Speaker 1: Chapter two, The Curse of the Baskervilles. I have in
Speaker 1: my pocket a manuscript, said doctor James Mortimer. I observed
Speaker 1: it as you entered the room, said Holmes. It is
Speaker 1: an old manuscript, early eighteenth century. Unless it's a forgery.
Speaker 1: How can you say that, sir, you have presented an
Speaker 1: inch or two of it to my examination all the
Speaker 1: time that you have been talking. It would be a
Speaker 1: poor expert who could not give the date of a
Speaker 1: document within a decade or so. You may possibly have
Speaker 1: read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that
Speaker 1: at seventeen thirty. The exact date is seventeen forty two.
Speaker 1: Doctor Mortimer drew it from his breast pocket. This family
Speaker 1: paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville,
Speaker 1: who sudden and tragic death some three months ago created
Speaker 1: so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I
Speaker 1: was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant.
Speaker 1: He was a strong minded man, Sir shrewd, practical, and
Speaker 1: as unimaginative as I am myself. Yet he took this
Speaker 1: document very seriously, and his mind was prepared for just
Speaker 1: such an end as did eventually overtake him. Holmes stretched
Speaker 1: out his hand for the manuscript and flattened it upon
Speaker 1: his knee. You will observe Watson the alternative use of
Speaker 1: the long s and the short. It is one of
Speaker 1: several indications which enabled me to fix the date. I
Speaker 1: looked over his shoulder at the yellow paper, and the
Speaker 1: faded script at the head was written Baskerville Hall and
Speaker 1: below in large scrawling figures, seventeen forty two. It appears
Speaker 1: to be a statement of some sort. Yes, it is
Speaker 1: a statement of a certain legend which runs in the
Speaker 1: Baskerville family. But I understand that it is something more
Speaker 1: modern and practical upon which you wish to consult me.
Speaker 1: Most modern, the most practical, pressing matter which must be
Speaker 1: decided within twenty four hours. But the manuscript is short
Speaker 1: and is intimately connected with the affair. With your permission,
Speaker 1: I will read it to you. Holmes leaned back in
Speaker 1: his chair, placed his finger tips together, and closed his
Speaker 1: eyes with an air of resignation. Doctor Mortimer turned the
Speaker 1: manuscript to the light and read in a high cracking
Speaker 1: voice the following curious Old world narrative of the origin
Speaker 1: of the Hound of the Baskervilles. There have been many
Speaker 1: statements yet as I come in a direct line from
Speaker 1: Hugo Baskerville, and as I had the story from my father,
Speaker 1: who also had it from his, I have set it
Speaker 1: down with all belief that it occurred, even as is
Speaker 1: here set forth. And I would have you believe, my sons,
Speaker 1: that the same justice which punishes sin may also most
Speaker 1: graciously forgive it, and that no ban is so heavy,
Speaker 1: but that by prayer and repentance it may be removed.
Speaker 1: Learn then, from this story, not to fear the fruits
Speaker 1: of the past, but rather to be circumspect in the future,
Speaker 1: that those foul passions, whereby our family has suffered so grievously,
Speaker 1: may not again be loosed to our undoing. Know then that,
Speaker 1: in the time of the Great Rebellion, the history of
Speaker 1: which by the learned Lord Clarendon, I most earnestly commend
Speaker 1: your attention, this manner of Baskerville was held by Hugo
Speaker 1: of that name. Nor can it be gain said that
Speaker 1: he was a most wild, profane, and godless man. This
Speaker 1: in truth his neighbors might have pardoned, seeing that saints
Speaker 1: have never flourished in those parts. But there was in
Speaker 1: him a certain wanton and cruel humor, which made his
Speaker 1: name a by word through the west. It chanced that
Speaker 1: this Hugo came to love, if indeed so dark a
Speaker 1: passion may be known under so bright a name, the
Speaker 1: daughter of a yeoman who held lands near the Baskerville estate.
