WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:06.679 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 2 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:22.199 read by Greg Wagland. Chapter one. Mister Sherlock Holmes. Mister 3 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:25.600 Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, 4 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:28.920 save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up 5 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:33.000 all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood 6 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:35.640 upon the hearth rug and picked up the stick which 7 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:39.479 our visitor had left behind him the night before. It 8 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:42.880 was a fine thick piece of wood, bulbous headed, of 9 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:46.880 the sort which is known as a penang lawyer. Just 10 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.479 under the head was a broad silver band nearly an 11 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:53.960 inch across to James Mortimer, m R C. S. From 12 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:57.799 his friends of the C. C. H was engraved upon 13 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:02.119 it with the date eighteen eighty five. Or it was 14 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:05.480 just such a stick as the old fashioned family practitioner 15 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:10.959 used to carry, dignified, solid bound reassuring, well, Watson, what 16 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.000 do you make of it? Holmes was sitting with his 17 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:16.599 back to me, and I had given him no sign 18 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.560 of my occupation. How did you know what I was doing? 19 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:22.480 I believe you have eyes in the back of your head. 20 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:25.920 I have at least a well polished silver plated coffee 21 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.480 pot in front of me, said he. But tell me, Watson, 22 00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:33.400 what do you make of our visitor's stick, Since we 23 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:36.040 have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have 24 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:40.359 no notion of his errand this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. 25 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.120 Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination 26 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:47.920 of it. I think, said I, following as far as 27 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:51.760 I could the methods of my companion, that doctor Mortimer 28 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:56.959 is a successful elderly medical man, well esteemed, since those 29 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:01.280 who know him give him this mark of their apreciation, good, 30 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:06.159 said Holmes. Excellent. I think also that the probability is 31 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:09.879 in favor of his being a country practitioner who does 32 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:13.039 a great deal of his visiting on foot. Why so, 33 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:18.080 because this stick, though originally a very handsome one, has 34 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.520 been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a 35 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:25.759 town practitioner carrying it. The thick iron ferrule is worn down. 36 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:27.759 So it is evident that he has done a great 37 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:32.439 amount of walking with it. Perfectly sound, said Holmes. And 38 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:35.039 then again there is the friends of the c H. 39 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.159 I should guess that to be the something Hunt, the 40 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.960 local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some 41 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:46.240 surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation 42 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:51.159 in return. Really, Watson, you excel yourself, said Holmes, pushing 43 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:54.280 back his chair and lighting a cigarette. I am bound 44 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:56.240 to say that, in all the accounts which you have 45 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:59.400 been so good as to give of my own small achievements, 46 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:03.159 you have habitual he underrated your own abilities. It may 47 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.759 be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are 48 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:11.520 a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have 49 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.919 a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, 50 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:19.199 that I am very much in your debt. He had 51 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.360 never said as much before, and I must admit that 52 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.240 his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often 53 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:29.879 been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to 54 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:33.240 the attempts which I had made to give publicity to 55 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:37.039 his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I 56 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:40.439 had so far mastered his system as to apply it 57 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:44.319 in a way which earned his approval. He now took 58 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.479 the stick from my hands and examined it for a 59 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:51.840 few minutes with his naked eyes. Then, with an expression 60 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:56.199 of interest, he laid down his cigarette, and, carrying the 61 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:59.120 cane to the window, he looked over it again with 62 00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:04.759 a convex lens. Interesting though elementary, said he, as he 63 00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:08.159 returned to his favorite corner of the settee. There are 64 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:11.599 certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives 65 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:16.319 us the basis for several deductions. Has anything escaped me, 66 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.360 i asked, with some self importance. I trust that there 67 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:24.079 is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked. I am afraid, 68 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:28.120 my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. 69 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:32.040 When I said that you stimulated me, I meant to 70 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.920 be frank that in noting your fallacies, I was occasionally 71 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.959 guided towards the truth. Not that you are entirely wrong. 72 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:43.759 In this instance. The man is certainly a country practitioner, 73 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:46.839 and he walks a good deal, then I was right 74 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:51.319 to that extent. But that was all. No, no, my 75 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.839 dear Watson, not all I no means all. I would suggest, 76 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:59.959 for example, that a presentation to a doctor is more 77 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.720 more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt, 78 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:06.160 and that when the initials c C are placed before 79 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:11.160 that hospital, the words charing cross very naturally suggest themselves. 