Speaker 1: Chapter four of the Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir
Speaker 1: Arthur Conan Doyle. The Slebrivox recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: Chapter four, Sir Henry Baskerville. Our breakfast table was cleared early,
Speaker 1: and Holmes waited in his dressing gown for the promised interview.
Speaker 1: Our clients were punctual to their appointment, for the clock
Speaker 1: had just struck ten when doctor Mortimer was shown up,
Speaker 1: followed by the young baronet. The latter was a small, alert,
Speaker 1: dark eyed man about thirty years of age, very sturdily built,
Speaker 1: with thick black eyebrows and a strong, pugnacious face. He
Speaker 1: wore a ruddy tinted tweed suit and had the weather
Speaker 1: beaten appearance of one who has spent most of his
Speaker 1: time in the open air. And yet there was something
Speaker 1: in his steady eye, in the quiet assurance of his bearing,
Speaker 1: which indicated the gentleman. This is Sir Henry Baskerville, said
Speaker 1: doctor Mortimer. Why yes, said he. And the strange thing is,
Speaker 1: mister Sherlock Holmes, that if my friend here had not
Speaker 1: proposed coming round you this morning, I should have come
Speaker 1: on my own account. I understand that you think out
Speaker 1: little puzzles, and I have had one this morning which
Speaker 1: once more thinking out than I am able to give it. Pray,
Speaker 1: take a seat, Sir Henry. Do I understand you to
Speaker 1: say that you have yourself had some remarkable experience since
Speaker 1: you arrived in London. Nothing of much importance, mister Holmes,
Speaker 1: only a joke, as like as not. It was this letter,
Speaker 1: if you can call it, a letter, which reached me
Speaker 1: this morning. He laid an envelope upon the table, and
Speaker 1: we all bent over it. It was of common quality,
Speaker 1: grayish in color. The address Sir Henry Baskerville, Northumberland Hotel
Speaker 1: was printed in rough characters, the post mark Charing Cross,
Speaker 1: and the date of posting the preceding evening. Who knew
Speaker 1: that you were going to the Northumberland Hotel, asked Holmes,
Speaker 1: glancing keenly across at our visitor. No one could have known.
Speaker 1: We only decided after I met doctor Mortimer. But doctor
Speaker 1: Mortimer was no doubt already stopping there. No, I had
Speaker 1: been staying with a friend, said the doctor. There was
Speaker 1: no possible indication that we intended to go to this hotel.
Speaker 1: Hum someone seems to be very deeply interested in your
Speaker 1: movements out of the envelope, he took a half sheet
Speaker 1: of foolscap paper folded into four This he opened and
Speaker 1: spread flat upon the table. Across the middle of it
Speaker 1: a single sentence had been formed by the expedient of
Speaker 1: pasting printed words upon it. It ran, as you value
Speaker 1: your life or your reason? Keep away from the moor.
Speaker 1: The word more only was printed in ink. Now, said
Speaker 1: Sir Henry Baskerville. Perhaps you'll te tell me, mister Holmes,
Speaker 1: what in thunder is the meaning of that? And who
Speaker 1: it is that takes so much interest in my affairs?
Speaker 1: What do you make of it? Dr Mortimer? You must
Speaker 1: allow that there is nothing supernatural about this at any rate, No, sir,
Speaker 1: but it might very well come from someone who was
Speaker 1: convinced that the business is supernatural. What business? Asked Sir
Speaker 1: Henry Sharply. It seems to me that all you gentlemen
Speaker 1: know a great deal more than I do about my
Speaker 1: own affairs. You shall share our knowledge before you leave
Speaker 1: this room, Sir Henry, I promise you that, said Sherlock Holmes.
Speaker 1: We will confine ourselves for the present, with your permission,
Speaker 1: to this very interesting document, which must have been put
Speaker 1: together and posted yesterday evening. Have you yesterday's Times, Watson?
Speaker 1: It is here in the corner. Might I trouble you
Speaker 1: for it? The inside page, please, with the leading articles.
Speaker 1: He glanced swiftly over it, running his eyes up and
Speaker 1: down the columns capital article this on free trade. Permit
Speaker 1: me to give you an extract from it. You may
Speaker 1: be cajoled into imagining that your own special trade or
Speaker 1: your own industry will be encouraged by a protective tariff.
