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Chapter 14 The Hound of the Baskervilles from THE HO · Sherlock Holmes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen, The Hound of the Baskervilles. One of Sherlock
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  Speaker 1: Holmes's defects, if indeed one may call it a defect,
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  Speaker 1: was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full
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  Speaker 1: plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfillment. Partly,
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  Speaker 1: it came, no doubt, from his own masterful nature, which
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  Speaker 1: loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him.
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  Speaker 1: Partly also from his professional caution, which urged him never
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  Speaker 1: to take any chances. The result, however, was very trying
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  Speaker 1: for those who were acting as his agents and assistants.
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  Speaker 1: I had often suffered under it, but never more so
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  Speaker 1: than during that long drive in the darkness. The great
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  Speaker 1: Ordeal was in front of us. At last, we were
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  Speaker 1: about to make our final effort, and yet Holmes had
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  Speaker 1: said nothing, and I could only surmise what his course
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  Speaker 1: of action would be. My nerves thrilled with anticipation, when
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  Speaker 1: at last, the cold wind upon our faces and the
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  Speaker 1: dark void spaces on either side of the narrow road
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  Speaker 1: told me that we were back upon the moor once again.
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  Speaker 1: Every stride of the horses and every turn of the
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  Speaker 1: wheels was taking us nearer to our supreme adventure. Our
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  Speaker 1: conversation was hampered by the presence of the driver of
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  Speaker 1: the hired wagonet, so that we were forced to talk
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  Speaker 1: of trivial matters when our nerves were tense with emotion
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  Speaker 1: and anticipation. It was a relief to me after that
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  Speaker 1: unnatural restraint. When we had last passed Franklin's house and
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  Speaker 1: knew that we were drawing near to the hall and
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  Speaker 1: to the scene of action, we did not drive up
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  Speaker 1: to the door, but got down near the gate of
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  Speaker 1: the avenue. The wagonet was paid off and ordered to
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  Speaker 1: return to Coombe Tracy forthwith while we started to walk
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  Speaker 1: to mery Pitt house. Are you armed, lestrade, the little
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  Speaker 1: detective smiled. As long as I have my trousers, I
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  Speaker 1: have a hip pocket, and as long as I have
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  Speaker 1: my hip pocket, I have something in it. Good. My
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  Speaker 1: friend and I are also ready for emergencies. You're mighty
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  Speaker 1: close about this affair, mister Holmes. What's the game now?
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  Speaker 1: A waiting game? My word, it does not seem a
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  Speaker 1: very cheerful place, said the detective, with a shiver, glancing
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  Speaker 1: round him at the gloomy slopes of the hill and
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  Speaker 1: at the huge lake of fog which lay over the
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  Speaker 1: grimpen mire. I'll see the lights of a house ahead
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  Speaker 1: of us. That is mery Pit House, and the end
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  Speaker 1: of our journey. I must request you to walk on
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  Speaker 1: tiptoe and not to talk above a whisper. We moved
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  Speaker 1: cautiously along the track as if we were bound for
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  Speaker 1: the house, but Holmes halted us when we were about
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  Speaker 1: two hundred yards from it. This will do, said he.
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  Speaker 1: These rocks upon the right will make an admirable screen.
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  Speaker 1: We are to wait here. Yes, we shall make our
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  Speaker 1: little ambush here. Get into this hollow lestrade. You have
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  Speaker 1: been inside the house? Of you not, Watson? Can you
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  Speaker 1: tell the position of the rooms? What are those latticed
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  Speaker 1: windows at this end? I think they are the kitchen windows,
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  Speaker 1: and the one beyond, which shines so brightly, that is
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  Speaker 1: certainly the dining room. The blinds are up. You know
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  Speaker 1: the lie of the land. Best creep forward quietly and
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  Speaker 1: see what they are doing. But for Heaven's sake, don't
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  Speaker 1: let them know that they are watched. I tiptoed down
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  Speaker 1: the path and stood behind the low wall which surrounded
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  Speaker 1: the stunted orchard, creeping in its shadow. I reached a
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  Speaker 1: point whence I could look straight through the uncurtained window.
