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12 - Death on The Moor · Sherlock Holmes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir
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  Speaker 1: Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve, Death on the Moor. For a moment or two,
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  Speaker 1: I sat breathless, hardly able to believe my ears. Then
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  Speaker 1: my senses and my voice came back to me, while
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  Speaker 1: a crushing weight of responsibility seemed in an instant to
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  Speaker 1: be lifted from my soul. That cold, incisive, ironical voice
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  Speaker 1: could belong to but one man in all the world. Holmes,
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  Speaker 1: I cried, Holmes, come out, said he, and please be
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  Speaker 1: careful with the revolver. I stooped under the rude lintel,
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  Speaker 1: and there he sat upon a stone outside, his gray
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  Speaker 1: eyes dancing with amusement as they fell upon my astonished features.
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  Speaker 1: He was thin and worn, but clear and alert, his
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  Speaker 1: keen face bronzed by the sun and roughened by the wind.
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  Speaker 1: In his tweed suit and cloth cap, he looked like
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  Speaker 1: any other tourist upon the moor. And he had contrived,
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  Speaker 1: with that catlike love of personal cleanliness, which was one
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  Speaker 1: of his characteristics, that his chin should be as smooth
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  Speaker 1: and as linen, as perfect as if he were in
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  Speaker 1: Baker Street. I never was more glad to see any
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  Speaker 1: one in my life, said I as I wrung him
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  Speaker 1: by the hand, or more astonished. Eh well, I must
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  Speaker 1: confess to it. The surprise was not all on one side.
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  Speaker 1: I assure you. I had no idea that you had
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  Speaker 1: found my occasional retreat, still less that you were inside
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  Speaker 1: it until I was within twenty paces of the door.
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  Speaker 1: My footprint I presume no, Watson, I fear that I
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  Speaker 1: could not undertake to recognize your footprint amid all the
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  Speaker 1: footprints of the world. If you seriously desire to deceive me,
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  Speaker 1: you must change your tobacconist. For when I see the
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  Speaker 1: stub of a cigarette marked Bradley Oxford Street, I know
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  Speaker 1: that my friend Watson is in a neighborhood. You will
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  Speaker 1: see it there beside the path. You threw it down,
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  Speaker 1: no doubt at that supreme moment when you charged into
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  Speaker 1: the empty hut exactly I thought as much, and, knowing
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  Speaker 1: your admirable tenacity, I was convinced that you were sitting
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  Speaker 1: in ambush, a weapon within reach, waiting for the tenant
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  Speaker 1: to return. So you actually thought that I was the criminal.
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  Speaker 1: I did not know who you were but I was
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  Speaker 1: determined to find out, excellent Watson. And how did you
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  Speaker 1: localize me? You saw me perhaps on the night of
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  Speaker 1: the convict hunt, when I was so imprudent as to
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  Speaker 1: allow the moon to rise behind me. Yes, I saw
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  Speaker 1: you then, and have no doubt searched all the huts
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  Speaker 1: until you came to this one. No, your boy has
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  Speaker 1: been observed, and that gave me a guide where to look.
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  Speaker 1: The old gentleman with a telescope, no doubt I could
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  Speaker 1: not make it out when first I saw the light
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  Speaker 1: flashing upon the lens. He rose and peeped into the hut. Ha,
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  Speaker 1: I see that Cartwright has brought up some supplies. What's
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  Speaker 1: this paper? So you've been to Coombe Tracy? Have you
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  Speaker 1: yes to see missus Laura Lyons? Exactly well done. Our
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  Speaker 1: researches have evidently been running on parallel lines, and when
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  Speaker 1: we unite our results, I expect we shall have a
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  Speaker 1: fairly full knowledge of the case. Well, I'm glad from
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  Speaker 1: my heart that you are here, for indeed the responsibility
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  Speaker 1: and the mystery were both becoming too much for my nerves.
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  Speaker 1: But how in the name of wonder did you come here?
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  Speaker 1: And what have you been doing. I thought that you
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  Speaker 1: were in Baker Street working out that case of blackmailing.