Speaker 1: But it stands the reason that such legislation must, in
Speaker 1: the long run, keep away wealth from the country, diminish
Speaker 1: the value of our imports, and lower the general conditions
Speaker 1: of life in this island. What do you think of that? Watson,
Speaker 1: cried Holmes in high glee, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction.
Speaker 1: Don't you think that is an admirable sentiment? Doctor Mortimer
Speaker 1: looked at Holmes with an air of professional interest, and
Speaker 1: Sir Henry Baskerville turned a pair of puzzled dark eyes
Speaker 1: upon me. I don't know much about the tariff and
Speaker 1: things of that kind, said he, but it seems to
Speaker 1: me we've got a bit of the trail so far
Speaker 1: as that note is concerned. On the contrary, I think
Speaker 1: we are particularly hot upon the trail. Sir Henry, Watson
Speaker 1: here knows more about my methods than you do. But
Speaker 1: I fear that even he has not quite grasped the
Speaker 1: significance of this sentence. No, I confess that I see
Speaker 1: no connection. And yet, my dear Watson, there is so
Speaker 1: very close a connection that the one is extracted out
Speaker 1: of the other. You your your life, reason value, keep
Speaker 1: away from there? Don't you see? Now? Whence these words
Speaker 1: have been taken by thunder? You're right? Well, if that
Speaker 1: isn't smart, cried Sir Henry. If any possible doubt remained,
Speaker 1: it is settled by the fact that keep away and
Speaker 1: from thee are cut out in one piece. Well, now,
Speaker 1: so it is, really, mister Holmes, this exceeds anything which
Speaker 1: I could have imagined, said doctor Mortimer, gazing at my
Speaker 1: friend in amazement. I could understand any one saying that
Speaker 1: the words were from a newspaper, but that you should
Speaker 1: name which and add that it came from the leading
Speaker 1: article is really one of the most remarkable things which
Speaker 1: I have ever known. How did you do it? I presume, doctor,
Speaker 1: that you could tell the skull of a negro from
Speaker 1: that of an Esquimaux, most certainly. But how because that
Speaker 1: is my special hobby. The differences are obvious, the supra
Speaker 1: orbital crest, the facial angle, the maxillary curve, the But
Speaker 1: this is my special hobby, and the differences are equally obvious.
Speaker 1: There is as much difference to my eyes between the
Speaker 1: leaded bourgeois type of a Times article and the slovenly
Speaker 1: print of an evening halfpenny paper as they could be
Speaker 1: between your Negro and your Eskimaux. The detection of types
Speaker 1: is one of the most elementary brand of knowledge to
Speaker 1: the special expert in crime. Though I confess that once,
Speaker 1: when I was very young, I confused the Leeds Mercury
Speaker 1: with the Western Morning News. But a Times Leader is
Speaker 1: entirely distinctive, and these words could have been taken from
Speaker 1: nothing else, as it was done yesterday. The strong probability
Speaker 1: was that we should find the words in yesterday's issue.
Speaker 1: So far as I can follow you, then, mister Holmes,
Speaker 1: said Sir Henry Baskerville. Someone cut out this message with
Speaker 1: the scissors. Nail scissors, said Holmes. You can see that
Speaker 1: it was a very short bladed scissors, since the cutter
Speaker 1: had to take two snips over keep away. That is so.
Speaker 1: Some one then cut out the message with a pair
Speaker 1: of short bladed scissors pasted it with paste gum, said Holmes,
Speaker 1: with gum on to the paper. But I want to
Speaker 1: know why the word more should have been written because
Speaker 1: he could not find it in print. The other words
Speaker 1: were all simple and might be found in any issue,
Speaker 1: but more would be less common. Why, of course, that
Speaker 1: would explain it. Have you read anything else in this message,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes? There are one or two indications, and yet
Speaker 1: the utmost pains have been taken to remove all clues.