80 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:15.240 You may be right. The probability lies in that direction. 81 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:19.120 And if we take this as a working hypothesis. We 82 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:22.360 have a fresh basis from which to start our construction 83 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:27.519 of this unknown visitor. Well, then, supposing that CCH does 84 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:32.560 stand for Charing Cross Hospital, what further inferences may we draw? 85 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:36.879 Do none suggest themselves? You know my methods apply them. 86 00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:40.639 I can only think of the obvious conclusion that the 87 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:43.639 man has practiced in town before going to the country. 88 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.439 I think that we might venture a little farther than this. 89 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.560 Look at it in this light. On what occasion would 90 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.399 it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? 91 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:58.759 When would his friends unite to give him a pledge 92 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:02.399 of their good will? Obviously at the moment when doctor 93 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:05.680 Mortimer withdrew from the service of the hospital in order 94 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:08.680 to start a practice for himself. We know there has 95 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:12.120 been a presentation. We believe there has been a change 96 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:15.319 from a town hospital to a country practice. Is it 97 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:19.199 then stretching our inference too far to say that the 98 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.720 presentation was on the occasion of the change? It certainly 99 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.199 seems probable. Now you will observe that he could not 100 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:28.759 have been on the staff of the hospital, since only 101 00:06:28.839 --> 00:06:31.680 a man well established in a London practice could hold 102 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.959 such a position, and such a one would not drift 103 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:38.319 into the country. What was he then? If he was 104 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.199 in the hospital and yet not on the staff, he 105 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:43.959 could only have been a house surgeon or a house physician, 106 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.759 a little more than a senior student. And he left 107 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:52.199 five years ago. The date is on the stick. So 108 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:56.439 your grave, middle aged family practitioner vanishes into thin air, 109 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:01.680 my dear Watson, and there emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, 110 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:05.759 absent minded, and the possessor of a favorite dog, which 111 00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:08.439 I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier 112 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:14.079 and smaller than a mastiff. I laughed incredulously, as Sherlock 113 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:18.000 Holmes leaned back in his settee and blew little wavering 114 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:22.439 rings of smoke up to the ceiling. As to the 115 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:25.519 latter part, I have no means of checking, you, said I, 116 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:28.680 But at least it is not difficult to find out 117 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.680 a few particulars about the man's age and professional career 118 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:35.480 from my small medical shelf. I took down the medical 119 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:39.319 directory and turned up the name. There were several Mortimers, 120 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:42.800 but only one who could be our visitor. I read 121 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:50.800 his record aloud. Mortimer James MRCS eighteen eighty two, Grimpen, Dartmoor, 122 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:54.839 Devon how surgeon from eighteen eighty two to eighteen eighty 123 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:59.360 four at charing Cross Hospital, winner of the Jackson Prize 124 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:04.600 for Comparaisative Pathology, with essay entitled is Disease a Reversion? 125 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:10.639 Corresponding member of the Swedish Pathological Society, author of Some 126 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:15.839 Freaks of Atavism Lancet, eighteen eighty two. Do we Progress, 127 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:20.920 Journal of Psychology, March eighteen eighty three. Medical officer for 128 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:26.360 the parishes of Grimpen, Thorsley and High Barrow. No mention 129 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:30.720 of that local hunt, Watson, said Holmes, with a mischievous smile. 130 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:36.639 What a country doctor, as you very astutely observed. I 131 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:40.320 think that I am fairly justified in my inferences as 132 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.840 to the adjectives I said, If I remember right, amiable, 133 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.000 unambitious and absent minded. It is my experience that it 134 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:52.759 is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, 135 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.480 only an unambitious one who abandons a London career for 136 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.679 the country, and only an absent minded one who leaves 137 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:04.080 his stick and not his visiting card. After waiting an 138 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:08.039 hour in your room and the dog has been in 139 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:11.879 the habit of carrying this stick behind his master. Being 140 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.480 a heavy stick, the dog has held it tightly by 141 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:16.720 the middle, and the marks of his teeth are very 142 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:20.120 plainly visible. The dog's jaw, as shown in the space 143 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.320 between these marks, is too broad, in my opinion, for 144 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:26.919 a terrier, and not broad enough for a mastiff. It 145 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:31.120 may have been Yes, by jove, it's a curly head spaniel. 146 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:34.399 He had risen and paced the room as he spoke. 147 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:38.120 Now he halted in the recess of the window. There 148 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:40.879 was such a ring of conviction in his voice that 149 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:44.200 I glanced up in surprise. My dear fellow, How can 150 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:47.200 you possibly be so sure of that? For the very 151 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:50.240 simple reason that I see the dog himself on our 152 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:53.000 very doorstep, and there is the ring of its owner. 