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Chapter 3 The Problem from THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVI · Sherlock Holmes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three, The Problem. I confess that these words a
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  Speaker 1: shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the
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  Speaker 1: doctor's voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved
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  Speaker 1: by that which she told us. Holmes leaned forward in
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  Speaker 1: his excitement, and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter
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  Speaker 1: which shot from them when he was keenly interested. You
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  Speaker 1: saw this as clearly as I see you, and you
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  Speaker 1: said nothing. What was the use? How was it that
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  Speaker 1: no one else saw it? The marks were some twenty
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  Speaker 1: yards from the body, and no one gave them a thought.
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  Speaker 1: I don't suppose I should have done so had I
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  Speaker 1: not known this legend. There are many sheep dogs on
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  Speaker 1: the moor, no doubt, But this was no sheep dog.
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  Speaker 1: You say it was large, enormous, but it had not
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  Speaker 1: approached the body. No. What sort of night was it?
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  Speaker 1: Damp and raw but not actually raining? No? What is
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  Speaker 1: the alley like? There are two lines of old ue hedge,
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  Speaker 1: twelve feet high and impenetrable. The walk in the center
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  Speaker 1: is about eight feet across. Is there anything between the
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  Speaker 1: hedges and the walk? Yes, there is a strip of
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  Speaker 1: grass about six feet broad on either side. I understand
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  Speaker 1: that the U hedge is penetrated at one point by
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  Speaker 1: a gate, Yes, the wicker gate, which leads onto the moor.
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  Speaker 1: Is there any other opening? None, So that to reach
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  Speaker 1: the u alley one either has to come down it
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  Speaker 1: from the house, or else to enter it by the
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  Speaker 1: moor gate. There is an exit through a summer house
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  Speaker 1: at the far end. Had Sir Charles reached this No,
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  Speaker 1: he lay about fifty yards from it. Now tell me,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Mortimer, And this is important. The marks which you
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  Speaker 1: saw were on the path and not on the grass.
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  Speaker 1: No marks could show on the grass. Were they on
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  Speaker 1: the same side of the path as the moor gate? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: they were on the edge of the path, on the
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  Speaker 1: same side as the moor gate. You interest me exceedingly.
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  Speaker 1: Another point, whilst the wicked gate closed, closed and padlocked,
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  Speaker 1: how high was it about four feet high? Then any
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  Speaker 1: one could have got over it? Yes? And what marks
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  Speaker 1: did you see by the wicked gate? None? In particular,
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  Speaker 1: good heaven did no one examine? Yes? I examined myself
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  Speaker 1: and found nothing. It was all very confused. Sir Charles
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  Speaker 1: had evidently stood there for five or ten minutes. How
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  Speaker 1: do you know that? Because the ash had twice dropped
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  Speaker 1: from his cigar. Excellent, this is a colleague Watson after
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  Speaker 1: our own heart. But the marks he had left his
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  Speaker 1: own marks all over that small patch of gravel I
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  Speaker 1: could discern no others. Sherlock Holmes struck his hand against
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  Speaker 1: his knee with an impatient gesture. If I had only
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  Speaker 1: been there, he cried. It is evidently a case of
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary interest, and one which presented immense opportunities to the
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  Speaker 1: scientific expert. That gravel page upon which I might have
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  Speaker 1: read so much has been long ere, this smudged by
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  Speaker 1: the rain and defaced by the clogs of curious peasants. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Mortimer, Doctor Mortimer, to think that you should not
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  Speaker 1: have called me in, you have indeed much to answer for.
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  Speaker 1: I could not call you in, mister Holmes, without disclosing
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  Speaker 1: these facts to the world, and I have already given
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  Speaker 1: my reasons for not wishing to do so. Besides, besides,
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  Speaker 1: why do you hesitate? There is a realm in which
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  Speaker 1: the most acute and most experienced of detectives is helpless.
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  Speaker 1: You mean that the thing is supernatural? I did not
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  Speaker 1: positively say so, no, but you evidently think it. Since
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  Speaker 1: the tragedy, mister Holmes, there have come to my ears
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  Speaker 1: several incidents which are hard to reconcile with the settled
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  Speaker 1: order of nature. For example, I find that before the
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  Speaker 1: terrible event occurred, several people had seen a creature upon
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  Speaker 1: the moor which corresponds with this Baskerville demon, and which
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  Speaker 1: could not possibly be any animal known to science. They
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  Speaker 1: all agreed that it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly,
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  Speaker 1: and spectral. I have cross examined these men, one of
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  Speaker 1: them a hard headed countrymen, one a farrier, and one
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  Speaker 1: a Moorland farmer, who all tell the same story of
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  Speaker 1: this dreadful apparition, exactly corresponding to the hell hound of
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  Speaker 1: the legend. I assure you that there is a reign
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  Speaker 1: of terror in the district, and that it is a
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  Speaker 1: hardy man who will cross the moor at night, and you,
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  Speaker 1: a trained man of science, believe it to be supernatural.