Speaker 1: The address, you observe is printed in rough characters, but
Speaker 1: the Times is a paper which is seldom found in
Speaker 1: any hands but those of the highly educated. We may
Speaker 1: take it therefore, that the letter was composed by an
Speaker 1: educated man who wished to pose as an uneducated one,
Speaker 1: and his effort to conceal his own writing suggests that
Speaker 1: the writing might be known, or come to be known
Speaker 1: by you. Again, you will observe that the words are
Speaker 1: not gummed on in an accurate line, but that some
Speaker 1: are much higher than others. Life, for example, is quite
Speaker 1: out of its proper place. That may point to carelessness.
Speaker 1: Or it may point to agitation and hurry upon the
Speaker 1: part of the cutter. On the whole, I incline to
Speaker 1: the latter you, since the matter was evidently important, and
Speaker 1: it is unlikely that the composer of such a letter
Speaker 1: would be careless if he were in a hurry, it
Speaker 1: opens up the interesting question why he should be in
Speaker 1: a hurry, since any letter posted up to early morning
Speaker 1: would reach Sir Henry before he would leave his hotel.
Speaker 1: Did the composer fear and interruption? And from whom we
Speaker 1: are coming now? Rather into the region of guess work,
Speaker 1: said doctor Mortimer, say, rather into the region where we
Speaker 1: balance probabilities and choose the most likely It is the
Speaker 1: scientific use of the imagination. But we have always some
Speaker 1: material basis on which to start our speculation. Now you
Speaker 1: would call it guess no doubt. But I am almost
Speaker 1: certain that this address has been written in a hotel.
Speaker 1: How in a world can you say that? If you
Speaker 1: examine it carefully, you will see that both the pen
Speaker 1: and the ink have given the writer trouble. The pen
Speaker 1: has spluttered twice in a single word, and has run
Speaker 1: dry three times in a short address, showing that there
Speaker 1: was very little ink in the bottle. Now, a private
Speaker 1: pen or ink bottle is seldom allowed to be in
Speaker 1: such a state, and the combination of the two must
Speaker 1: be quite rare. But you know the hotel ink and
Speaker 1: the hotel pen, where it is rare to get anything else. Yes,
Speaker 1: I have very little hesitation in saying that, could we
Speaker 1: examine the waste paper baskets of the hotels round Charing
Speaker 1: Cross until we found the remains of the mutilated Times leader,
Speaker 1: we could lay our hands straight upon the person who
Speaker 1: sent this singular message. Hullo, hullo, what's this? He was
Speaker 1: carefully examining the fool's cap upon which the words were pasted,
Speaker 1: holding it only an inch or two from his eyes. Well, nothing,
Speaker 1: said he throwing it down. It is a blank half
Speaker 1: sheet of paper, without even a water mark upon it.
Speaker 1: I think we have drawn as much as we can
Speaker 1: from this curious letter. And now, sir Henry, has anything
Speaker 1: else of interest happened to you since you have been
Speaker 1: in London? Why no, mister Holmes, I think not. You
Speaker 1: have not observed any one follow or watch you. I
Speaker 1: seem to have walked right into the thick of a
Speaker 1: dime novel, said our visitor. Why in thunder. Should anyone
Speaker 1: follow or watch me? We are coming to that you
Speaker 1: have nothing else to report to us before we go
Speaker 1: into this matter. Well, it depends upon what you think
Speaker 1: worth reporting. I think anything out of the ordinary routine
Speaker 1: of life well worth reporting. Sir Henry smiled. I don't
Speaker 1: know much of British life yet, for I have spent
Speaker 1: nearly all my time in the States and in Canada.
Speaker 1: But I hope that to lose one of your boots
Speaker 1: is not part of the ordinary routine of life over here.
Speaker 1: You have lost one of your boots, my dear sir,
Speaker 1: cried doctor Mortimer. It is only mislaid. You will find
Speaker 1: it when you return to the hotel. What is the
Speaker 1: use of troubling mister Holmes with trifles of this kind? Well,
Speaker 1: he asked me for anything outside the extraordinary, exactly, said Holmes.
Speaker 1: However foolish the incident may seem. You have lost one
Speaker 1: of your boots, you say, well, mislaid it. Anyhow, I
Speaker 1: put them both outside my door last night, and there
Speaker 1: was any one in the morning. I could get no
Speaker 1: sense out of the chap who cleans them. The worst
Speaker 1: of it is that I only bought the pair last
Speaker 1: night in the strand, and I have never had them on.