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  Speaker 1: There were only two men in the room, Sir Henry
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  Speaker 1: and Stapleton. They sat their profiles towards me on either
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  Speaker 1: side of the round table. Both of them were smoking cigars,
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  Speaker 1: and coffee and wine were in front of them. Stapleton
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  Speaker 1: was talking with animation, but the Baronet looked pale and distray.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps the thought of that lonely walk across the ill
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  Speaker 1: omened moor was weighing heavily upon his mind. As I
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  Speaker 1: watched them, Stapleton rose and left the room, while Sir
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  Speaker 1: Henry filled his glass again and leaned back in his chair,
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  Speaker 1: puffing at his cigar. I heard the creak of a
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  Speaker 1: door and the crisp sound of boots upon gravel. The
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  Speaker 1: steps passed along the path on the other side of
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  Speaker 1: the wall under which I crouched. Looking over, I saw
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  Speaker 1: the naturalist Paus at the door of an outhouse in
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  Speaker 1: the corner of the orchard. A key turned in the lock,
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  Speaker 1: and as he passed in there was a curious scuffling
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  Speaker 1: noise from within. He was only a minute or so inside,
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  Speaker 1: and then I heard the key turn once more, and
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  Speaker 1: he passed me and re entered the house. I saw
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  Speaker 1: him rejoin his guest, and I crept quietly back to
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  Speaker 1: where my companions were waiting to tell them what I
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  Speaker 1: had seen. You say, Watson, that the lady is not there,
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  Speaker 1: Holmes asked, when I had finished my report. No where
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  Speaker 1: can she be? Then, since there is no light in
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  Speaker 1: any other room except the kitchen, I cannot think where
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  Speaker 1: she is. I have said that over the great grimpen
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  Speaker 1: mire there hung a dense white fog. It was drifting
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  Speaker 1: slowly in our direction and banked itself up like a
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  Speaker 1: wall on that side of us. Low but thick and
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  Speaker 1: well defined. The moon shone on it, and it looked
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  Speaker 1: like a great shimmering ice field, with the heads of
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  Speaker 1: the distant tours as rocks borne upon its. Holmes's face
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  Speaker 1: was turned towards it, and he muttered impatiently as he
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  Speaker 1: watched its sluggish drift. It's moving towards us, Watson. Is
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  Speaker 1: that serious? Very serious? Indeed? The one thing upon earth
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  Speaker 1: which could have disarranged my plans? He can't be very
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  Speaker 1: long now. It is already ten o'clock. Our success and
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  Speaker 1: even his life, may depend upon his coming out before
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  Speaker 1: the fog is over the path. The night was clear
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  Speaker 1: and fine. Above us, the stars shone cold and bright,
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  Speaker 1: while a half moon bathed the whole scene in a soft,
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  Speaker 1: uncertain light. Before us lay the dark bulk of the house,
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  Speaker 1: its serrated roof and bristling chimneys, hard outlined against the
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  Speaker 1: silver spangled sky. Broad bars of golden light from the
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  Speaker 1: lower windows stretched across the orchard and the moor. One
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  Speaker 1: of them was suddenly shut off the servants had left
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  Speaker 1: the kitchen. There only remained the lamp in the dining room,
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  Speaker 1: where the two men, the murderous host and the unconscious guest,
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  Speaker 1: still chatted over their cigars. Every minute, that white wooly plain,
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  Speaker 1: which covered one half of the moor, was drifting closer
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  Speaker 1: and closer to the house. Already the first thin wisps
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  Speaker 1: of it were curling across the golden square of the
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  Speaker 1: lighted window. The farther wall of the orchard was already invisible,
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  Speaker 1: and the trees were standing out of a swirl of
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  Speaker 1: white vapor. As we watched it, the fog wreaths came
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  Speaker 1: crawling round both corners of the house and rolled slowly
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  Speaker 1: into one dense bank, on which the upper floor and
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  Speaker 1: the roof floated like a strange ship upon a shadowy sea.
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  Speaker 1: Holmes struck his hand passionately upon the rock in front
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  Speaker 1: of us, and stamped his feet in his impatience. If
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  Speaker 1: he isn't out in quarter of an hour, the path
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  Speaker 1: will be covered in half an hour. We won't be
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  Speaker 1: able to see our hands in front of us. Shall
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  Speaker 1: we move farther back upon higher ground? Yes, I think
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  Speaker 1: it would be as well. So as the fog bank
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  Speaker 1: flowed onward, we fell back before it until we were
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  Speaker 1: half a mile from the house, and still that dense
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  Speaker 1: white sea, with the moon silvering its upper edge, swept
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  Speaker 1: slowly and inexorably on. We are going too far, said Holmes.