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  Speaker 1: That was what I wished you to think. Then you
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  Speaker 1: use me and yet do not trust me. I cried
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  Speaker 1: with some bitterness. I think that I've deserved better at
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  Speaker 1: your hands homes, My dear fellow. You have been invaluable
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  Speaker 1: to me in this as in many other cases, and
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  Speaker 1: I beg that you will forgive me if I have
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  Speaker 1: seemed to play a trick upon you. In truth, it
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  Speaker 1: was partly for your own sake that I did it,
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  Speaker 1: and it was my appreciation of the danger which you
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  Speaker 1: ran which led me to come down and examine the
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  Speaker 1: matter for myself. Had I been with Sir Henry and you,
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  Speaker 1: it is confident that my point of view would have
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  Speaker 1: been the same as yours, and my presence would have
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  Speaker 1: warned our very formidable opponents to be on their guard.
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  Speaker 1: As it is, I have been able to get about
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  Speaker 1: as I could not possibly have done had I been
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  Speaker 1: living in the hall. And I remain an unknown factor
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  Speaker 1: in the business, ready to throw in all my weight
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  Speaker 1: at a critical moment. But why keep me in the
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  Speaker 1: dark for you to know could not have helped us
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  Speaker 1: and might possibly have led to my discovery. You would
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  Speaker 1: have wished to tell me something, or in your kindness,
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  Speaker 1: you would have brought me out some comfort or other,
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  Speaker 1: and so an unnecessary risk would be run. I brought
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  Speaker 1: Cartwright down with me. You remember the little chap at
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  Speaker 1: the express office, and he has seen after my simple
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  Speaker 1: once a loaf of bread and a clean collar. What
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  Speaker 1: does man want more? He has given me an extra
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  Speaker 1: pair of eyes upon a very active pair of feet,
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  Speaker 1: and both have been invaluable. Then my reports have all
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  Speaker 1: been wasted. My voice trembled as I recalled the pains
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  Speaker 1: and the pride with which I had composed them. Holmes
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  Speaker 1: took a bundle of papers from his pocket. Here are
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  Speaker 1: your reports, my dear fellow, and very well thumbed. I
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  Speaker 1: assure you I made excellent arrangements, and they were only
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  Speaker 1: delayed one day. Upon their way. I must compliment you
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  Speaker 1: exceedingly upon the zeal and the intelligence which you have
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  Speaker 1: shown over an extraordinarily difficult case. I was still rather
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  Speaker 1: raw over the deception which had been practiced upon me,
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  Speaker 1: but the warmth of Holmes's praise drove my anger from
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  Speaker 1: my mind. I felt also in my heart that he
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  Speaker 1: was right in what he had said, and that it
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  Speaker 1: was really best for our purpose that I should not
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  Speaker 1: have known that he was upon the moor. That's better,
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  Speaker 1: said he, seeing the shadow rise from my face. And
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  Speaker 1: now tell me the result of your visit to missus
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  Speaker 1: Laura Lyons. It was not difficult for me to guess
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  Speaker 1: that it was to see her that you had gone,
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  Speaker 1: for I am already aware that she is the one
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  Speaker 1: person in Coombe Tracy who might be of service to
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  Speaker 1: us in the matter. In fact, if you had not
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  Speaker 1: gone to day, it is exceedingly probable that I should
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  Speaker 1: have gone to morrow. The sun had set and dusk
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  Speaker 1: was settling over the moor. The air had turned chill,
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  Speaker 1: and we withdrew into the hut for warmth. There, sitting
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  Speaker 1: together in the twilight, I told Holmes of my conversation
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  Speaker 1: with the lady. So interested was he that I had
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  Speaker 1: to repeat some of it twice before he was satisfied.
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  Speaker 1: This is most important, said he, when I had concluded.
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  Speaker 1: It fills up a gap which I had been unable
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  Speaker 1: to bridge in this most complex affair. You are aware,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps that a close intimacy exists between this lady and
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  Speaker 1: the man Stapleton. I did not know of a close intimacy.
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  Speaker 1: There can be no doubt about the matter. They meet,
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  Speaker 1: they write, there is a complete understanding between them. Now
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  Speaker 1: this puts a very powerful weapon into our hands, if
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  Speaker 1: I could only use it to detach his wife his wife.
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  Speaker 1: I am giving you some information now in return for
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  Speaker 1: all that you have given me. The lady who has
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  Speaker 1: passed here as miss Stapleton, is in reality his wife.
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  Speaker 1: Good Heavens, Holmes, are you sure of what you say?