Speaker 1: If you have never worn them, why did you put
Speaker 1: them out to be cleaned. They were tan boots and
Speaker 1: had never been varnished. That was why I put them out. Then,
Speaker 1: I understand that on your arrival in London yesterday you
Speaker 1: went out at once and bought a pair of boots.
Speaker 1: I did a great deal of shopping. Doctor Mortimer here
Speaker 1: went round with me. You see, if I am to
Speaker 1: be squire down there, I must dress the part. And
Speaker 1: it may be that I have got a little careless
Speaker 1: in my ways out west. Among other things, I bought
Speaker 1: these brown boots, gave six dollars for them, and had
Speaker 1: one stolen before ever I had them on my feet.
Speaker 1: It seems a singularly useless thing to steal, said Sherlock Holmes.
Speaker 1: I confess that I shared Dr Mortimer's belief that it
Speaker 1: will not be long before the missing boot is found.
Speaker 1: And now, gentlemen, said the baronet with decision. It seems
Speaker 1: to me that I have spoken quite enough about the
Speaker 1: little that I know. It is time that you kept
Speaker 1: your promise and gave me a full account of what
Speaker 1: we are all driving at your request. Is a very
Speaker 1: reasonable one, Holmes answered Dr Mortimer, I think you could
Speaker 1: not do better than to tell your story as you
Speaker 1: told it to us. Thus, encouraged, our scientific friend, drew
Speaker 1: his papers from his pocket and presented the whole case,
Speaker 1: as he had done upon the morning before. Sir Henry
Speaker 1: Baskerville listened with the deepest attention and with an occasional
Speaker 1: exclamation of surprise. Well, I seem to have come into
Speaker 1: an inheritance with a vengeance, said he, when the long
Speaker 1: narrative was finished. Of course, I've heard of the hound
Speaker 1: ever since I was in the nursery. It's the pet
Speaker 1: story of the family, though I never thought of taking
Speaker 1: it seriously before. But as to my uncle's death, well,
Speaker 1: it all seems boiling up in my head and I
Speaker 1: can't get it clear. Yet. You don't seem quite to
Speaker 1: have made up your mind whether it's a case for
Speaker 1: a policeman or a clergyman precisely. And now there's this
Speaker 1: affair of the letter to me at the hotel. I
Speaker 1: suppose that fits into its place. It seems to show
Speaker 1: that some one knows more than we do about what
Speaker 1: goes on upon the moor, said doctor Mortimer, and also
Speaker 1: said Holmes that someone is not ill disposed towards you,
Speaker 1: since they warn you of danger, or it may be
Speaker 1: that they wish, for their own purposes to scare me away. Well,
Speaker 1: of course that is possible. Also, I am very much
Speaker 1: indebted to you, doctor Mortimer, for introducing me to a
Speaker 1: problem which presents several interesting alternatives. But the practical point
Speaker 1: which we now have to decide, Sir Henry, is whether
Speaker 1: it is or is not advisable for you to go
Speaker 1: to Baskerville Hall. Why should I not go? There seems
Speaker 1: to be danger? Do you mean danger from this family
Speaker 1: fiend or do you mean danger from human beings? Well,
Speaker 1: that is what we have to find out. Whichever it is.
Speaker 1: My answer is fixed. There is no devil in hell,
Speaker 1: mister Holmes, and there is no man upon earth who
Speaker 1: can prevent me from going to the home of my
Speaker 1: own people. And you may take that to be my
Speaker 1: final answer. His dark brows knitted and his face flushed
Speaker 1: to a dusky red as he spoke. It was evident
Speaker 1: that the fiery temper of the Baskervilles was not extinct
Speaker 1: in this Their last representative, meanwhile, said he I have
Speaker 1: hardly had time to think over all that you've told me,
Speaker 1: it's a big thing for a man to have to
Speaker 1: understand and to decide at one sitting. I should like
Speaker 1: to have a quiet hour by myself to make up
Speaker 1: my mind. Now, look here, mister Holmes, it's half past
Speaker 1: eleven now, and I am going back right away to
Speaker 1: my hotel. Suppose you and your friend doctor Watson come
Speaker 1: round and lunch with us at two. I'll be able
Speaker 1: to tell you more clearly then how this thing strikes me.