Speaker 1: But the young maiden, being discreet and of good repute,
Speaker 1: would ever avoid him, for she feared his evil name.
Speaker 1: So it came to pass that one Michaelmas, this Hugo,
Speaker 1: with five or six of his idle and wicked companions,
Speaker 1: stole down upon the farm and carried off the maiden,
Speaker 1: her father and brothers, being far from home, as he
Speaker 1: well knew. When they had brought her to the hall,
Speaker 1: the maiden was placed in an upper chamber, while Hugo
Speaker 1: and his friends sat down to a long carouse, as
Speaker 1: was their nightly custom. Now, the poor lass upstairs was
Speaker 1: like to have her wits turned at the singing and
Speaker 1: shouting and terrible oaths which came up to her from below.
Speaker 1: For they say that the words used by Hugo Baskervill
Speaker 1: when he was in wine were such as might blast
Speaker 1: the man who said them. At last, in the stress
Speaker 1: of her fear, she did that which might have daunted
Speaker 1: the bravest or most active man, For by the aid
Speaker 1: of the growth of ivy, which covered and still covers
Speaker 1: the south wall, she came down from under the eaves,
Speaker 1: and so homeward across the moor, there being three leagues
Speaker 1: betwixt the hall and her father's farm. It chanced that
Speaker 1: some little time later Hugo left his guests to carry
Speaker 1: food and drink, with other worse things per chance to
Speaker 1: his captive, and so found the cage empty and the
Speaker 1: bird escaped. Then, as it would seem, he became as
Speaker 1: one that hath a devil, for rushing down the stairs
Speaker 1: into the dining hall, he sprang upon the great table,
Speaker 1: flagons and trenches flying before him, and he cried aloud
Speaker 1: before all the company that he would that very night
Speaker 1: render his body and sold to the powers of evil,
Speaker 1: if he might but overtake the wench. And while the
Speaker 1: revelers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one
Speaker 1: more wicked, or it may be more drunken than the rest,
Speaker 1: cried out that they should put the hounds upon her whereat.
Speaker 1: Hugo ran from the house, crying to his grooms that
Speaker 1: they should saddle his mare and unkennel the pack, and
Speaker 1: giving the hounds a kerchief of the maids, he swung
Speaker 1: them to the line, and so off full cry, in
Speaker 1: the moonlight over the moor. Now, for some time the
Speaker 1: revelers stood agape, unable to understand all that had been
Speaker 1: done in such haste. But anon, their bemused wits awoke
Speaker 1: to the nature of the deed which was like to
Speaker 1: be done upon the moorlands. Everything was now in an uproar,
Speaker 1: some calling for their pistols, some for their horses, and
Speaker 1: some for another flask of wine. But at length some
Speaker 1: sense came back to their crazed minds. The whole of them,
Speaker 1: thirteen in number, took horse and started in pursuit. The
Speaker 1: moon shone clear above them, and they rode swiftly abreast,
Speaker 1: taking that course which the maid must needs have taken
Speaker 1: if she were to reach her own home. They had
Speaker 1: gone a mile or two when they passed one of
Speaker 1: the night shepherds upon the moorlands, and they cried to
Speaker 1: him to know if he had seen the hunt. And
Speaker 1: the man, as the story goes, was so crazed with
Speaker 1: fear that he could scarcely speak. But at last he
Speaker 1: said that he had indeed seen the unhappy maiden, with
Speaker 1: the hounds upon her track. But I have say more
Speaker 1: than that, said he, for Hugo Baskerville passed me upon
Speaker 1: his black mare, and there ran mute behind him, such
Speaker 1: a hound of hell, as God forbid should ever be
Speaker 1: at my heels. So the drunken squires cursed the shepherd
Speaker 1: and rode onward. But soon their skins turned cold, for
Speaker 1: there came a galloping across the moor, and the black mare,
Speaker 1: dabbled with white froth, went past with trailing bridle and
Speaker 1: empty saddle. Then the revelers rode close together, for a
Speaker 1: great fear was on them, but they still followed over
Speaker 1: them more, though each, had he been alone, would have
Speaker 1: been right glad to have turned his horse's head. Riding
Speaker 1: slowly in this fashion, they came at last upon the hounds. These,
Speaker 1: though known for their valor and their breed, were whimpering
Speaker 1: in a cluster at the head of a deep dip
Speaker 1: or goyle as we call it, upon the moor, some
Speaker 1: slinking away, and some with starting hackles and staring eyes,
Speaker 1: gazing down the narrow valley before them. The company had
Speaker 1: come to a halt. More sober men, as you may guess,
Speaker 1: than when they started. The most of them would by
Speaker 1: no means advance, But three of them, the boldest, or
Speaker 1: it may be, the most drunken, rode forward down the goyle.