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  Speaker 1: We dare not take the chance of his being overtaken
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  Speaker 1: before he can reach us. At all costs. We must
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  Speaker 1: hold our ground where we are. He dropped on his
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  Speaker 1: knees and clapped his ear to the ground. Thank God,
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  Speaker 1: I think that I can hear him coming. A sound
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  Speaker 1: of quick steps broke the silence of the moor. Crouching
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  Speaker 1: among the stones, we stared intently at the silver tipped
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  Speaker 1: bank in front of us. The steps grew louder, and
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  Speaker 1: through the fog as through a curtain. There stepped the
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  Speaker 1: man whom we were awaiting. He looked round him in
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  Speaker 1: surprise as he emerged into the clear, starlit night. Then
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  Speaker 1: he came swiftly along the path, passed close to where
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  Speaker 1: we lay, and went on up the long slope behind us.
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  Speaker 1: As he walked, he glanced continually over either shoulder, like
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  Speaker 1: a man who is ill at ease. Hist cried Holmes,
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  Speaker 1: and I heard the sharp click of a cocking pistol.
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  Speaker 1: Look out, it's coming. There was a thin, crisp, continuous
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  Speaker 1: patter from somewhere in the heart of that crawling bank.
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  Speaker 1: The cloud was within fifty yards of where we lay,
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  Speaker 1: and we glared at it, all three, uncertain what horror
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  Speaker 1: was about to break from the heart of it. I
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  Speaker 1: was at Holmes's elbow, and I glanced for an instant
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  Speaker 1: at his face. It was pale and exultant, his eyes
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  Speaker 1: shining brightly in the moonlight. But suddenly they started forward
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  Speaker 1: in a rigid, fixed stare, and his lips parted in amazement.
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  Speaker 1: At the same instant, Lestrade gave a yell of terror
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  Speaker 1: and threw himself face downward upon the ground. I sprang
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  Speaker 1: to my feet, my inert hand grasping my pistol, my
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  Speaker 1: mind paralyzed by the dreadful shape which had sprung out
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  Speaker 1: upon us from the shadows of the fog. A hound.
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  Speaker 1: It was an enormous coal black hound, but not such
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  Speaker 1: a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst
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  Speaker 1: from its open mouth. Its eyes glowed with a smoldering glare.
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  Speaker 1: Its muzzle and hackles and dew lap were outlined in
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  Speaker 1: flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered
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  Speaker 1: brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be
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  Speaker 1: conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke
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  Speaker 1: upon us out of the wall of fog with long bounds.
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  Speaker 1: The huge black creature was leaping down the track, following
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  Speaker 1: hard upon the footsteps of our friend. So paralyzed were
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  Speaker 1: we by the apparition that we allowed him to pass
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  Speaker 1: before we had recovered our nerve. Then Holmes and I
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  Speaker 1: both fired together, and the creature gave a hideous howl,
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  Speaker 1: which showed that one at least had hit him. He
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  Speaker 1: did not pause, however, but bounded onward. Far away on
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  Speaker 1: the path, we saw Sir Henry looking back, his face
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  Speaker 1: white in the moonlight, his hands raised in horror, glaring
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  Speaker 1: helplessly at the frightful thing which was hunting him down.
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  Speaker 1: But that cry of pain from the hound had blown
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  Speaker 1: all our fears to the winds. If he was vulnerable,
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  Speaker 1: he was mortal, and if we could wound him, we
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  Speaker 1: could kill him. Never have I seen a man run
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  Speaker 1: as Holmes ran that night. I'm reckoned fleet of foot,
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  Speaker 1: but he outpaced me as much as I outpaced the
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  Speaker 1: little professional in front of us. As we flew up
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  Speaker 1: the track, we heard scream after scream from Sir Henry,
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  Speaker 1: and the deep roar of the hound. I was in
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  Speaker 1: time to see the beast spring upon its victim, hurl
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  Speaker 1: him to the ground, and worry at his throat. But
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  Speaker 1: the next instant Holmes had emptied five barrels of his
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  Speaker 1: revolver into the creature's flank. With the last howl of
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  Speaker 1: agony and a vicious snap in the air, it rolled
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  Speaker 1: upon its back four feet, pouring furiously, and then fell
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  Speaker 1: limp upon its side. I stood, panting and pressed my
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  Speaker 1: pistol to the dreadful shimmering head, but it was useless
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  Speaker 1: to press the trigger. The giant hound was dead. Sir
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  Speaker 1: Henry lay insensible where he had fallen. We tore away
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  Speaker 1: his collar, and Holmes breathed a prayer of gratitude when
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  Speaker 1: we saw that there was no sign of a wound,
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  Speaker 1: and that the rescue had been in time already. Our
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  Speaker 1: friend's eyelids shivered, and he made a feeble effort to move.