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  Speaker 1: How could he have permitted Sir Henry to fall in
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  Speaker 1: love with her? Sir Henry's falling in love could do
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  Speaker 1: no harm to any one except Sir Henry. He took
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  Speaker 1: particular care that Sir Henry did not make love to her,
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  Speaker 1: as you of yourself observed. I repeat that the lady
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  Speaker 1: is his wife and not his sister. But why this
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  Speaker 1: elaborate deception? Because he foresaw that she would be very
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  Speaker 1: much more useful to him in the character of a
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  Speaker 1: free woman. All my unspoken instincts, my vague suspicions, suddenly
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  Speaker 1: took shape and centered upon the naturalist. In that impassive,
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  Speaker 1: colorless man with his straw hat and his butterfly net,
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  Speaker 1: I seemed to see something terrible, a creature of infinite
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  Speaker 1: patience and craft, with a smiling face and a murderous heart.
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  Speaker 1: It is he, then, who is our enemy. It is
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  Speaker 1: he who dogged us in London. So I read the
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  Speaker 1: riddle and the warning. It must have come from her,
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  Speaker 1: exactly the shape of some monstrous villany, half seen, half guessed,
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  Speaker 1: loomed through the darkness which had girt me so long.
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  Speaker 1: But are you sure of this, Holmes? How do you
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  Speaker 1: know that the woman is his wife? Because he so
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  Speaker 1: far forgot himself as to tell you a true piece
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  Speaker 1: of autobiography upon the occasion when he first met you,
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  Speaker 1: and I dare say he has many a time regretted it.
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  Speaker 1: Since he was once a schoolmaster in the north of England.
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  Speaker 1: Now there is no one more easy to trace than
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  Speaker 1: a schoolmaster. There are scholastic agencies by which one may
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  Speaker 1: identify any man who has been in the profession. A
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  Speaker 1: little investigation showed me that a school had come to
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  Speaker 1: grief under atrocious circumstances, and that the man who had
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  Speaker 1: owned it the name was different, had disappeared with his wife.
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  Speaker 1: The descriptions agreed when I learned that the missing man
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  Speaker 1: was devoted to entomology. The identification was complete, the darkness rising,
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  Speaker 1: but much was still hidden by the shadows. If this
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  Speaker 1: woman is, in truth his wife, where does missus Laura
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  Speaker 1: Lyons come in? I asked? That is one of the
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  Speaker 1: points upon which your own researches have shed a light.
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  Speaker 1: Your interview with a lady has cleared the situation very much.
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  Speaker 1: I did not know about a projected divorce between herself
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  Speaker 1: and her husband. In that case, regarding Stapleton as an
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  Speaker 1: unmarried man, she counted no doubt upon becoming his wife.
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  Speaker 1: And when she is undeceived, why then we may find
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  Speaker 1: the lady of service. It must be our first duty
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  Speaker 1: to see her, both of us to morrow. Don't you think, Watson,
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  Speaker 1: that you are away from your charge rather long? Your
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  Speaker 1: place should be at Baskerville Hall. The last red streaks
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  Speaker 1: had faded away in the west, and night had settled
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  Speaker 1: upon the moor. A few faint stars were gleaming in
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  Speaker 1: a violet sky. One last question, Holmes, I said, as
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  Speaker 1: I rose, surely there's no need of secrecy between you
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  Speaker 1: and me. What is the meaning of it all? What
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  Speaker 1: is he after? Holmes's voice sank as he answered, it
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  Speaker 1: is murder. Watson refined, cold blooded, deliberate murder. Do not
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  Speaker 1: ask me for particulars. My nets are closing upon him,
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  Speaker 1: even as his are upon Sir Henry, and with your
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  Speaker 1: help he is already almost at my mercy. There is
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  Speaker 1: but one danger which can threaten us. It is that
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  Speaker 1: he should strike before we are ready to do so.
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  Speaker 1: Another day, two at the most, and I have my
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  Speaker 1: case complete. But until then, guard your charge as closely
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  Speaker 1: as ever a fond mother watched her ailing child. Your
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  Speaker 1: mission to day has justified itself, And yet I could
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  Speaker 1: almost wish that he had not left his side. Hark.
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  Speaker 1: A terrible scream, a prolonged yell of horror and anguish,
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  Speaker 1: burst out of the silence of the moor. That frightful
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  Speaker 1: cry turned the blood to ice in my veins. Oh
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  Speaker 1: my god, I gasped, what is it? What does it mean?