Speaker 1: Now it opened into a broad space, in which stood
Speaker 1: two of those great stones still to be seen there,
Speaker 1: which were set by certain forgotten peoples in the days
Speaker 1: of old. The moon was shining bright upon the clearing,
Speaker 1: and there in the center lay the unhappy maid, where
Speaker 1: she had fallen, dead of fear and of fatigue. But
Speaker 1: it was not the sight of her body, nor yet
Speaker 1: was it that of the body of Hugo Baskerville lying
Speaker 1: near her, which raised the hair upon the heads of
Speaker 1: these three dead devil roisterers. But it was that, standing
Speaker 1: over Hugo and plucking at his throat, there stood a
Speaker 1: foul thing, a great black beast, shaped like a hound,
Speaker 1: yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has
Speaker 1: rested upon. And even as they looked, the thing tore
Speaker 1: the throat out of Hugo Baskerville, on which, as it
Speaker 1: turned its blazing eye and ripping jaws upon them, the
Speaker 1: three shrieked with fear and rode for dear life, still
Speaker 1: screaming across the more, one, it is said, died that
Speaker 1: very night of what he had seen, and the other
Speaker 1: twain were but broken men for the rest of their days.
Speaker 1: Such is the tale, my sons, of the coming of
Speaker 1: the Hound, which is said to have plagued the family
Speaker 1: so sorely ever since. If I have set it down,
Speaker 1: it is because that which is clearly known hath less
Speaker 1: terror than that which is but hinted at and guessed.
Speaker 1: Nor can it be denied that many of the family
Speaker 1: have been unhappy in their deaths, which have been sudden, bloody,
Speaker 1: and mysterious. Yet may we shelter ourselves in the infinite
Speaker 1: goodness of Providence, which would not forever punish the innocent
Speaker 1: beyond that third or fourth generation which is threatened in
Speaker 1: holy writ to that Providence. My sons, I hereby commend you,
Speaker 1: and I counsel you by way of caution, to forbear
Speaker 1: from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the
Speaker 1: powers of evil are exalted. This from Hugo Baskerville to
Speaker 1: his sons Roger and John, with instructions that they say
Speaker 1: nothing thereof to their sister Elizabeth. When doctor Mortimer had
Speaker 1: finished reading this singular narrative, he pushed his spectacles up
Speaker 1: on his forehead and stared across at mister Sherlock Holmes.
Speaker 1: The latter yawned and tossed the end of his cigarette
Speaker 1: into the fire. Well, said he, do you not find
Speaker 1: it interesting to a collector of fairy tales? Doctor Mortimer
Speaker 1: drew a folded newspaper out of his pocket. Now, mister Holmes,
Speaker 1: we will give you something a little more recent. This
Speaker 1: is the Devon County Chronicle of May the fourteenth of
Speaker 1: this year. It is a short account of the facts
Speaker 1: elicited at the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, which occurred
Speaker 1: a few days before that date. My friend leaned a
Speaker 1: little forward, and his expression became intent. Our visitor readjusted
Speaker 1: his glasses and began. The recent sudden death of Sir
Speaker 1: Charles Baskerville, whose name has been mentioned as the probable
Speaker 1: Liberal candidate for mid Devon at the next election, has
Speaker 1: cast a gloom over the county. Though Sir Charles had
Speaker 1: resided at Baskerville Hall for a comparatively short period, his
Speaker 1: amiability of character and extreme generosity had won the affection
Speaker 1: and respect of all who had been brought into contact
Speaker 1: with him. In these days of nouveaux riches. It is
Speaker 1: refreshing to find a case where the scion of an
Speaker 1: old county family, which has fallen upon evil days, is
Speaker 1: able to make his own fortune and to bring it
Speaker 1: back with him to restore the fallen grandeur of his line.