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  Speaker 1: Lestrade thrust his brandy flask between the baronet's teeth, and
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  Speaker 1: two frightened eyes were looking up at us. My God,
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  Speaker 1: he whispered, what was it? What in Heaven's name was it?
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  Speaker 1: It's dead, whatever it is, said Holmes, we've laid the
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  Speaker 1: family ghost once and forever in mere size and strength.
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  Speaker 1: It was a terrible creature which was lying stretched before us.
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  Speaker 1: It was not a pure bloodhound, and it was not
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  Speaker 1: a pure mastiff, but it appeared to be a combination
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  Speaker 1: of the two, gaunt savage, and as large as a
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  Speaker 1: small lion. Even now, in the stillness of death, the
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  Speaker 1: huge jaws seemed to be dripping with a bluish flame,
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  Speaker 1: and the small, deep set, cruel eyes were ringed with fire.
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  Speaker 1: I placed my hand upon the glowing muzzle, and as
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  Speaker 1: I held them up, my own fingers smoldered and gleamed
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  Speaker 1: in the darkness. Phosphorus, I said a cunning preparation of it,
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  Speaker 1: said Holmes, sniffing at the dead animal. There is no
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  Speaker 1: smell which might have interfered with his power of scent.
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  Speaker 1: We owe you a deep apology, sir Henry, for having
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  Speaker 1: exposed you to this fright. I was prepared for a hound,
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  Speaker 1: but not for such a creature as this, and the
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  Speaker 1: fog gave us little time to receive him. You have
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  Speaker 1: saved my life, having first endangered it. Are you strong
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  Speaker 1: enough to stand? Give me another mouthful of that brandy
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  Speaker 1: and I shall be ready for anything. So now you
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  Speaker 1: will help me up. What do you propose to do
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  Speaker 1: to leave you here? You are not fit for further
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  Speaker 1: adventures to night. If you will wait, one or other
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  Speaker 1: of us will go back with you to the hall.
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  Speaker 1: He tried to stagger to his feet, but he was
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  Speaker 1: still ghastly, pale, and trembling in every limb. We helped
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  Speaker 1: him to a rock, where he sat shivering, with his
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  Speaker 1: face buried in his hands. We must leave you now,
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  Speaker 1: said Holmes. The rest of our work must be done,
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  Speaker 1: and every moment is of importance. We have our case,
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  Speaker 1: and now we only want our man. It's a thousand
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  Speaker 1: to one against our finding him. At the house, he continued,
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  Speaker 1: as we retraced our steps swiftly down the path. Those
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  Speaker 1: shots must have told him that the game was up.
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  Speaker 1: We were some distance off, and this fog may have
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  Speaker 1: deadened them. He followed the hound to call him off
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  Speaker 1: of that. You may be certain, no, no, he's gone
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  Speaker 1: by this time. But we'll so the house and make
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  Speaker 1: sure the front door was open. So we rushed in
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  Speaker 1: and hurried from room to room, to the amazement of
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  Speaker 1: a doddering old man servant, who met us in the passage.
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  Speaker 1: There was no light save in the dining room, but
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  Speaker 1: Holmes caught up the lamp and left no corner of
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  Speaker 1: the house unexplored. No sign could we see of the
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  Speaker 1: man whom we were chasing. On the upper floor, however,
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  Speaker 1: one of the bedroom doors was locked. There's someone in here,
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  Speaker 1: cried Lestrade, I can hear a movement open this door.
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  Speaker 1: A faint moaning and rustling came from within. Holmes truck
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  Speaker 1: the door just over the lock with the flat of
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  Speaker 1: his foot and it flew open. Pistol in hand. We
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  Speaker 1: all three rushed into the room, but there was no
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  Speaker 1: sign within it of that desperate and defiant villain whom
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  Speaker 1: we expected to see. Instead, we were faced by an
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  Speaker 1: object so strange and so unexpected, that we stood for
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  Speaker 1: a moment staring at it in amazement. The room had
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  Speaker 1: been fashioned into a small museum, and the walls were
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  Speaker 1: lined by a number of glass topped cases full of
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: that collection of butterflies and moths, the formation of which
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  Speaker 1: had been the relaxation of this complex and dangerous man.
