Sherlock Holmes - Hound of the Baskervilles

All Family Resources - Read & Write

Chapter 12
HOME INDEX SEARCH EMAIL US

Chapter 12 - Death on the Moor

For a moment or two I sat breathless, hardly able to believe my ears. Then my
senses and my voice came back to me, while a crushing weight of responsibility
seemed in an instant to be lifted from my soul. That cold, incisive, ironical voice
could belong to but one man in all the world.

"Holmes!" I cried -- "Holmes!"

"Come out," said he, "and please be careful with the revolver."

I stooped under the rude lintel, and there he sat upon a stone outside, his gray
eyes dancing with amusement as they fell upon my astonished features. He was
thin and worn, but clear and alert, his keen face bronzed by the sun and roughened
by the wind. In his tweed suit and cloth cap he looked like any other tourist upon
the moor, and he had contrived, with that catlike love of personal cleanliness which
was one of his characteristics, that his chin should be as smooth and his linen as
perfect as if he were in Baker Street.

"I never was more glad to see anyone in my life," said I as I wrung him by the hand.

"Or more astonished, eh?"

"Well, I must confess to it."

"The surprise was not all on one side, I assure you. I had no idea that you had
found my occasional retreat, still less that you were inside it, until I was within
twenty paces of the door."

"My footprint, I presume?"

"No, Watson, I fear that I could not undertake to recognize your footprint amid all
the footprints of the world. If you seriously desire to deceive me you must change
your tobacconist; for when I see the stub of a cigarette marked Bradley, Oxford
Street, I know that my friend Watson is in the neighbourhood. You will see it there
beside the path. You threw it down, no doubt, at that supreme moment when you
charged into the empty hut."

"Exactly."

"I thought as much -- and knowing your admirable tenacity I was convinced that you
were sitting in ambush, a weapon within reach, waiting for the tenant to return. So
you actually thought that I was the criminal?"

"I did not know who you were, but I was determined to find out."

"Excellent, Watson! And how did you localize me? You saw me, perhaps, on the
night of the convict hunt, when I was so imprudent as to allow the moon to rise
behind me?"

"Yes, I saw you then."

"And have no doubt searched all the huts until you came to this one?"

"No, your boy had been observed, and that gave me a guide where to look."

"The old gentleman with the telescope, no doubt. I could not make it out when first I
saw the light flashing upon the lens." He rose and peeped into the hut. "Ha, I see
that Cartwright has brought up some supplies. What's this paper? So you have
been to Coombe Tracey, have you?"

"Yes."

"To see Mrs. Laura Lyons?"

"Exactly."

"Well done! Our researches have evidently been running on parallel lines, and
when we unite our results I expect we shall have a fairly full knowledge of the
case."

"Well, I am glad from my heart that you are here, for indeed the responsibility and
the mystery were both becoming too much for my nerves. But how in the name of
wonder did you come here, and what have you been doing? I thought that you
were in Baker Street working out that case of blackmailing."

"That was what I wished you to think."

"Then you use me, and yet do not trust me!" I cried with some bitterness. "I think
that I have deserved better at your hands, Holmes."

"My dear fellow, you have been invaluable to me in this as in many other cases,
and I beg that you will forgive me if I have seemed to play a trick upon you. In truth,
it was partly for your own sake that I did it, and it was my appreciation of the
danger which you ran which led me to come down and examine the matter for
myself. Had I been with Sir Henry and you it is confident that my point of view
would have been the same as yours, and my presence would have warned our
very formidable opponents to be on their guard. As it is, I have been able to get
about as I could not possibly have done had I been living in the Hall, and I remain
an unknown factor in the business, ready to throw in all my weight at a critical
moment."

"But why keep me in the dark?"

"For you to know could not have helped us and might possibly have led to my
discovery. You would have wished to tell me something, or in your kindness you
would have brought me out some comfort or other, and so an unnecessary risk
would be run. I brought Cartwright down with me -- you remember the little chap at
the express office -- and he has seen after my simple wants: a loaf of bread and a
clean collar. What does man want more? He has given me an extra pair of eyes
upon a very active pair of feet, and both have been invaluable."