Speaker 1: Is that convenient to you, Watson perfectly? Then you may
Speaker 1: expect us. Shall I have a cab called I'd prefer
Speaker 1: to walk, for this affair has flurried me. Rather, I'll
Speaker 1: join you in walk with pleasure, said his companion. Then
Speaker 1: we meet again at two o'clock, Revoir, and good morning.
Speaker 1: We heard the steps of our visitors descend the stair
Speaker 1: and the bang of the front door. In an instant,
Speaker 1: Holmes had changed from the languid dreamer to the man
Speaker 1: of action. Your hat and boots, Watson quick, not a
Speaker 1: moment to lose. He rushed into his room in his
Speaker 1: dressing gown and was back again in a few seconds
Speaker 1: in a frock coat. We hurried together down the stairs
Speaker 1: and into the street. Dr Mortimer and Baskerville were still
Speaker 1: visible about two hundred yards ahead of us, in the
Speaker 1: direction of Oxford Street. Shall I run and stop them?
Speaker 1: Not for the world, my dear Watson. I am perfectly
Speaker 1: satisfied with your company, if you will tolerate mine. Our
Speaker 1: friends are wise, for it is certainly a very fine
Speaker 1: morning for a walk. He quickened his pace until we
Speaker 1: had decreased the distance, which divided us by about half. Then,
Speaker 1: still keeping a hundred yards behind, we followed into Oxford
Speaker 1: Street and sowed down Regent Street. Once our friend stopped
Speaker 1: and stared into a shop window, upon which Holmes did
Speaker 1: the same. An instant afterwards, he gave a little cry
Speaker 1: of satisfaction, and, following the direction of his eager eyes,
Speaker 1: I saw that a handsome cab with a man inside,
Speaker 1: which had halted on the other side of the street,
Speaker 1: was now proceeding slowly onward. Again. There's our man, Watson.
Speaker 1: Come along. We'll have a good look at him, even
Speaker 1: if we can do no more. At that instant I
Speaker 1: was aware of a bushy black beard, and a pair
Speaker 1: of piercing eyes turned upon us through the side window
Speaker 1: of the cab. Instantly, the trap door at the top
Speaker 1: flew up. Something was screamed to the driver, and the
Speaker 1: cab flew madly off down Regent Street. Holmes looked eagerly
Speaker 1: around for another, but no empty one was in sight.
Speaker 1: Then he dashed in wild pursuit amid the stream of
Speaker 1: the traffic. But the start was too great, and already
Speaker 1: the cab was out of sight. There now, said Holmes bitterly,
Speaker 1: as he emerged, panting and white with vexation from the
Speaker 1: tide of vehicles. Was ever such bad luck? And such
Speaker 1: bad management? Too? Watson, Watson, if you're an honest man,
Speaker 1: you will record this also and set it against my successes.
Speaker 1: Who was the man? I have not an idea A spy? Well,
Speaker 1: it was evident from what we have heard that Baskerville
Speaker 1: has been very closely shadowed by some one since he
Speaker 1: has been in town. How else could it be known
Speaker 1: so quickly that it was the Northumberland Hotel which he
Speaker 1: had chosen. If they had followed him the first day,
Speaker 1: I argued that they would follow him also the second.
Speaker 1: You may have observed that I twice strolled over to
Speaker 1: the window while doctor Mortimer was reading his legend. Yes,
Speaker 1: I remember I was looking out for loiterers in the street,
Speaker 1: but I saw none. We are dealing with a clever man, Watson.
Speaker 1: This matter cuts very deep, and though I have not
Speaker 1: finally made up my mind whether it is a benevolent
Speaker 1: or a malevolent agency which is in touch with us,
Speaker 1: I am conscious always of power and design. When our
Speaker 1: friends left, I at once followed them, in the hopes
Speaker 1: of marking down their invisible attendant. So wily was he
Speaker 1: that he had not trusted himself upon foot, but he
Speaker 1: had availed himself of a cab, so that he could
Speaker 1: loiter behind or dash past them, and so escape their notice.
Speaker 1: His method had the additional advantage that, as they were
Speaker 1: to take a cab, he was all ready to follow them.