Speaker 1: Sir Charles, as is well known, made large sums of
Speaker 1: money in South African speculation, more wise than those who
Speaker 1: go on until the wheel turns against them. He realized
Speaker 1: his gains and returned to England with them. It is
Speaker 1: only two years since he took up his residence at
Speaker 1: Baskerville Hall, and it is common talk how large were
Speaker 1: those schemes of reconstruction and improvement which have been interrupted
Speaker 1: by his death. Being himself childless, it was his openly
Speaker 1: expressed desire that the whole countryside should within his own
Speaker 1: lifetime profit by his good fortune, and many will have
Speaker 1: personal reasons for bewailing his untimely end. His generous donations
Speaker 1: to local and county charities have been frequently chronicled in
Speaker 1: these columns. The circumstances connected with the death of Sir
Speaker 1: Charles cannot be said to have been entirely cleared up
Speaker 1: by the inquest, but at least enough has been done
Speaker 1: to dispose of those rumors to which local superstition has
Speaker 1: given rise. There is no reason whatever to suspect foul
Speaker 1: play or to imagine that death could be from any
Speaker 1: but natural causes. Sir Charles was a widower and a
Speaker 1: man who may be said to have been, in some
Speaker 1: ways of an eccentric habit of mind. In spite of
Speaker 1: his considerable wealth. He was simple in his personal tastes,
Speaker 1: and his indoor servants at Baskerville Hall consisted of a
Speaker 1: married couple named Barrymore, the husband acting as butler and
Speaker 1: the wife as housekeeper. Their evidence, corroborated by that of
Speaker 1: several friends, tends to show that Sir Charles's health has
Speaker 1: for some time been impaired, and points especially to some
Speaker 1: affection of the heart, manifesting itself in changes of color, breathlessness,
Speaker 1: and acute attacks of nervous depression. Doctor James Mortimer, the
Speaker 1: friend and medical attendant of the deceased, has given evidence
Speaker 1: to the same effect. The facts of the case are simple.
Speaker 1: Sir Charles Baskerville was in the habit every night before
Speaker 1: going to bed of walking down the famous yew alley
Speaker 1: of Baskerville Hall. The evidence of the Barrymore's shows that
Speaker 1: this had been his custom. On the fourth of May,
Speaker 1: Sir Charles had declared his intention of starting next day
Speaker 1: for London, and had ordered Barrymore to prepare his luggage.
Speaker 1: That night, he went out as usual for his nocturnal walk,
Speaker 1: in the course of which he was in the habit
Speaker 1: of smoking a cigar. He never returned. At twelve o'clock, Barrymore,
Speaker 1: finding the hall door still open, became alarmed, and, lighting
Speaker 1: a lantern, went in search of his master. The day
Speaker 1: had been wet, and Sir Charles's footmarks were easily traced
Speaker 1: down the alley. Halfway down this walk there is a
Speaker 1: gate which leads out onto the moor. There were indications
Speaker 1: that Sir Charles had stood for some little time here.
Speaker 1: He then proceeded down the alley, and it was at
Speaker 1: the far end of it that his body was discovered.