"Then my reports have all been wasted!" -- My voice trembled as I recalled the
pains and the pride with which I had composed them.

Holmes took a bundle of papers from his pocket.

"Here are your reports, my dear fellow, and very well thumbed, I assure you. I
made excellent arrangements, and they are only delayed one day upon their way. I
must compliment you exceedingly upon the zeal and the intelligence which you
have shown over an extraordinarily difficult case."

I was still rather raw over the deception which had been practised upon me, but
the warmth of Holmes's praise drove my anger from my mind. I felt also in my heart
that he was right in what he said and that it was really best for our purpose that I
should not have known that he was upon the moor.

"That's better," said he, seeing the shadow rise from my face. "And now tell me
the result of your visit to Mrs. Laura Lyons -- it was not difficult for me to guess that
it was to see her that you had gone, for I am already aware that she is the one
person in Coombe Tracey who might be of service to us in the matter. In fact, if
you had not gone to-day it is exceedingly probable that I should have gone
to-morrow."

The sun had set and dusk was settling over the moor. The air had turned chill and
we withdrew into the hut for warmth. There sitting together in the twilight, I told
Holmes of my conversation with the lady. So interested was he that I had to repeat
some of it twice before he was satisfied.

"This is most important," said he when I had concluded. "It fills up a gap which I
had been unable to bridge in this most complex affair. You are aware, perhaps,
that a close intimacy exists between this lady and the man Stapleton?"

"I did not know of a close intimacy."

"There can be no doubt about the matter. They meet, they write, there is a
complete understanding between them. Now, this puts a very powerful weapon
into our hands. If I could only use it to detach his wife "

"His wife?"

"I am giving you some information now, in return for all that you have given me. The
lady who has passed here as Miss Stapleton is in reality his wife."

"Good heavens, Holmes! Are you sure of what you say? How could he have
permitted Sir Henry to fall in love with her?"

"Sir Henry's falling in love could do no harm to anyone except Sir Henry. He took
particular care that Sir Henry did not make love to her, as you have yourself
observed. I repeat that the lady is his wife and not his sister."

"But why this elaborate deception?"

"Because he foresaw that she would be very much more useful to him in the
character of a free woman."

All my unspoken instincts, my vague suspicions, suddenly took shape and centred
upon the naturalist. In that impassive colourless man, with his straw hat and his
butterfly-net, I seemed to see something terrible -- a creature of infinite patience
and craft, with a smiling face and a murderous heart.

"It is he, then, who is our enemy -- it is he who dogged us in London?"

"So I read the riddle."

"And the warning -- it must have come from her!"

"Exactly."

The shape of some monstrous villainy, half seen, half guessed, loomed through the
darkness which had girt me so long.

"But are you sure of this, Holmes? How do you know that the woman is his wife?"

"Because he so far forgot himself as to tell you a true piece of autobiography upon
the occasion when he first met you, and I dare say he has many a time regretted it
since. He was once a schoolmaster in the north of England. Now, there is no one
more easy to trace than a schoolmaster. There are scholastic agencies by which
one may identify any man who has been in the profession. A little investigation
showed me that a school had come to grief under atrocious circumstances, and
that the man who had owned it -- the name was different -- had disappeared with
his wife. The descriptions agreed. When I learned that the missing man was
devoted to entomology the identification was complete."

The darkness was rising, but much was still hidden by the shadows.

"If this woman is in truth his wife, where does Mrs. Laura Lyons come in?" I asked.

"That is one of the points upon which your own researches have shed a light. Your
interview with the lady has cleared the situation very much. I did not know about a
projected divorce between herself and her husband. In that case, regarding
Stapleton as an unmarried man, she counted no doubt upon becoming his wife."

"And when she is undeceived?"