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  Speaker 1: Holmes had sprung to his feet, and I saw his
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  Speaker 1: dark athletic outline at the door of the hut, his
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  Speaker 1: shoulders stooping, his head thrust forward, his face peering into
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  Speaker 1: the darkness. Hush, he whispered, Hush. The cry had been
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  Speaker 1: loud on account of its vehemence, but it had peeled
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  Speaker 1: out from somewhere far off on the shadowy plain. Now
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  Speaker 1: it burst upon our ears, nearer, louder, more urgent than before.
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  Speaker 1: Where is it? Holmes whispered, and I knew from the
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  Speaker 1: thrill of his voice that he, the man of Iron,
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  Speaker 1: was shaken to the soul. Where is it, Watson? There,
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  Speaker 1: I think, I pointed into the darkness. No. There again,
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  Speaker 1: the agonized cry swept through the silent night, louder and
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  Speaker 1: much nearer than ever, and a new sound mingled with it,
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  Speaker 1: a deep, muttered rumble, musical and yet menacing, rising and
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  Speaker 1: falling like the low, constant murmur of the sea. The
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  Speaker 1: hound cried, Holmes, come, Watson, Come, great heavens, if we
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  Speaker 1: are too late. He had started running swiftly over the moor,
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  Speaker 1: and I had followed at his heels. But now, from
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  Speaker 1: somewhere among the broken ground, immediately in front of us,
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  Speaker 1: there came one last, despairing yell, and then a dull,
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  Speaker 1: heavy thud. We halted and listened. Not another sound broke
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  Speaker 1: the heavy silence of the windless night. I saw Holmes
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  Speaker 1: put his hand to his forehead, like a man distracted.
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  Speaker 1: He stamped his feet upon the ground. He has beaten us,
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  Speaker 1: Watson we are too late. No, no, surely not fool
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  Speaker 1: that I was to hold my hand, and you, Watson,
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  Speaker 1: see what comes of abandoning your charge. But by Heaven,
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  Speaker 1: if the worst has happened, we'll avenge him. Blindly we
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  Speaker 1: ran through the gloom, blundering against boulders, forcing our way
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  Speaker 1: through gorse bushes, panting up hills, and rushing down slopes,
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  Speaker 1: heading always in the direction whence those dreadful sounds had
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  Speaker 1: come at every rise. Holmes looked eagerly around him, But
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  Speaker 1: the shadows were thick upon the moor, and nothing moved
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  Speaker 1: upon its dreary face. Can you see anything? Nothing but hark?
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  Speaker 1: What is that? A low moan had fallen upon our ears?
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  Speaker 1: There it was again upon our left. On that side
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  Speaker 1: a ridge of rocks ended in a sheer cliff, which
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  Speaker 1: overlooked the stone strewn slope. On its jagged face was
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  Speaker 1: spread eagled some dark, irregular object. As we ran towards it,
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  Speaker 1: the vague outline hardened into a definite shape. It was
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  Speaker 1: a prostrate man, face downward upon the ground, The head
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  Speaker 1: doubled under him at a horrible angle, the shoulders rounded,
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  Speaker 1: and the body hunched together, as if in the act
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  Speaker 1: of throwing a somersault. So grotesque was the attitude that
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  Speaker 1: I could not, for the instant realize that that moan
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  Speaker 1: had been the passing of his soul. Not a whisper,
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  Speaker 1: not a rustle, rose now from the dark figure over
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  Speaker 1: which we stooped. Holmes laid his hand upon him, and
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  Speaker 1: held it up again with an exclamation of horror. The
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  Speaker 1: gleam of the match which he struck shone upon his
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  Speaker 1: clotted fingers, and upon the ghastly pool which widened slowly
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  Speaker 1: from the crushed skull of the victim. And it shone
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  Speaker 1: upon something else which turned our heart sick and faint
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  Speaker 1: within us, the body of Sir Henry Baskerville. There was
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  Speaker 1: no chance of either of us forgetting that peculiar ruddy
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  Speaker 1: tweed suit, the very one which he had worn on
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  Speaker 1: the first morning that we had seen him in Baker Street.
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  Speaker 1: We caught the one clear glimpse of it. And then
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  Speaker 1: the match flickered and went out, even as the hope
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  Speaker 1: had gone out of our souls. Homes groaned, and his
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  Speaker 1: face glimmered white through the darkness. The brute, the brute,
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  Speaker 1: I cried, with clenched hands, Oh Holmes, I shall never
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  Speaker 1: forgive myself for having left him to his fate. I
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  Speaker 1: am more to blame than you, Watson. In order to
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  Speaker 1: have my case well rounded and complete, I have thrown
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  Speaker 1: away the life of my client. It is the greatest
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  Speaker 1: blow which has befallen me in my career. But how
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  Speaker 1: could I know? How could I know that he would
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  Speaker 1: risk his life alone upon the moor, in the face
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  Speaker 1: of all my warnings, that we should have heard the screams,
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  Speaker 1: My God, those screams, and yet have been unable to
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  Speaker 1: save him. Where is this brute of a hound which
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  Speaker 1: drove him to his death? It may be lurking among
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  Speaker 1: those rocks at this instant, and Stapleton, where is he?