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  Speaker 1: In the center of this room there was an upright beam,
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  Speaker 1: which had been placed at some period as a support
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  Speaker 1: for the old, worm eaten bulk of timber which spanned
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  Speaker 1: the roof to this post. A figure was tied, so
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  Speaker 1: swathed and muffled in the sheets which had been used
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  Speaker 1: to secure it, that one could not, for the moment
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  Speaker 1: tell whether it was that of a man or a woman.
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  Speaker 1: One towel passed round the throat and was secured at
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  Speaker 1: the back of the pillar. Another covered the lower part
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  Speaker 1: of the face, and over it two dark eyes, eyes
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  Speaker 1: full of grief and shame, and a dreadful questioning, stared
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  Speaker 1: back at us. In a minute, we had torn off
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  Speaker 1: the gag and swathed the bonds, and Missus Stapleton sank
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  Speaker 1: upon the floor in front of us, as her beautiful
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  Speaker 1: head fell upon her chest. I saw the clear red
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  Speaker 1: wheel of a whiplash across her neck. The brute cried, Holmes, here, lestrade,
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  Speaker 1: your brandy bottle. Put her in the chair. She has
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: fainted from ill usage and exhaustion. She opened her eyes again.
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  Speaker 1: Is he safe, she asked? Has he escaped? He cannot
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  Speaker 1: escape us? Madam, No, no, I did not mean my husband,
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  Speaker 1: Sir Henry. Is he safe? Yes? And the hound it
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  Speaker 1: is dead. She gave a long sigh of satisfaction. Thank God,
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  Speaker 1: thank God, Oh, this villain. See how he has treated me.
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  Speaker 1: She shot her arms out from her sleeves, and we
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  Speaker 1: saw with horror that they were all mottled with bruises.
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  Speaker 1: But this is nothing, nothing. It is my mind and
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  Speaker 1: soul that he has tortured and defiled. I could endure it,
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  Speaker 1: all ill usage, solitude, a life of deception, everything, as
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  Speaker 1: long as I could still cling to the hope that
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  Speaker 1: I had his love. But now I know that in
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  Speaker 1: this also I have been his dupe and his tool.
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  Speaker 1: She broke into passionate sobbing as she spoke, You bear
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  Speaker 1: him no good will, madam, said Holmes. Tell us then
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  Speaker 1: where we shall find him? If you have ever aided
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  Speaker 1: him in evil. Help us now and so atone. There
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  Speaker 1: is but one place where he can have fled. She answered,
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  Speaker 1: There is an old tin mine on an island in
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the heart of the mire. It was there that he
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  Speaker 1: kept his hound, and there also he had made preparations
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: so that he might have a refuge. That is where
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  Speaker 1: he would fly. The fog bank lay like white wall
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  Speaker 1: against the wind. Holmes held the lamp towards it, see
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  Speaker 1: said he no one could find his way into the
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  Speaker 1: grimpen mire tonight. She laughed and clapped her hands. Her
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  Speaker 1: eyes and teeth gleamed with fierce merriment. He may find
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  Speaker 1: his way in, but never out, she cried, How can
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: he see the guiding wands? Tonight? We planted them together,
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  Speaker 1: he and I to mark the pathway through the mire. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: if I could only have plucked them out to day,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: then indeed you would have had him at your mercy.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: It was evident to us that all pursuit was in
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: vain until the fog had lifted. Meanwhile, we left Lestrade
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  Speaker 1: in possession of the house, while Holmes and I went
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  Speaker 1: back with the baronet to Baskerville Hall. The Story of
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the Stapletons could no longer be withheld from him. But
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: he took the blow bravely when he learned the truth
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  Speaker 1: about the woman whom he had loved. But the shock
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of the Knight's adventures had shattered his nerves, and before
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: morning he lay delirious in a high fever under the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: care of Doctor Mortimer. The two of them were destined
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: to travel together around the world before Sir Henry had
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: become once more the hale, hearty man that he had
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: been before he became master of that ill omened estate.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: And now I come rapidly to the conclusion of this
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: singular narrative, in which I have tried to make the
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: reader share those dark fears and vague surmises which clouded
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: our lives so long and ended in so tragic a manner.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: On the morning after the death of the Hound, the
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: fog had lifted, and we were guided by Missus Stapleton
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: to the point where they had found a pathway through
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the bog. It helped us to realize the horror of
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: this woman's life when we saw the eagerness and joy
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: with which she laid us on her husband's track. We
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: left her standing upon the thin a ninsular of firm,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: peaty soil, which tapered out into the widespread bog. From