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  Speaker 1: I do not know what to believe. Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
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  Speaker 1: I have hitherto confined my investigations to this world, said he,
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  Speaker 1: In a modest way. I have combated evil, but to
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  Speaker 1: take on the father of evil himself would perhaps be
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  Speaker 1: too ambitious a task. Yet you must admit that the
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  Speaker 1: footmark is material. The original hound was material enough to
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  Speaker 1: tug a man's throat out, and yet he was diabolical
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  Speaker 1: as well. I see that you have quite gone over
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  Speaker 1: to the supernaturalists. But now, Doctor Mortimer, tell me this.
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  Speaker 1: If you hold these views, why have you come to
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  Speaker 1: consult me at all? You tell me in the same
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  Speaker 1: breath that it is useless to investigate Sir Charles's death,
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  Speaker 1: and that you desire me to do it. I did
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  Speaker 1: not say that I desired you to do it. Then
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  Speaker 1: how can I assist you by advising me as to
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  Speaker 1: what I should do with Sir Henry Baskerville who arrives
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  Speaker 1: at Waterloo Station. Doctor Mortimer looked at his watch in
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  Speaker 1: exactly one hour and a quarter, he being the heir
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  Speaker 1: Yes on the death of Sir Charles. We inquired for
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  Speaker 1: this young gentleman and found that he had been farming
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  Speaker 1: in Canada. From the accounts which have reached us, he
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  Speaker 1: is an excellent fellow in every way. I speak now
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  Speaker 1: not as a medical man, but as a trustee and
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  Speaker 1: executor of Sir Charles's wind. There is no other claimant,
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  Speaker 1: I presume none. The only other kinsman whom we have
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  Speaker 1: been able to trace was Roger Baskerville, the youngest of
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  Speaker 1: three brothers, of whom poor Sir Charles was the elder.
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  Speaker 1: The second brother, who died young, is the father of
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  Speaker 1: this lad Henry. The third Roger was the black sheep
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  Speaker 1: of the family. He came of the old masterful Baskerville strain,
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  Speaker 1: and was the very image they tell me of the
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  Speaker 1: family picture of old Hugo. He made England too hot
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  Speaker 1: to hold him, fled to Central America and died there
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy six of yellow fever. Henry is the
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  Speaker 1: last of the Baskervilles. In one hour and five minutes
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  Speaker 1: I meet him at Waterloo Station. I have had a
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  Speaker 1: wire that he arrived at Southampton this morning. Now, mister Holmes,
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  Speaker 1: what would you advise me to do with him? Why
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  Speaker 1: should he not go to the home of his father's
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  Speaker 1: It seems natural, does it not? And yet, cosider that
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  Speaker 1: every Baskerville who goes there meets with an evil fate.
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  Speaker 1: I feel sure that if Sir Charles could have spoken
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  Speaker 1: with me before his death, he would have warned me
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  Speaker 1: against bringing this, the last of the old race and
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  Speaker 1: the heir to great wealth, to that deadly place. And
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  Speaker 1: yet it cannot be denied that the prosperity of the whole,
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  Speaker 1: poor bleak countryside depends upon his presence. All the good
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  Speaker 1: work which has been done by Sir Charles will crash
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  Speaker 1: to the ground if there is no tenant of the hall.
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  Speaker 1: I fear lest I should be swayed too much by
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  Speaker 1: my own obvious interest in the matter, And that is
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  Speaker 1: why I bring the case before you and ask for
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  Speaker 1: your advice. Holmes, considered for a little time, put into
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  Speaker 1: plain words the matter is this, said he in your opinion,
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  Speaker 1: there is a diabolical agency which makes dart More an
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  Speaker 1: unsafe abode for a Baskerville. That is your opinion. At
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  Speaker 1: least I might go the length of saying that there
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  Speaker 1: is evidence that this may be so exactly, but truly,
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  Speaker 1: if your supernatural theory be correct, it could work the
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  Speaker 1: young man evil in London as easily as in Devonshire.