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  Speaker 1: He shall answer for this deed, he shall. I will
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  Speaker 1: see to that uncle and nephew have been murdered, the
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  Speaker 1: one frightened to death by the very sight of a
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  Speaker 1: beast which he thought to be supernatural, the other driven
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  Speaker 1: to his end in this wild flight to escape from it.
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  Speaker 1: But now we have to prove the connection between the
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  Speaker 1: man and the beast. Save from what we heard, we
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  Speaker 1: cannot even swear to the existence of the latter. Since
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  Speaker 1: Sir Henry has evidently died from the fall. But by Heavens,
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  Speaker 1: cunning as he is, the Fellow shall be in my
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  Speaker 1: power before another day is passed. We stood with bitter
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  Speaker 1: hearts on either side of the mangled body, overwhelmed by
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  Speaker 1: this sudden and irrevocable disaster which had brought all our
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: long and weary labors to so piteous an end. Then
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  Speaker 1: as the moon rose, we climbed to the top of
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  Speaker 1: the rocks over which are our poor friend had fallen.
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  Speaker 1: And from the summit we gazed out over the shadowy moor,
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  Speaker 1: half silver and half gloom. Far away, miles off in
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  Speaker 1: the direction of Grimpen, a single, steady yellow light was shining.
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  Speaker 1: It can only come from the lonely abode of the Stapletons.
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  Speaker 1: With a bitter curse, I shook my fist at it
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  Speaker 1: as I gazed. Why should we not seize him at once?
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  Speaker 1: Our case is not complete. The Fellow is wary and
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  Speaker 1: cunning to the last degree. It is not what we know,
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  Speaker 1: but what we can prove. If we make one false move,
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  Speaker 1: the villain may escape us. Yet what can we do?
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  Speaker 1: There will be plenty for us to do to morrow
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  Speaker 1: to night. We can only perform the last offices to
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  Speaker 1: our poor friend. Together we made our way down the
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  Speaker 1: precipitous slope and approached the body, black and clear against
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  Speaker 1: the silvered stones. The aggy of those contorted limbs struck
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  Speaker 1: me with a spasm of pain and blurred my eyes
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  Speaker 1: with tears. We must send for help, Holmes. We cannot
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  Speaker 1: carry him all the way to the hall. Good heavens,
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  Speaker 1: are you mad? He had uttered a cry and bent
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  Speaker 1: over the body. Now he was dancing and laughing and
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  Speaker 1: wringing my hand. Could this be my stern self contained friend?
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  Speaker 1: These were hidden fires? Indeed, a beard a beard. The
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  Speaker 1: man has a beard, a beard. It is not the baronet.
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  Speaker 1: It is why it is my neighbor, the convict. With
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  Speaker 1: feverish haste, we had turned the body over, and that
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  Speaker 1: dripping beard was pointing up to the cold, clear moon.
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  Speaker 1: There could be no doubt about the beatling forehead, the
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  Speaker 1: sunken animal eyes. It was indeed the same face which
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  Speaker 1: had glared upon me in the light of the candle
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  Speaker 1: from over the rock, the face of Selden the criminal.
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  Speaker 1: Then in an instant it was all clear to me.
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  Speaker 1: I remembered how the baronet had told me that he
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: had handed his old wardrobe to Barrymore. Barrymore had passed
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  Speaker 1: it on in order to help Selden in his escape. Boots,
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  Speaker 1: shirt cap It was all Sir Henry's. The tragedy was
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  Speaker 1: still black enough, but this man had at least deserved
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: death by the laws of his country. I told Holmes
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: how the matter stood, my heart bubbling over with thankfulness
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: and joy. Then the clothes have been the poor devil's death,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: said he. It is clear enough that the hound has
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: been laid on from some article of Sir Henry's, the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: boot which was abstracted in the hotel in all probability,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and so ran this man down. There is one very
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: singular thing, however, how came Selden, in the darkness to
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: know that the hound was on his trail? He heard him?
