May 27, 2025 • 25 mins
In the eerie Baskerville Hall, a baronet is found dead under mysterious circumstances. Could his death be the consequence of a centuries-old family curse, believed to be carried out by a supernatural hound? Join the iconic detective duo, Holmes and Watson, as they delve into the enigmatic death of Sir Charles Baskerville, racing against time to protect the new baronet from a similar ominous fate.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter six of The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Read by Richard Ryman Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry Baskerville and
(00:25):
doctor Mortmar were ready upon the appointed day, and we
started as arranged for Devonshire. Mister Sherlock Holmes drove with
me to the station and gave me his last parting
injunctions and advice.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I will not bias your mind.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
By suggesting theories or suspicions, Watson said, he. I wish
you simply to report facts in the fullest possible manner
to me, and you can leave me to do the theorizing.
What sort of facts I asked, anything which may seem
to have a bearing, however indirect, upon the case, and
(01:04):
especially the relations between young Baskerville and his neighbors, or
any fresh particulars concerning the death of Sir Charles. I
have made some inquiries myself in the last few days,
but the results have, I fear been negative.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Only one thing appears to be.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Certain, and that is that mister James Desmond who is
the next heir, is an elderly gentleman of a very
amiable disposition, So that this persecution does not arise from him.
I really think that we may eliminate him entirely. From
our calculations, there remain the people who will actually surround
(01:43):
Sir Henry Baskerville upon the moor. Would it not be
well in the first place to get rid of this
Barrymore couple by no means you could not make a
greater mistake. If they are innocent, it would be a
cruel injustice. And if they are guilty, we should be
giving up all chance of bringing it home to them.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, no, we will.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Preserve them upon our list of suspects. Then there is
a groom at the hall. If I remember right, there
are two Moreland farmers. There is our friend, doctor Mortimer,
whom I believe to be entirely honest, and there is
his wife, of whom we know nothing. There is this
naturalist Stapleton, and there is his sister, who is said
(02:27):
to be a young lady of attractions. There is mister
Franklin of Lofter Hall, who is also an unknown factor,
and there are one or two other neighbors. These are
the folk who must be your very special study.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I will do my best.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You have arms, I suppose yes, I thought it as
well to take them. Most certainly, keep your revolver near
you night and day, and never relax your precautions. Our
friends had already secured a first class carriage and were
waiting for us upon the platform. No, we have no
(03:07):
news of any kind, said doctor Mortimer, in answer to
my friend's question. I can swear to one thing, and
that is that we have not been shadowed during the
last two days. We have never gone out without keeping
a sharp watch, and no one could have escaped our notice.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You have always kept together.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I presume, except yesterday afternoon. I usually give up one
day to pure amusement when I come to town. So I
spent it at the museum of the College of Surgeons,
and I want to look at the folk in the park,
said Baskerville. But we had no trouble of any kind.
It was imprudent all the same, said Holmes, shaking his
(03:51):
head and looking very grave. I beg sir Henry, that
you will not go about alone. Some great misfortune will
befall you if you do.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Did you get your other boot?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
No, sir, it is gone forever. Indeed, that is very interesting.
Well good bye, he added, as the train began to
glide down the platform.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Bear in mind, Sir Henry, one of the phrases.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
In that queer old legend which doctor Mortimer has read
to us, and avoid the more in those hours of darkness,
when the powers of evil are exalted. I looked back
at the platform when we had left it far behind,
and saw the tall, austere figure of Homes standing motionless
(04:41):
and gazing after us. The journey was a swift and
pleasant one, and I spent it in making the more
intimate acquaintance of my two companions, and in playing with
Doctor Murtimer's spaniel. In a very few hours, the brown
earth had become ruddy, the brick had changed to granite,
(05:01):
and red cows grazed in well hedged fields, where the
lush grasses and mortal, luxuriant vegetation spoke of a richer
if a damper climate. Young Baskerville stared eagerly out of
the window and cried aloud with delight as he recognized
the familiar features of the devon scenery. I've been over
(05:25):
a good part of the world since I left it,
doctor Watson said he but I have never seen a
place to compare with it. I never saw a Devonshire
man who did not swear by his county. I remarked.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It depends upon the breed of men quite as much.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
As on the county, said doctor Mortimer. A glance at
our friend here reveals the rounded head of the celt
which carries inside it the Celtic enthusiasm and power of attachment.
Poor Sir Charles's head was of a very rare type.
