[adapted]

by
Arthur Conan Doyle

Chapter 1
Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes was at the breakfast table one morning. I stood by the fire and held a walking stick that our visitor had left the night before. It was thick and strong. It had a round head and a wide silver band. On the band were the words: “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H., 1884.”

Holmes sat with his back to me. “Well, Watson, what do you make of it?” he asked.

I was surprised. He had not seen me pick it up.

“I see you in the coffee-pot,” he said calmly. “Now tell me about the man.”

I said that Dr. Mortimer was an older and successful country doctor. The stick was worn at the end, so he must walk a lot. I thought “C.C.H.” meant a local hunt club that gave him the stick as a gift.

Holmes smiled and lit a cigarette. He praised me, but then he said most of my ideas were wrong. He agreed that the man was a country doctor and that he walked a great deal. But he said “C.C.H.” likely meant Charing Cross Hospital.

He explained his reasoning step by step. A gift like this usually marks an important event. Perhaps Dr. Mortimer left the hospital to start work in the country. The date was 1884. That was five years ago. So he was not an old man. He must be under thirty. He was probably friendly, not very ambitious, and absent-minded. Only an absent-minded man would forget his stick but not his visiting card.

Holmes also said the man had a dog. The dog carried the stick. There were teeth marks in the wood. The dog’s mouth was too wide for a terrier and too small for a mastiff. Holmes guessed it was a curly-haired spaniel.

I checked the Medical Directory. There was only one James Mortimer. He had worked at Charing Cross Hospital from 1882 to 1884. He had won a prize for a scientific essay. Now he was a medical officer in Grimpen, Dartmoor.

Holmes smiled. He said his deductions were correct.

At that moment, we heard a dog bark and a knock at the door. Holmes said the dog was outside.

Dr. James Mortimer entered. He was tall and thin. He had a long nose and sharp grey eyes behind gold glasses. His clothes were neat but worn. He looked kind but a little strange.

He was very glad to see his stick. “It was a gift,” he said.

“From Charing Cross Hospital?” Holmes asked.

“From friends there, when I married,” said Dr. Mortimer.

Holmes looked disappointed. The marriage explained why he left the hospital. Dr. Mortimer corrected Holmes. He was not “Doctor” but “Mister,” since he was a surgeon. He spoke in a scientific way and showed great interest in Holmes’s skull. He even asked to touch it for study.

Holmes invited him to sit and smoke. Then Holmes asked the reason for his visit.

Dr. Mortimer said he faced a serious and strange problem. He admitted he was not practical. He called Holmes the second greatest expert in Europe.

“Who is the first?” Holmes asked.

“Monsieur Bertillon,” said Dr. Mortimer, because of his scientific method.

Holmes suggested he go to Bertillon. Dr. Mortimer quickly explained. Bertillon was strong in theory. But Holmes was the best in practical matters.

Holmes ended the talk. He asked Dr. Mortimer to clearly explain the problem that brought him there.

Chapter 2
The Curse of the Baskervilles

“I have a manuscript in my pocket,” said Dr. James Mortimer.

Holmes glanced at it. “Early eighteenth century,” he said.

“The date is 1742,” said Dr. Mortimer. “It belonged to Sir Charles Baskerville, who died three months ago. Though he was practical, he believed this story. He feared it.”

Holmes listened as Dr. Mortimer read.

Long ago, during a time of civil war, Hugo Baskerville lived at Baskerville Hall. He was violent and cruel. He desired a farmer’s daughter who lived near his land. She feared him and avoided him. One night, when her family was away, Hugo and his friends took her to the Hall and locked her in a room upstairs.

While the men drank below, the girl climbed down the wall using ivy. She ran across the moor toward home.

When Hugo found she had escaped, he swore he would give his soul to evil if he could catch her. He ordered his hounds to follow her scent and rode after them into the night. His friends followed later.

They met a shepherd who was shaking with fear. He said he had seen the girl running and the hounds behind her. He also said a terrible black hound ran after Hugo.

Soon the men saw Hugo’s horse return alone. They found the hounds gathered together, afraid to go on. Three of them rode forward into a hollow on the moor. In the moonlight they saw the girl lying dead. Near her lay Hugo. Over him stood a huge black hound, larger than any normal dog. It tore at his throat. The men fled in terror. One died soon after from shock.

The story warned the Baskerville family not to cross the moor at night. It said the hound had troubled the family ever since.

Dr. Mortimer finished reading. Holmes showed little interest.

Dr. Mortimer then read from a recent newspaper about the death of Sir Charles Baskerville.

Sir Charles had made money in South Africa and returned to restore Baskerville Hall. He was generous and respected. He had no children. His servants were Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore.

Sir Charles had weak health and heart trouble. On May 4, he went for his usual walk down the yew alley before bed. He planned to travel to London the next day. He did not return from his walk.

Barrymore found the hall door open at midnight and went to search. The ground was wet, so he could follow Sir Charles’s footprints down the alley. At the gate that led to the moor, Sir Charles had stood for some time. After that point, his footprints changed. He seemed to walk on his toes. At the end of the alley, Barrymore found him lying face down. His arms were stretched out, and his face showed great fear.

There were no signs of violence. The doctors said he died of heart failure. A man on the moor reported hearing cries but had been drinking. The official verdict was natural death.

Sir Charles’s heir was Mr. Henry Baskerville, his nephew in America.

Dr. Mortimer folded the paper. “Those are the public facts,” he said.

Holmes asked for the private ones.

Dr. Mortimer said Sir Charles had become very nervous in recent months. He believed the old legend. He refused to go onto the moor at night. He often asked if anyone had heard a hound there.

Three weeks before his death, Sir Charles suddenly stared past Dr. Mortimer in horror. Dr. Mortimer turned and saw a large dark animal in the distance. It disappeared quickly, but the sight deeply disturbed Sir Charles. Dr. Mortimer had advised him to go to London to rest. But before he could leave, he died.

On the night of the death, Dr. Mortimer arrived at the Hall within an hour. He examined the scene himself. He saw Sir Charles’s footprints and the place where he had waited at the moor gate. He saw the strange change in the tracks after that point. There were no other human footprints near the body.

He also saw something that was not mentioned at the inquest.

Holmes leaned forward. “Footprints?”

“Yes.”

“A man’s?”

Dr. Mortimer’s voice dropped low. “They were the footprints of a gigantic hound.”

Chapter 3
The Problem

I felt a chill when Dr. Mortimer spoke of the huge hound’s footprints. Holmes leaned forward with sharp interest.