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: To hear a hound upon the moor would not work
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: a hard man like this convict into such a paroxysm
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: of terror that he would risk recapture by screaming wildly
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: for help. By his cries, he must have run a
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: long way after he knew the animal was on his track?
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: How did he know? A greater mystery to me is
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: why this hound? Presuming that all our conjectures are correct,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I presume nothing. Well, then, why this hound should be
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: loose tonight? I suppose that it does not always run
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: loose upon the moor. Stapleton would not let it go
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: unless he had reason to think that Sir Henry would
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: be there. My difficulty is the more formidable of the two,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: for I think that we shall very shortly get an
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: explanation of yours, while mine may remain forever a mystery.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: The question now is what shall we do with this
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: poor wretch's body. We cannot leave it here to the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: foxes and the ravens. I suggest that we put it
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: in one of the h until we can communicate with
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the police exactly. I have no doubt that you and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I could carry it so far. Hullo, Watson, what's this?
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: It's the man himself, by all that's wonderful and audacious.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Not a word to show your suspicions. Not a word,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: or my plans crumbled to the ground. A figure was
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: approaching us over the moor, and I saw the dull
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: red glow of a cigar. The moon shone upon him,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: and I could distinguish the dapper shape and jaunty walk
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: of the naturalist. He stopped when he saw us, and
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: then came on again. Why, doctor Watson, that's not you,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: is it? You are the last man that I should
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: have expected to see out on the moor at this
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: time of night. But dear me, what's this? Somebody hurt? Not?
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Don't tell me that it is our friend, Sir Henry.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: He hurried past me and stooped over the dead man.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I heard a shot intake of his breath, and the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: cigar fell from his fingers. Who Who's this? He stammered,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: It is seldom the man who escaped from Princetown. Stapleton
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: turned a ghastly face upon us, but by a supreme
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: effort he had overcome his amazement and his disappointment. He
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: looked sharply from Holmes to me. Dear me, what a
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: very shocking affair. How did he die? He appears to
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: have broken his neck by falling over these rocks. My
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: friend and I were strolling on the moor when we
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: heard a cry. I heard a cry also. That was
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: what brought me out. I was uneasy about Sir Henry.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Why about Sir Henry in particular? I could not help
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: asking because I had suggested that he should come over
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: when he did not come. I was surprised, and I
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: naturally became alarmed for his safety when I heard cries
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: upon the moor by the way, his eyes darted again
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: from my face to Holmes's. Did you hear anything else
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: besides a cry? No? Said Holmes? Did you no? What
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: do you mean? Then? Oh? You know? The story is
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: that the peasants tell about a phantom hound and so on.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: It is said to be heard at night upon the moor.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I was wondering if there were any evidence of such
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: a sound to night. We heard nothing of the kind,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: said I. And what is your theory of this poor
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: fellow's death? I have no doubt that anxiety and exposure
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: have driven him off his head. He has rushed about
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the moor in a crazy state, and eventually fallen over
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: here and broken his neck. That seems the most reasonable theory,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: said Stapleton, and he gave a sigh, which I took
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: to indicate his relief. What do you think about it,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: mister Sherlock Holmes, My friend bowed his compliments. You are
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: quick at identification, said he. We have been expecting you
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: in these parts since doctor Watson came down. You are
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: in time to see a tragedy. Yes, indeed, I have
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: no doubt that my friend's explanation will cover the facts.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: I will take an unpleasant remembrance back to London with
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: me to morrow. Oh, you return to morrow, that is
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: my intention. I hope your visit has cast some light
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: upon these occurrences which have puzzled us. Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: One cannot always have the success for which one hopes.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: An investigator needs facts and not legends or rumors. It
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: has not been a satisfactory case, my friend spoke in
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: his frankest and most unconcerned manner. Stapleton still looked hard
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: at him. Then he turned to me. I would suggest
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: carrying this poor fellow to my house, but it would
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: give my sister such a fright that I do not
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: feel justified in doing it. I think that if we
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: put some umpthing over his face, he will be safe
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: until morning, and so it was arranged. Resisting Stapleton's offer
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: of hospitality, Holmes and I set off to Baskerville Hall,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: leaving the naturalist to return alone. Looking back, we saw
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the figure moving slowly away over the broad moor, and
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: behind him that one black smudge on the silvered slope.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Which showed where the man was lying who had come
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: so horribly to his end. End of chapter twelve,