153 00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:57.159 Don't move, I beg you, Watson. He is a professional 154 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:00.000 brother of yours, and your presence may be of assis 155 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.720 stance to me. Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, 156 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:06.120 when you hear a step upon the stair which is 157 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:08.960 walking into your life, and you know not whether for 158 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:13.039 good or ill? What does doctor James Mortimer, the man 159 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:16.960 of science, ask of Sherlock Holmes, the specialist in crime 160 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:21.120 a come in. The appearance of our visitor was a 161 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:25.320 surprise to me, since I had expected a typical country practitioner. 162 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.159 He was a very tall, thin man, with a long 163 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.840 nose like a beak, which jutted out between two keen, 164 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:36.159 gray eyes set closely together, and sparkling brightly from behind 165 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:39.279 a pair of gold rimmed glasses. He was clad in 166 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:42.759 a professional but rather slovenly fashion, for his frock coat 167 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:46.679 was dingy, and his trousers frayed. Though young, his long 168 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:49.919 back was already bowed, and he walked with a forward 169 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:53.320 thrust of his head and a general air of peering benevolence. 170 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:56.840 As he entered, his eyes fell upon the stick in 171 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:00.519 Holmes's hand, and he ran towards it with an exclamation 172 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:03.960 of joy. I am so very glad, said he. I 173 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:05.799 was not sure whether I had left it here or 174 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:08.360 in the shipping office. I would not lose that stick 175 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:12.519 for the world. The presentation I see, said Holmes, Yes, Sir, 176 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:17.120 from charing Cross Hospital, from one or two friends there 177 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:21.039 on the occasion of my marriage. Dear, dear, that's bad, 178 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:25.360 said Holmes, shaking his head. Doctor Mortimer blinked through his 179 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:29.519 glasses in mild astonishment. Why was it bad only that 180 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:34.159 you have disarranged our little deductions your marriage? You say, yes, Sir, 181 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:37.039 I married, and so left the hospital and with it 182 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:40.720 all hopes of a consulting practice. It was necessary to 183 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.840 make a home of my own. Come, Come, we are 184 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:47.279 not so far wrong after all, said Holmes. And now 185 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:52.919 doctor James Mortimer, mister sir, mister a humble m R. C. 186 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:57.720 S and a man of precise mind, evidently a dabbler 187 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:00.519 in science, mister Holmes, a picker up of s on 188 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:03.600 the shores of the great unknown ocean. I presume that 189 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:05.960 it is mister Sherlock Holmes who I am addressing, and 190 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:10.240 not no, this is my friend, doctor Watson. Glad to 191 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.000 meet you, Sir. I have heard your name mentioned in 192 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:16.399 connection with that of your friend. You interest me very much, 193 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:20.759 mister Holmes. I had hardly expected so delycocephalic a skull, 194 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:25.039 or such well marked supraorbital development. Would you have any 195 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:28.840 objection to my running my finger along your parietal ficia. 196 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.759 A cast of your skull, Sir, until the original is available, 197 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:36.759 would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is 198 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.840 not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that 199 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:44.679 I covet your skull. Sherlock Holmes waved our strange visitor 200 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:48.320 into a chair. You are an enthusiast in your line 201 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:50.840 of thought, I perceive, sir, as I am in mine, 202 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:55.120 said he. I observe from your forefinger that you make 203 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:59.679 your own cigarettes. Have no hesitation in lighting one. The 204 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:02.639 man drew out paper and tobacco and twirled the one 205 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:05.720 up in the other with surprising dexterity. He had long, 206 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:09.600 quivering fingers, as agile and restless as the antennae of 207 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:15.240 an insect. Holmes was silent, but his little darting glances 208 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:18.240 showed me the interest which he took in our curious companion. 209 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:22.159 I presume, sir, said he at last, that it was 210 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.840 not merely for the purpose of examining my skull that 211 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:27.000 you have done me the honor to call here last 212 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:30.960 night and again today. No, sir, no, though I am 213 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:33.759 happy to have had the opportunity of doing that as well. 214 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:37.759 I came to you, mister Holmes, because I recognized that 215 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:41.360 I am myself an unpractical man, and because I am 216 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:46.080 suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. Recognizing 217 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:48.720 as I do, that you are the second highest expert 218 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:52.480 in Europe. Indeed, Sir, may I inquire, who has the 219 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:55.759 honor to be the first? Asked Holmes, with some asperity, 220 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.159 to the man of precisely scientific mind. The work of 221 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:03.600 Monsieur Betty must always appeal strongly. Then, had you not 222 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:08.519 better consult him, I said, sir, to the precisely scientific mind. 223 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.559 But as a practical man of affairs, it is acknowledged 224 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:16.559 that you stand alone. I trust, sir, that I have 225 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:21.840 not inadvertently just a little, said Holmes. I think doctor Mortimer, 226 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:25.039 you would do wisely if, without more ado, you would 227 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:27.919 kindly tell me plainly what the exact nature of the 228 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:30.399 problem is in which you demand my assistance.