and they were frightened. He had gone to see
what this terrifying person was, and had found the body. He went
straight back to the village without touching anything, for it was clear
both from what he saw and from the crowd of buzzing flies that the man
was dead, and gave information to the police. Then within a few minutes
from that, Mr. Figgis had arrived from Brighton, to find that it was
superfluous to look any further or inquire any more concerning the
whereabouts of the missing man. All that was mortal of him was here, the
head covered with a cloth, and bits of the fresh summer growth of fern
and frond sticking to his clothing.

After the identification of the body came evidence medical and otherwise
that seemed to show beyond doubt the time and manner of his death and the
possible motive of the murderer. The base of the skull was smashed in,
evidently by some violent blow dealt from behind with a blunt heavy
instrument of some sort, and death had probably been instantaneous. In
one of the pockets was a first edition of an evening paper published in
London on Thursday last, which fixed the earliest possible time at which
the murder had been committed, while in the opinion of the doctor who
examined the body late on Saturday night, the man had been dead not less
than forty-eight hours. In spite of the very heavy rain which had fallen
on Thursday night, there were traces of a pool of blood about midway
between the clump of bracken where the body was found, and the path over
the downs leading from Falmer to Brighton. This, taken in conjunction
with the information already given by Mr. Taynton, made it practically
certain that the deceased had left London on the Thursday as he had
intended to do, and had got out of the train at Falmer, also according to
his expressed intention, to walk to Brighton. It would again have been
most improbable that he would have started on his walk had the storm
already begun. But the train by which his bag was conveyed to Brighton
arrived at Falmer at half-past six, the storm did not burst till an hour
afterward. Finally, with regard to possible motive, the murdered man's
watch was missing; his pockets also were empty of coin.

This concluded the evidence, and the verdict was brought in without the
jury leaving the court, and "wilful murder by person or persons unknown"
was recorded.

* * * * *

Mr. Taynton, as was indeed to be expected, had been much aff