"Why, then we may find the lady of service. It must be our first duty to see her --
both of us -- to-morrow. Don't you think, Watson, that you are away from your
charge rather long? Your place should be at Baskerville Hall."

The last red streaks had faded away in the west and night had settled upon the
moor. A few faint stars were gleaming in a violet sky.

"One last question, Holmes," I said as I rose. "Surely there is no need of secrecy
between you and me. What is the meaning of it all? What is he after?"

Holmes's voice sank as he answered:

"It is murder, Watson -- refined, cold-blooded, deliberate murder. Do not ask me
for particulars. My nets are closing upon him, even as his are upon Sir Henry, and
with your help he is already almost at my mercy. There is but one danger which
can threaten us. It is that he should strike before we are ready to do so. Another
day -- two at the most -- and I have my case complete, but until then guard your
charge as closely as ever a fond mother watched her ailing child. Your mission
to-day has justified itself, and yet I could almost wish that you had not left his side.
Hark!"

A terrible scream -- a prolonged yell of horror and anguish burst out of the silence
of the moor. That frightful cry turned the blood to ice in my veins.

"Oh, my God!" I gasped. "What is it? What does it mean?"

Holmes had sprung to his feet, and I saw his dark, athletic outline at the door of the
hut, his shoulders stooping, his head thrust forward, his face peering into the
darkness.

"Hush!" he whispered. "Hush!"

The cry had been loud on account of its vehemence, but it had pealed out from
somewhere far off on the shadowy plain. Now it burst upon our ears, nearer,
louder, more urgent than before.

"Where is it?" Holmes whispered; and I knew from the thrill of his voice that he, the
man of iron, was shaken to the soul. "Where is it, Watson?"

"There, I think." I pointed into the darkness.

"No, there!"

Again the agonized cry swept through the silent night, louder and much nearer than
ever. And a new sound mingled with it, a deep, muttered rumble, musical and yet
menacing, rising and falling like the low, constant murmur of the sea.

"The hound!" cried Holmes. "Come, Watson, come! Great heavens, if we are too
late!"

He had started running swiftly over the moor, and I had followed at his heels. But
now from somewhere among the broken ground immediately in front of us there
came one last despairing yell, and then a dull, heavy thud. We halted and listened.
Not another sound broke the heavy silence of the windless night.

I saw Holmes put his hand to his forehead like a man distracted. He stamped his
feet upon the ground.

"He has beaten us, Watson. We are too late."

"No, no, surely not!"

"Fool that I was to hold my hand. And you, Watson, see what comes of
abandoning your charge! But, by Heaven, if the worst has happened we'll avenge
him!"

Blindly we ran through the gloom, blundering against boulders, forcing our way
through gorse bushes, panting up hills and rushing down slopes, heading always
in the direction whence those dreadful sounds had come. At every rise Holmes
looked eagerly round him, but the shadows were thick upon the moor, and nothing
moved upon its dreary face.

"Can you see anything?"

"Nothing."

"But, hark, what is that?"

A low moan had fallen upon our ears. There it was again upon our left! On that
side a ridge of rocks ended in a sheer cliff which overlooked a stone-strewn slope.
On its jagged face was spread-eagled some dark, irregular object. As we ran
towards it the vague outline hardened into a definite shape. It was a prostrate man
face downward upon the ground, the head doubled under him at a horrible angle,
the shoulders rounded and the body hunched together as if in the act of throwing a
somersault. So grotesque was the attitude that I could not for the instant realize
that that moan had been the passing of his soul. Not a whisper, not a rustle, rose
now from the dark figure over which we stooped. Holmes laid his hand upon him
and held it up again with an exclamation of horror. The gleam of the match which
he struck shone upon his clotted fingers and upon the ghastly pool which widened
slowly from the crushed skull of the victim. And it shone upon something else which
turned our hearts sick and faint within us -- the body of Sir Henry Baskerville!

There was no chance of either of us forgetting that peculiar ruddy tweed suit -- the
very one which he had worn on the first morning that we had seen him in Baker
Street. We caught the one clear glimpse of it, and then the match flickered and
went out, even as the hope had gone out of our souls. Holmes groaned, and his
face glimmered white through the darkness.

"The brute! the brute!" I cried with clenched hands. "Oh Holmes, I shall never
forgive myself for having left him to his fate."

"I am more to blame than you, Watson. In order to have my case well rounded and
complete, I have thrown away the life of my client. It is the greatest blow which has
befallen me in my career. But how could I know -- how could l know -- that he would
risk his life alone upon the moor in the face of all my warnings?"

"That we should have heard his screams -- my God, those screams! -- and yet
have been unable to save him! Where is this brute of a hound which drove him to
his death? It may be lurking among these rocks at this instant. And Stapleton,
where is he? He shall answer for this deed."

"He shall. I will see to that. Uncle and nephew have been murdered -- the one
frightened to death by the very sight of a beast which he thought to be
supernatural, the other driven to his end in his wild flight to escape from it. But now
we have to prove the connection between the man and the beast. Save from what
we heard, we cannot even swear to the existence of the latter, since Sir Henry has
evidently died from the fall. But, by heavens, cunning as he is, the fellow shall be in
my power before another day is past!"

We stood with bitter hearts on either side of the mangled body, overwhelmed by
this sudden and irrevocable disaster which had brought all our long and weary
labours to so piteous an end. Then as the moon rose we climbed to the top of the
rocks over which our poor friend had fallen, and from the summit we gazed out
over the shadowy moor, half silver and half gloom. Far away, miles off, in the
direction of Grimpen, a single steady yellow light was shining. It could only come
from the lonely abode of the Stapletons. With a bitter curse I shook my fist at it as I
gazed.

"Why should we not seize him at once?"

"Our case is not complete. The fellow is wary and cunning to the last degree. It is
not what we know, but what we can prove. If we make one false move the villain
may escape us yet."

"What can we do?"

"There will be plenty for us to do to-morrow. To-night we can only perform the last
offices to our poor friend."

Together we made our way down the precipitous slope and approached the body,
black and clear against the silvered stones. The agony of those contorted limbs
struck me with a spasm of pain and blurred my eyes with tears.

"We must send for help, Holmes! We cannot carry him all the way to the Hall.
Good heavens, are you mad?"

He had uttered a cry and bent over the body. Now he was dancing and laughing
and wringing my hand. Could this be my stern, self-contained friend? These were
hidden fires, indeed!

"A beard! A beard! The man has a beard!"

"A beard?"

"It is not the baronet -- it is -- why, it is my neighbour, the convict!"

With feverish haste we had turned the body over, and that dripping beard was
pointing up to the cold, clear moon. There could be no doubt about the beetling
forehead, the sunken animal eyes. It was indeed the same face which had glared
upon me in the light of the candle from over the rock -- the face of Selden, the
criminal.

Then in an instant it was all clear to me. I remembered how the baronet had told
me that he had handed his old wardrobe to Barrymore. Barrymore had passed it
on in order to help Selden in his escape. Boots, shirt, cap -- it was all Sir Henry's.
The tragedy was still black enough, but this man had at least deserved death by
the laws of his country. I told Holmes how the matter stood, my heart bubbling over
with thankfulness and joy.

"Then the clothes have been the poor devil's death," said he. "It is clear enough
that the hound has been laid on from some article of Sir Henry's -- the boot which
was abstracted in the hotel, in all probability -- and so ran this man down. There is
one very singular thing, however: How came Selden, in the darkness, to know that
the hound was on his trail?"

"He heard him."

"To hear a hound upon the moor would not work a hard man like this convict into
such a paroxysm of terror that he would risk recapture by screaming wildly for help.
By his cries he must have run a long way after he knew the animal was on his
track. How did he know?"

"A greater mystery to me is why this hound, presuming that all our conjectures are
correct --"

"I presume nothing."

"Well, then, why this hound should be loose to-night. I suppose that it does not
always run loose upon the moor. Stapleton would not let it go unless he had
reason to think that Sir Henry would be there."

"My difficulty is the more formidable of the two, for I think that we shall very shortly
get an explanation of yours, while mine may remain forever a mystery. The
question now is, what shall we do with this poor wretch's body? We cannot leave it
here to the foxes and the ravens."

"I suggest that we put it in one of the huts until we can communicate with the
police."

"Exactly. I have no doubt that you and I could carry it so far. Halloa, Watson, what's
this? It's the man himself, by all that's wonderful and audacious! Not a word to
show yow suspicions -- not a word, or my plans crumble to the ground."

A figure was approaching us over the moor, and I saw the dull red glow of a cigar.
The moon shone upon him, and I could distinguish the dapper shape and jaunty
walk of the naturalist. He stopped when he saw us, and then came on again.

"Why, Dr. Watson, that's not you, is it? You are the last man that I should have
expected to see out on the moor at this time of night. But, dear me, what's this?
Somebody hurt? Not -- don't tell me that it is our friend Sir Henry!" He hurried past
me and stooped over the dead man. I heard a sharp intake of his breath and the
cigar fell from his fingers.

"Who -- who's this?" he stammered.

"It is Selden, the man who escaped from Princetown."

Stapleton turned a ghastly face upon us, but by a supreme effort he had overcome
his amazement and his disappointment. He looked sharply from Holmes to me.

"Dear me! What a very shocking affair! How did he die?"

"He appears to have broken his neck by falling over these rocks. My friend and I
were strolling on the moor when we heard a cry."

"I heard a cry also. That was what brought me out. I was uneasy about Sir Henry."

"Why about Sir Henry in particular?" I could not help asking.

"Because I had suggested that he should come over. When he did not come I was
surprised, and I naturally became alarmed for his safety when I heard cries upon
the moor. By the way" -- his eyes darted again from my face to Holmes's -- "did
you hear anything else besides a cry?"

"No," said Holmes; "did you?"

"No."

"What do you mean, then?"

"Oh, you know the stories that the peasants tell about a phantom hound, and so
on. It is said to be heard at night upon the moor. I was wondering if there were any
evidence of such a sound to-night."

"We heard nothing of the kind," said I.

"And what is your theory of this poor fellow's death?"

"I have no doubt that anxiety and exposure have driven him off his head. He has
rushed about the moor in a crazy state and eventually fallen over here and broken
his neck."

"That seems the most reasonable theory," said Stapleton, and he gave a sigh
which I took to indicate his relief. "What do you think about it, Mr. Sherlock
Holmes?"

My friend bowed his compliments.

"You are quick at identification," said he.

"We have been expecting you in these parts since Dr. Watson came down. You
are in time to see a tragedy."

"Yes, indeed. I have no doubt that my friend's explanation will cover the facts. I will
take an unpleasant remembrance back to London with me to-morrow."

"Oh, you return to-morrow?"

"That is my intention."

"I hope your visit has cast some light upon those occurrences which have puzzled
us?"

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

"One cannot always have the success for which one hopes. An investigator needs
facts and not legends or rumours. It has not been a satisfactory case."

My friend spoke in his frankest and most unconcerned manner. Stapleton still
looked hard at him. Then he turned to me.

"I would suggest carrying this poor fellow to my house, but it would give my sister
such a fright that I do not feel justified in doing it. I think that if we put something
over his face he will be safe until morning."

And so it was arranged. Resisting Stapleton's offer of hospitality, Holmes and I set
off to Baskerville Hall, leaving the naturalist to return alone. Looking back we saw
the figure moving slowly away over the broad moor, and behind him that one black
smudge on the silvered slope which showed where the man was lying who had
come so horribly to his end.

Index  TOC Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Adventures Novels Memoirs Last Bow Pictures

All Family Resources provides a collection of Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle between 1887 and 1925.
(Absent are those in the Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927), which is still covered by copyright until January 1, 2003.)

© Layout and Design by All Family Resources 1999. All Rights Reserved.