Speaker 1: One fact which has not been explained is the statement
Speaker 1: of Barrymore that his master's footprints altered their character from
Speaker 1: the time that he passed the moor gate, and that
Speaker 1: he appeared from thence onward to have been walking upon
Speaker 1: his toes. One Murphy, a gipsy horse dealer, was on
Speaker 1: the moor at no great distance at the time, but
Speaker 1: he appears, by his own confession, to have been the
Speaker 1: worse for drink. He declares that he heard cries, but
Speaker 1: is unable to state from what direction they came. No
Speaker 1: signs of violence were to be discovered upon Sir Charles's person,
Speaker 1: and though the doctor's evidence pointed to an almost incredible
Speaker 1: facial distortion, so great that doctor Mortimer refused at first
Speaker 1: to believe that it was indeed his friend and patient
Speaker 1: who lay before him, it was explained that that is
Speaker 1: a symptom which is not unusual in cases of dyspnea
Speaker 1: and death from cardiac exhaustion. This explanation was borne out
Speaker 1: by the post mortem examination, which showed long standing organic disease,
Speaker 1: and the coroner's jury returned a verdict in accordance with
Speaker 1: the medical evidence. It is well that this is so,
Speaker 1: for it is obviously of the utmost importance that Sir
Speaker 1: Charles's heir should settle at the hall and continue the
Speaker 1: good work which has been so sadly interrupted. Had the
Speaker 1: prosaic finding of the coroner not finally put an end
Speaker 1: to the romantic stories which have been whispered in connection
Speaker 1: with the affair, it might have been difficult to find
Speaker 1: a tenant for Baskerville Hall. It is understood that the
Speaker 1: next of kin is mister Henry Baskerville, if he be
Speaker 1: still alive, the son of Sir Charles Baskerville's younger brother.
Speaker 1: The young man, when last heard of, was in America,
Speaker 1: and inquiries are being instituted with a view to informing
Speaker 1: him of his good fortune. Doctor Mortimer refolded his paper
Speaker 1: and replaced it in his pocket. Those are the public facts,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, in connection with the death of Sir Charles Baskerville.
Speaker 1: I must thank you, said Sherlock Holmes, for calling my
Speaker 1: attention to a case which certainly presents some features of interest.
Speaker 1: I had observed some newspaper comment at the time, but
Speaker 1: I was exceedingly preoccupied by that little affair of the
Speaker 1: Vatican Cameos, and in my anxiety to oblige the Pope,
Speaker 1: I lost touch with several interesting English cases. This article,
Speaker 1: you say, contains all the public facts it does, then
Speaker 1: let me have the private ones. He leaned back, put
Speaker 1: his fingertips together, and assumed his most impassive and judicial expression.
Speaker 1: In doing so, said doctor Mortimer, who had begun to
Speaker 1: show signs of some strong emotion. I am telling that
Speaker 1: which I have not confided to anyone. My motive for
Speaker 1: withholding it from the coroner's inquiry is that a man
Speaker 1: of science shrinks from placing himself in the public position
Speaker 1: of seeming to endorse a popular superstition. I had the
Speaker 1: further motive that Baskerville Hall, as the paper says, would
Speaker 1: certainly remain untenanted if anything were done to increase it's
Speaker 1: already rather grim reputation. For both these reasons, I thought
Speaker 1: that I was justified in telling rather less than I knew,
Speaker 1: since no practical good could result from it. But with you,
Speaker 1: there is no reason why I should not be perfectly
Speaker 1: frank The more is very sparsely inhabited, and those who
Speaker 1: live near each other are thrown very much together. For
Speaker 1: this reason I saw a good deal of Sir Charles Baskerville.
Speaker 1: With the exception of mister Franklin of Laughter Hall and
Speaker 1: mister Stapleton the Naturalist, there are no other men of
Speaker 1: education within many miles. Sir Charles was a retiring man,
Speaker 1: but the chance of his illness brought us together, and
Speaker 1: a community of interests in science kept us. So he
Speaker 1: had brought back much scientific information from South Africa, and
Speaker 1: many a charming evening we have spent together discussing the
Speaker 1: comparative anatomy of the bushmen and the hottentot. Within the
Speaker 1: last few months, it became increasingly plain to me that
Speaker 1: Sir Charles's nervous system was strained to the breaking point.