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the end of it. A small wand planted here and
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: there showed where the path zigzagged from tuft to tuft
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: of rushes. Among those green scalmed pits and foul quagmires
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: which barred the way to the stranger. Rank reeds and lush,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: slimy water plants sent an odor of decay and a
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: heavy miasmatic vapor onto our faces, while a false step
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: plunged us more than once thigh deep into the dark,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: quivering mire, which shook for yards in soft undulations around
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: our feet. Its tenacious grip plucked at our heels as
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: we walked, and when we sank into it, it was
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: as if some malignant hand was tugging us down into
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: those obscene depths. So grim and purposeful was the clutch
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in which it held us. Once only we saw a
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: trace that some one had passed that perilous way before us,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: from amid a tuft of cotton grass which bore it
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: up out of the slime. Some dark thing was projecting.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Holmes sank to his waist as he stepped from the
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: path to seize it. And had we not been there
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: to drag him out, he could never have set his
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: foot upon firm land again. He held an old black
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: boot in the air. Meyer's Toronto was printed on the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: leather inside. It is worth a mud bath, said he.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: It is our friend, Sir Henry's missing boot, thrown there
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: by Stapleton in his flight. Exactly he retained it in
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: his hand after using it to set the hound upon
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the track. He fled when he knew the game was up,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: still clutching it, and he hurled it away. At this
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: point of his flight, we know at least that he
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: came so far in safety. But more than that we
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: were never destined to know. Though there was much which
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: we might surmise, there was no chance of finding footsteps
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: in the mayre, for the rising mud oozed swiftly in
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: upon them. But as we at last reached firmer ground
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: beyond the morass, we all looked eagerly for them, but
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: no slightest sign of them ever met our eyes. If
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the earth told a true story, then Stapleton never reached
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: that island of refuge towards which he struggled through the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: fog upon that last night, somewhere in the heart of
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the great grimpen mire. Down in the foul slime of
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the huge morass which had sucked him in. This cold
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and cruel hearted man is forever buried. Many traces we
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: found of him in the bog Girt island where he
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: had hid his savage ally huge driving wheel, and a shaft,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: half filled with rubbish showed the position of an abandoned mine.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Beside it were the crumbling remains of the cottages of
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the miners, driven away, no doubt by the foul reek
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: of the surrounding swamp. In one of these, a staple
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: and chain with a quantity of gnawed bones showed where
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the animal had been confined. A skeleton with a tangle
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: of brown hair adhering to it lay among the debris.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: A dog, said Holmes, by jove, a curly haired spaniel
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: or Mortimer will never see his pet again. Well, I
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: do not know that this place contains any secret which
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: we have not already fathomed. He could hide his hound,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: but he could not hush its voice, and hence came
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: those cries, which even in daylight were not pleasant to hear.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: On an emergent say, he could keep the hound in
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the outhouse at Merripitt. But it was always a risk,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and it was only on the Supreme Day, which he
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: regarded as the end of all his efforts, that he
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: dared do it. This paste in the tin is no
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: doubt the luminous mixture with which the creature was daubed.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: It was suggested, of course, by the story of the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: family hell Hound, and by the desire to frighten old
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Sir Charles to death. No wonder, the poor devil of
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: a convict ran and screamed, even as our friend did,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: and as we ourselves might have done, when he saw
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: such a creature bounding through the darkness of the moor
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: upon his track. It was a cunning device, for apart
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: from the chance of driving your victim to his death,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: what peasant would venture to inquire too closely into such
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: a creature should he get sight of it, as many
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: have done upon the moor. I said it in London, Watson,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: and I say it again now that never yet, if
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: we help to hunt down a more dangerous man than
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: he who is lying yonder. He swept his long arm
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: towards the huge mottled expanse of green splotched bog, which
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: stretched away until it merged into the russet slopes of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the moor,