The Hound of the Baskervilles

Pr

h showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his ex

saw t

rly as I

u said

was th

that no one

nd no one gave them a thought. I don't suppose I

ny sheep-dogs

ut this was

y it wa

orm

not approach

N

t of nigh

and

actually

N

the All

elve feet high and impenetrable. The walk

g between the hed

of grass about six feet

yew hedge is penetrated

-gate which lead

any othe

on

ther has to come down it from the hous

hrough a summer-hou

harles rea

bout fifty ya

is important-the marks which you saw

ould show o

ame side of the pat

ge of the path on the sam

ngly. Another point. Was

and pa

igh wa

four fe

could have

es

did you see by t

n parti

n! Did no o

examined

ound n

Charles had evidently stood t

you kn

had twice dropped

league, Watson, after our

over that small patch of grav

s hand against his knee w

e scientific expert. That gravel page upon which I might have read so much has been long ere this smudged by the rain and defaced by the clo

ng these facts to the world, and I have already given

you he

most acute and most experienc

the thing is

positivel

u evidently

e to my ears several incidents which are hard

exa

all agreed that it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and one a moorland farmer, who all tell the same st

n of science, believe

know what

ugged his

t way I have combated evil, but to take on the Father of Evil himself would, per

nough to tug a man's throat out, a

his. If you hold these views, why have you come to consult me at all? You tell me in the same

that I desire

w can I a

skerville, who arrives at Waterloo Station"-Dr. Mortimer

ing th

been farming in Canada. From the accounts which have reached us he is an excellent fellow in

other claiman

er, was the black sheep of the family. He came of the old masterful Baskerville strain, and was the very image, they tell me, of the family picture of old Hugo. He made England too hot to hold him, fled to Central America, and died there in

ot go to the hom

his, the last of the old race, and the heir to great wealth, to that deadly place. And yet it cannot be denied that the prosperity of the whole poor, bleak country-side depends upon his presence. All the good work which has been d

dered for a

our opinion there is a diabolical agency which makes Dartm

h of saying that there is some

k the young man evil in London as easily as in Devonshire. A devil with me

to personal contact with these things. Your advice, then, as I understand it, is that the young ma

ur spaniel who is scratching at my front door, and

d t

to him at all until I have ma

t take you to ma

obliged to you if you will call upon me here, and it will be of help to me

his shirtcuff and hurried off in his strange, peering, absen

that before Sir Charles Baskerville's death sev

peopl

y see i

not hear

ou. Good

et look of inward satisfaction which mean

out,

I can he

Bradley's, would you ask him to send up a pound of the strongest shag tobacco? Thank you. It would be as well if you could make it convenient not to re

evidence, constructed alternative theories, balanced one against the other, and made up his mind as to which points were essential and which immaterial. I the

y it. As I entered, however, my fears were set at rest, for it was the acrid fumes of strong coarse tobacco which took me by the throat and set me coughing. Through t

ld, Watson

is poisonous

retty thick, now t

t is into

You have been at your cl

ear H

I ri

nly, bu

my bewildere

nse. A gentleman goes forth on a showery and miry day. He returns immaculate in the evening with the gloss still on his hat and his boo

is rathe

hich nobody by any chance ever observe

xture

y, I have been

spir

s of coffee and an incredible amount of tobacco. After you left I sent down to Stamford's for the Ordnance map of t

cale map,

his knee. "Here you have the particular district whic

wood r

of five miles there are, as you see, only a very few scattered dwellings. Here is Lafter Hall, which was mentioned in the narrative. There is a house indicated here which may be the residence of the naturalist-Stapleton, if I remember right, was his name. Here are two moorland far

be a wi

. If the devil did desire to have

inclining to the supe

e should be correct, and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws of Nature, there is an end of our investigation. But we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling back upon this one. I think we'll shut that window again, if you don't min

a good deal of it in

you mak

ery bewi

points of distinction about it. That change in the

had walked on tiptoe down

d said at the inquest. Why should a

t th

, running for his life, running until he bu

ng fro

ndications that the man was crazed w

n you s

ould have run from the house instead of towards it. If the gipsy's evidence may be taken as true, he ran with cries for help in the direction where help

t he was waiti

damp and the night inclement. Is it natural that he should stand for five or ten minutes, as Dr. Mor

nt out eve

. It was the night before he made his departure for London. The thing takes shape, Watson. It becomes coherent. Might I ask you to hand me my violin, and