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  Speaker 1: A devil with merely local powers like a parish vestry
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  Speaker 1: would be too inconceivable a thing. You put the matter
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  Speaker 1: more flippantly, mister Holmes, than you would probably do if
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  Speaker 1: you were brought into personal contact with these things. Your advice, then,
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  Speaker 1: as I understand, it, is that the young man will
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  Speaker 1: be as safe in Devonshire as in London. He comes
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  Speaker 1: in fifty minutes. What would you recommend? I recommend, sir,
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  Speaker 1: that you take a cab, call off your spaniel who
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  Speaker 1: is scratching at my front door, and proceed to Waterloo
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  Speaker 1: to meet Sir Henry Baskerville. And then and then you
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  Speaker 1: will say nothing to him at all until I have
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  Speaker 1: made up my mind about the matter. How long will
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  Speaker 1: it take you to make up your mind? Twenty four
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  Speaker 1: hours at ten o'clock tomorrow, doctor Mortimer. I would be
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  Speaker 1: much obliged to you if you will call upon me,
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  Speaker 1: and it will be of help to me in my
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  Speaker 1: plans for the future. If you will bring Sir Henry
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  Speaker 1: Baskerville with you, I will do so, mister Holmes. He
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  Speaker 1: scribbled the appointment on his shirtcuff and hurried off in
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  Speaker 1: his strange, peering, absent minded fashion. Holmes stopped him at
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  Speaker 1: the head of the stair. Only one more question, doctor Mortimer.
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  Speaker 1: You say that before doctor Charles Baskerville's death several people
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  Speaker 1: saw this apparition upon the moor? Three people did? Did
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  Speaker 1: any see it? After? I have not heard of any?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, good morning. Holmes returned to his seat with
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  Speaker 1: that quiet look of inward satisfaction, which meant that he
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  Speaker 1: had a congenial task before him going out. Watson, unless
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  Speaker 1: I can help you, no, my dear fellow. It is
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  Speaker 1: at the hour of action that I turn to you
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  Speaker 1: for aid. But this is splendid, really unique from some
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  Speaker 1: points of view. When you pass Bradley's, would you ask
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  Speaker 1: him to send up a pound of the strongest shag tobacco?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. It would be as well if you could
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  Speaker 1: make it convenient not to return before evening. Then I
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  Speaker 1: should be very glad to compare impressions as to this
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  Speaker 1: most interesting problem which has been submitted to us this morning.
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  Speaker 1: I knew that seclusion and solitude were very necessary for
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  Speaker 1: my friend in those hours of intense mental concentration, during
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  Speaker 1: which he weighed every particle of evidence, constructed alternative theories,
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  Speaker 1: balanced one against the other, and made up his mind
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  Speaker 1: as to which points were essential and which immaterial. I
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  Speaker 1: therefore spent the day at my club and did not
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  Speaker 1: return to Baker Street until evening. It was nearly nine
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  Speaker 1: o'clock when I found myself in the sitting room once more.
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  Speaker 1: My first impression as I opened the door was that
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  Speaker 1: a fire had broken out, for the room was so
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  Speaker 1: filled with smoke that the light of the lamp upon
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  Speaker 1: the table was blurred by it. As I entered, however,
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  Speaker 1: my fears were set at rest, for it was the
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  Speaker 1: acrid fumes of strong, coarse tobacco which took me by
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  Speaker 1: the throat and set me coughing through the haze. I
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  Speaker 1: had a vague vision of homes in his dressing gown,
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  Speaker 1: coiled up in an arm chair with his black clay
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  Speaker 1: pipe between his lips. Several rolls of paper lay around him.
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  Speaker 1: Caught cold, Watson said he no, it's this poisonous atmosphere.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose it is pretty thick. Now that you mention
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  Speaker 1: it thick, it is intolerable. Open the window. Then you've
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  Speaker 1: been at your club all day, I perceive mightier Holmes
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  Speaker 1: am I right, certainly, But how he laughed at my
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  Speaker 1: bewildered expression. There is a delightful freshness about you, Watson,
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  Speaker 1: which makes it a pleasure to exercise any small powers
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  Speaker 1: which I possess at your expense. A gentleman goes forth
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  Speaker 1: on a showery and miry day. He returns immaculate in
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  Speaker 1: the evening, with the gloss still on his hat and
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  Speaker 1: his boots. He has been a fixture. Therefore all day
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  Speaker 1: he is not a man with intimate friends. Where then
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  Speaker 1: could he have been? Is it not obvious? Well, it
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  Speaker 1: is rather obvious. The world is full of obvious things
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  Speaker 1: which nobody, by any chance ever observes. Where do you
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  Speaker 1: think that I have been a fixture? Also, on the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: I have been to Devonshire in spirit exactly. My body
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  Speaker 1: has remained in this armchair, and has I regret to
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  Speaker 1: observe consumed in my absence two large pots of coffee
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  Speaker 1: and an incredible amount of tobacco. After you left, I
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  Speaker 1: sent down to Stamford's for the Ordnance map of this
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  Speaker 1: portion of the moor, and my spirit has hovered over
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  Speaker 1: it all day. I flatter myself that I could find
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  Speaker 1: my way about a large scale map, I presume very large.