Speaker 1: He had taken this legend which I have read you
Speaker 1: exceedingly to heart, so much so that although he would
Speaker 1: walk in his own grounds, nothing would induce him to
Speaker 1: go out upon them or at night. Incredible as it
Speaker 1: may appear to you, mister Holmes, he was honestly convinced
Speaker 1: that a dreadful fate overhung his family, and certainly the
Speaker 1: records which he was able to give of his ancestors
Speaker 1: were not encouraging. The idea of some ghastly presence constantly
Speaker 1: haunted him, and on more than one occasion he has
Speaker 1: asked me whether I had, on my medical journeys at night,
Speaker 1: ever seen any strange creature or heard the baying of
Speaker 1: a hound. The latter question he put to me several times,
Speaker 1: and always with a voice which vibrated with excitement. I
Speaker 1: can well remember driving up to his house in the evening,
Speaker 1: some three weeks before the fatal event, he chanced to
Speaker 1: be at his hall door. I descended from my gig
Speaker 1: and was standing in front of him when I saw
Speaker 1: his eyes fix themselves over my shoulder and stare past
Speaker 1: me with an expression of the most dreadful horror. I
Speaker 1: whisked round and had just time to catch a glimpse
Speaker 1: of something which I took to be a large black
Speaker 1: calf passing at the head of the drive. So excited
Speaker 1: and alarmed was he that I was compelled to go
Speaker 1: down to the spot where the animal had been and
Speaker 1: look around for it. It was gone, however, and the
Speaker 1: incident appeared to make the worst impression upon his mind.
Speaker 1: I stayed with him all the evening, and it was
Speaker 1: on that occasion to explain the emotion which he had shown,
Speaker 1: that he confided to my keeping that narrative which I
Speaker 1: read to you when I first came in. I mentioned
Speaker 1: this small episode because it assumed some importance in view
Speaker 1: of the tragedy which followed. But I was convinced at
Speaker 1: the time that the matter was entirely trivial, and that
Speaker 1: his excitement had no justification. It was at my advice
Speaker 1: that Sir Charles was about to go to London. His
Speaker 1: heart was I knew affected, and the constant anxiety in
Speaker 1: which he lived, however chimerical the cause of it might be,
Speaker 1: was evidently having a serious effect upon his health. I
Speaker 1: thought that a few months among the distractions of town
Speaker 1: would send him back a new man. Mister Stapleton, a
Speaker 1: mutual friend, who was much concerned at his state of health,
Speaker 1: was of the same opinion. At the last instant came
Speaker 1: this terrible catastrophe. On the night of Sir Charles's death. Barrymore,
Speaker 1: the butler who made the discovery, sent Perkins the groom,
Speaker 1: on horseback to me, and as I was sitting up late,
Speaker 1: I was able to reach Baskerville Hall within an hour
Speaker 1: of the event. I checked and corroborated all the facts
Speaker 1: which were mentioned at the inquest. I followed the footsteps
Speaker 1: down the yu alley. I saw the spot at the
Speaker 1: moor gate where he seemed to have waited. I remarked
Speaker 1: the change in the shape of the prince after that point.
Speaker 1: I noted that there were no other footsteps save those
Speaker 1: of Barrymore on the soft gravel. And finally I carefully
Speaker 1: examined the body which had not been touched until my arrival.
Speaker 1: Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out, his
Speaker 1: fingers dug into the ground, and his features convulsed with
Speaker 1: some strong emotion, to such an extent that I could
Speaker 1: hardly have sworn to his identity. There was certainly no
Speaker 1: physical injury of any kind. But one false statement was
Speaker 1: made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there
Speaker 1: were no traces upon the ground round the body. He
Speaker 1: did not observe any, but I did some little distance off,
Speaker 1: but fresh and clear footprints, footprints a man's or a woman's.
Speaker 1: Doctor Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and
Speaker 1: his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound.