけて外に放り出した / スタックハーストは間違いなく彼を首にしていただろう / もし彼が貴重な教師でなかったら◆我々の隣にこの時現れたのはこういう奇妙で複雑な男だった◆彼は眼前の光景に心の底からショックを受けたように見えた / 例の犬の出来事が / 全然共感がない事を示していたようだが / 死んだ男と彼の間に

“Poor fellow! Poor fellow! What can I do? How can I help?”

「かわいそうに！ / かわいそうに！ / 何か出来る事がありますか？ / 手伝いできる事がありますか？」

“Were you with him? Can you tell us what has happened?”

「あなたは彼と一緒だったんですか？ / 何が起きたか話せますか？」

“No, no, I was late this morning. I was not on the beach at all. I have come straight from The Gables. What can I do?”

「いいえ / 今朝は出遅れました◆私は全く海岸には行っていません◆ザ・ゲイブルズからまっすぐここに来ました◆何か出来る事がありますか?」

“You can hurry to the police-station at Fulworth. Report the matter at once.”

「フルワースの警察署まで急いで行って下さい◆この事件をすぐに報告してください」

Without a word he made off at top speed, and I proceeded to take the matter in hand, while Stackhurst, dazed at this tragedy, remained by the body. My first task naturally was to note who was on the beach. From the top of the path I could see the whole sweep of it, and it was absolutely deserted save that two or three dark figures could be seen far away moving towards the village of Fulworth. Having satisfied myself upon this point, I walked slowly down the path. There was clay or soft marl mixed with the chalk, and every here and there I saw the same footstep, both ascending and descending. No one else had gone down to the beach by this track that morning. At one place I observed the print of an open hand with the fingers towards the incline. This could only mean that poor McPherson had fallen as he ascended. There were rounded depressions, too, which suggested that he had come down upon his knees more than once. At the bottom of the path was the considerable lagoon left by the retreating tide. At the side of it McPherson had undressed, for there lay his towel on a rock. It was folded and dry, so that it would seem that, after all, he had never entered the water. Once or twice as I hunted round amid the hard shingle I came on little patches of sand where the print of his canvas shoe, and also of his naked foot, could be seen. The latter fact proved that he had made all ready to bathe, though the towel indicated that he had not actually done so.

返事もせずに彼は全速力で走っていった / そして私は着手していた仕事を続けた / その間スタックハーストは / この惨劇に放心状態で / 死体の側にいたままだった◆私の最初の仕事は当然ながら誰が岸辺にいたかを見つけることだった◆道の一番高いところから / 私は水際全体を見る事ができた / そしてそこは完全に人気がなかった / ただ二、三の黒い人影が / はるか遠くでフルワースの村の方向に移動しているのが見えただけだった◆この点を確認した後 / 私はゆっくりと道を下りていった◆石灰と粘土か柔らかい泥灰土が混ざった地面で / あちこちに同じ足跡と見かけた / 上るほうにも下りるほうにも◆この日の朝、それ以外の人間は誰もこの道を通って岸辺には行っていなかった◆一ヶ所で / 私は指が坂の方向に向いて開いた手の跡を見つけた◆これは哀れなマクファーソンが上ってくる時に倒れたとしか考えようがなかった◆丸いへこみもあった / それは彼が一度ならず膝をついた事を示唆していた◆道の一番下には / 引き潮が残した非常に大きな干潟があった◆その側で / マクファーソンは服を脱いでいた / 岩の上に彼のタオルが置いてあったので◆それは畳んであり、乾いていた / だから結局のところ彼は全く水の中には入っていなかったように見えた◆一度か二度 / 硬い砂利浜をくまなく捜査している時 / 彼のズック靴の足跡がある小さな砂の部分に出くわした / そして彼の裸足の足跡も同様に発見できた◆後者の事実は彼が完全に泳ぐ準備を済ませた事を証明していた / タオルは彼が実際にそうしなかったことを示唆していたが

And here was the problem clearly defined – as strange a one as had ever confronted me. The man had not been on the beach more than a quarter of an hour at the most. Stackhurst had followed him from The Gables, so there could be no doubt about that. He had gone to bathe and had stripped, as the naked footsteps showed. Then he had suddenly huddled on his clothes again – they were all dishevelled and unfastened – and he had returned without bathing, or at any rate without drying himself. And the reason for his change of purpose had been that he had been scourged in some savage, inhuman fashion, tortured until he bit his lip through in his agony, and was left with only strength enough to crawl away and to die. Who had done this barbarous deed? There were, it is true, small grottos and caves in the base of the cliffs, but the low sun shone directly into them, and there was no place for concealment. Then, again, there were those distant figures on the beach. They seemed too far away to have been connected with the crime, and the broad lagoon in which McPherson had intended to bathe lay between him and them, lapping up to the rocks. On the sea two or three fishing-boats were at no great distance. Their occupants might be examined at our leisure. There were several roads for inquiry, but none which led to any very obvious goal.

ここに極めて明快に定義された問題があった / / 私がこれまで取り組んできたように奇妙な◆この男はいくら長くても15分と浜にはいなかった◆スタックハーストが彼をザ・ベイブルズから追いかけてきていた / だからこの点には疑問の余地がない◆彼は泳ぎに来て服を脱いでいた / はだしの足跡が示すように◆その後彼は突然服をあわてて身に着けた / / すべて乱雑にボタンもかけずに / / そして彼は水泳せずに戻った / または、どちらにしても体を拭くことなく◆そして彼が計画を変えた理由は / 彼が残忍で非人間的な方法で鞭打たれたからだ / 苦悶に唇を貫くほど苦しめられ / そしてただ這いつくばって逃げる気力しか残らず / そして死んだ◆誰がこの野蛮な行為をしたのか？ / 断崖の下に岩穴や洞窟があるのは事実だ / しかし低い太陽がその中に射しこんで / どこにも隠れ場所はなかった◆さらに、岸には遠くの人影があった◆彼らはこの犯罪に関与するには遠すぎるように見えた / そしてマクファーソンが泳ごうと思った大きな干潟は / 彼と彼らの間にあった / 岩場にまで広がって◆海の上には / 近くに二、三隻の漁船があった◆時間があるときにその乗員を調べてもいいかもしれない◆調べる道は何本かあった / しかしどれもはっきりした結論には至らなかった