Speaker 1: It has, however, one obvious disadvantage. It puts him in
Speaker 1: the power of the cabman. Exactly what a pity we
Speaker 1: didn't get the number, My dear Watson, clumsy as I
Speaker 1: have been, you surely do not seriously imagine that I
Speaker 1: neglected to get the number. No. Two seven zero four
Speaker 1: is our man. But that is no use to us.
Speaker 1: For the moment I failed to see how you could
Speaker 1: have done more. On observing the cab, I should have
Speaker 1: instantly turned and walked in the other direction. I should, then,
Speaker 1: at my leisure, have hired a second cab and followed
Speaker 1: the first at a respectful distance, or better still, have
Speaker 1: driven to the Northumberland Hotel and waited there. When our
Speaker 1: unknown had followed Baskerville home, we should have had the
Speaker 1: opportunity of playing his own game upon himself and seeing
Speaker 1: where he made. For as it is by an indiscreet eagerness,
Speaker 1: which was taken advantage of with extraordinary quickness and energy
Speaker 1: by our opponent, we have betrayed ourselves and lost our man.
Speaker 1: We had been sauntering slowly down Regent Street during this conversation,
Speaker 1: and Doctor Mortimer with his companion, had long vanished in
Speaker 1: front of us. There is no object in our following them,
Speaker 1: said Holmes. The shadow has departed and will not return.
Speaker 1: We must see what further cards we have in our
Speaker 1: hands and play them with decision. Could you swear to
Speaker 1: that man's face within the cab? I could swear only
Speaker 1: to the beard, and so could I, from which I
Speaker 1: gather that in all probability it was a false one.
Speaker 1: A clever man upon so delicate an errand has no
Speaker 1: use for a beard save to conceal his features. Come
Speaker 1: in here, Watson. He turned into one of the district
Speaker 1: messenger offices, where he was warmly greeted by the manager. Ah, Wilson,
Speaker 1: I see you have not forgotten the life case in
Speaker 1: which I had the good fortune to help you. Now, sir,
Speaker 1: indeed I have not you save my good name and
Speaker 1: perhaps my life, My dear fellow, you exaggerate. I have
Speaker 1: some recollection, Wilson, that you had among your boys a
Speaker 1: lad named Cartwright, who showed some ability during the investigation. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: he is still with us. Could you ring him up?
Speaker 1: Thank you, and I shall be glad to have change
Speaker 1: of this five pound note. A lad of fourteen with
Speaker 1: a bright, keen face had obeyed the summons of the manager.
Speaker 1: He stood now gazing with great reverence at the famous detective.
Speaker 1: Let me have the hotel directory, said Holmes. Thank you. Now, Cartwright.
Speaker 1: There are the names of twenty three hotels here, all
Speaker 1: in the immediate neighborhood of Charing Cross, do you see, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: you will visit each one of these in turn. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: you will begin in each case by giving the outside
Speaker 1: porter one shilling. Here are twenty three shillings yes, sir.
Speaker 1: You will tell him that you want to see the
Speaker 1: waste paper of yesterday. You will say that an important
Speaker 1: telegram has miscarried and that you are looking for it.
Speaker 1: You understand, yes, sir, But what you are really looking
Speaker 1: for is the center page of the Times with some
Speaker 1: holes cut in it with scissors. Here is a copy
Speaker 1: of the Times. It is this page. You could easily
Speaker 1: recognize it, could you not, yes, sir. In each case
Speaker 1: the outside porter will send for the hall porter, to
Speaker 1: whom also you will give a shilling. Here are twenty
Speaker 1: three shillings. You will then learn, in possibly twenty cases
Speaker 1: out of the twenty three, that the waste of the
Speaker 1: day before has been burned or removed. In the three
Speaker 1: other cases, you will be shown a heap of paper,
Speaker 1: and you will look for this page of the Times
Speaker 1: among it. The odds are enormously against your finding it.
Speaker 1: There are ten shillings over. In case of emergencies, let
Speaker 1: me have a report by wire at Baker Street before evening,
Speaker 1: And now, Watson, it only remains for us to find
Speaker 1: out by wire the identity of the cabman number two
Speaker 1: seven zero four, and then we will drop into one
Speaker 1: of the bond street picture galleries, and fill in the
Speaker 1: time until we are due at the hotel end of
Speaker 1: Chapter four.