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  Speaker 1: He unrolled one section and held it over his knee.
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  Speaker 1: Here you have the particular district which concerns us. That
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  Speaker 1: is Baskerville Hall in the middle, with a wood round it. Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: I fancy the u Alley, though not marked under that name,
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  Speaker 1: must stretch along this line with the moor, as you
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  Speaker 1: perceive upon the right of it. This small clump of buildings.
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  Speaker 1: Here is the hamlet of Grimpen, where our friend doctor
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  Speaker 1: Mortimer has his headquarters. Within a radius of five miles,
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  Speaker 1: there are, as you see, only a very few scattered dwellings.
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  Speaker 1: Here is Laughter Hall, which was mentioned in the narrative.
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  Speaker 1: There is a house indicated here which may be the
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  Speaker 1: residence of the naturalist Stapleton, if I remember right was
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  Speaker 1: his name. Here are two Moorland farmhouses, high Tor and
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  Speaker 1: fowl Meyer. Then, fourteen miles away the great convict prison
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  Speaker 1: of Princetown. Between and around these scattered points extends the desolate,
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  Speaker 1: lifeless more. This, then, is the stage upon which tragedy
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  Speaker 1: has been played, and upon which we may help to
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  Speaker 1: play it again. It must be a wild place, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: the setting is a worthy one. If the devil did
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  Speaker 1: desire to have a hand in the affairs of men,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: then you are yourself inclining to the supernatural explanation. The
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  Speaker 1: devil's agents may be of flesh and blood, may there not.
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  Speaker 1: There are two questions waiting for us at the outset.
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  Speaker 1: The one is whether any crime has been committed at all.
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  Speaker 1: The second is what is the crime and how is
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  Speaker 1: it committed? Of course, if doctor Mortimer's surmise should be correct,
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  Speaker 1: and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws
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  Speaker 1: of nature. There is an end of our investigation, but
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  Speaker 1: we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling
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  Speaker 1: back upon this one. I think we'll shut that window
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  Speaker 1: again if you don't mind. It is a singular thing,
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  Speaker 1: but I find that a concentrated atmosphere helps a concentration
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  Speaker 1: of thought. I have not pushed it to the length
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  Speaker 1: of getting into a box to think, but that is
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  Speaker 1: the logical outcome of my convictions. Have you turned the
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  Speaker 1: case over in your mind? Yes, I have thought a
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: good deal of it in the course of the day.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of it? It is very bewildering.
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  Speaker 1: It has certainly a character of its own. There are
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  Speaker 1: points of distinction about it that change in the footprints.
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  Speaker 1: For example, what do you make of that? Mortimer said
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  Speaker 1: that the man had walked on tiptoe down that portion
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  Speaker 1: of the alley. He only repeated what some fool had
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  Speaker 1: said at the inquest why should a man walk on
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  Speaker 1: tiptoe down the alley? What? Then? He was running? Watson running, desperately,
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  Speaker 1: running for his life, running until he burst his heart
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  Speaker 1: and fell dead upon his face running from what there
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: lies our problem. There are indications that the man was
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: crazed with fear before ever he began to run. How
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  Speaker 1: can you say that? I am presuming that the cause
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: of his fears came to him across the moor. If
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: that were so, and it seems most probable, only a
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: man who had lost his wits would have run from
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the house instead of towards it. If the Gipsy's evidence
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  Speaker 1: may be taken as true, he ran with cries for
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: help in the direction where help was least likely to be.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Then again, whom was he waiting for that night? And
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: why was he waiting for him in the yew alley
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  Speaker 1: rather than in his own home? You think that he
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: was waiting for someone. The man was elderly and infirm.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: We can understand his taking an evening stroll. But the
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  Speaker 1: ground was damp and the night in clement. Is it
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  Speaker 1: natural that he should stand for five or ten minutes?
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  Speaker 1: As doctor Mortimer, with more practical sense than I should
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  Speaker 1: have given him credit for, deduced from the cigar ash.
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  Speaker 1: But he went out every evening. I think it unlikely
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  Speaker 1: that he waited at the moor gate every evening on
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the contrary. The evidence is that he avoided the more
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: that night he waited there. It was the night before
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  Speaker 1: he made his departure for London. The thing takes shape, Watson,
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  Speaker 1: it becomes coherent. Might I ask you to hand me
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: my violin, and we will postpone all further thought upon
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: this business until we have had the advantage of meeting
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Doctor Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville in the morning.