He hath Gaelic f Ivernian in its characteristics. But you
(06:04):
were very young when you last saw Bosterville Hall, were
you not. I was a boy in my teens at
the time of my father's death and had never seen
the hall, for he lived in a little cottage on
the south coast. Thence I went straight to a friend
in America. I tell you it is all as new
to me as it is to doctor Watson, and I
(06:25):
am as keen as possible to see the moor.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Are you? Then your wish is.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Easily granted, for there is your first sight of the moor,
said doctor Mortimer, pointing out of the carriage window.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Over the green squares of the.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Fields and the low curve of a wood. There rose
in the distance a gray, melancholy hill with a strange,
jagged summit, dim and vague in the distance, like some
fantastic landscape in a dream. Boskerville sat for a long time,
his eyes fixed upon it, and I read upon his
(07:04):
eager face how much it meant to him, this first
sight of that strange spot where the men of his
blood had held sway so long and left their marks
so deep. There he sat, with his tweed suit and
his American accent, in the corner of a prosaic railway carriage.
(07:24):
And yet as I looked at his dark and expressive face,
I felt more than ever how true it descented he
was of that long line of high blooded, fiery and
masterful men. There were pride, valah and strength in his
thick brows, his sensitive nostrils, and his large hazel eyes.
(07:48):
If on that forbidding more a difficult and dangerous, questioned
lie before us, this was at least a comrade for
whom one might venture to take a risk, with the
so certainty that he would bravely share it. The train
pulled up at a small wayside station, and we all
descended outside. Beyond the low white fence, a wagon neck
(08:12):
with a pair of cobs was waiting. Our coming was
evidently a great event for station master, and porters clustered
round us to carry out our luggage. It was a sweet,
simple country spot, but I was surprised to observe that
by the gate there stood two soldierly men in dark uniforms,
(08:33):
who leaned upon their short rifles and glanced keenly at us.
As we passed the coachman, a hard faced, gnarled little
fellow saluted Sir Henry Baskerville, and in a few minutes
we were flying swiftly down the broad white road, rolling
pasture lands curved upward on either side of us, and
(08:55):
old gabled houses peeped out from amid the thick green foliage.
But behind the peaceful and sunlit countryside there rose, ever
dark against the evening sky, the long, gloomy curve of
the moor broken by the jagged and sinister hills. The
(09:18):
wagonette swung round into a side road, and we curved
upward through deep lanes worn by centuries of wheels, high
banks on either side, heavy with dripping moss, and fleshy
hearts tongue ferns, bronzing bracken and mottled bramble gleamed in
the light of the sinking sun, still steadily rising. We
(09:41):
passed over a narrow granite bridge and skirted a noisy stream,
which gushed swiftly down, foaming.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And roaring amid the gray boulders.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Both road and stream wound up through a valley dense
with scrub, oak and fur. At every turn, s Kerville
gave an exclamation of delight, looking eagerly about him and
asking countless questions. To his eyes, all seemed beautiful, but
to me a tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside,
(10:14):
which bore so clearly the mark of the waning year.
Yellow leaves carpeted the lanes and fluttered down upon us
as we passed. The rattle of our wheels died away
as we drove through drifts of rotting vegetation, sad gifts,
as it seemed to me for nature to throw before
(10:37):
the carriage of the returning air of the Baskervilles. Hello, Hello,
cried doctor Mortimer.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
What is this?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
A steep curve of heat clad lad an outline spur
of the moor lay in front of us on the SunNet,
hard and clear, like an equestrian statue. Upon its pedestal
was a mounted soldier, dark and stern, his rifle poised
(11:09):
ready over his forearm. He was watching the road along
which we traveled. What is this, Perkins asked Doctor Mortimer,
our driver half turned in his seat. There's a convict
escape from Princetown, Sir. He's been out three days now,
and the waters watch every road, in every station, but
(11:34):
they've had no side of him yet. The farmers about
here don't like it, sir. And that's a fact.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Well.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I understand that they get five.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Pounds if they can give information, Yes, sir, But the
chance of five pounds is but a poor thing compared
to the chance of having.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Your throat cut.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
You see, it isn't like any ordinary convict. This is
a man that would stick at no Who is he?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Then?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It is Selden, the nodding, ill murderer. I remembered the
case well, for it was one in which Holmes had
taken an interest on account of the peculiar ferocity of
the crime and the wanton brutality which had marked all
the actions of the assassin. The commutation of his death
sentence had been due to some doubts as to his
(12:25):
complete sanity. So atrocious was his conduct. Our wagonette had
topped her eyes, and in front of us rose the
huge expanse of the moor, mottled with gnarled and craggy
cairns and doers. A cold wind swept down from it
and set us shivering. Somewhere there on that desolate plain
(12:49):
was lurking, this fiendish man, hiding in a burrow like
a wild beast, his heart full of malignancy against the
whole race which had cast him out. It needed but
this to complete the grim suggestiveness of the barren waste,
the chilling wind, and the dark leading sky. Even Baskerville
(13:12):
fell silent and pulled his overcoat.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
More closely around him.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
We had left the fertile country behind, and beneath us
we looked back on it now, the slanting rays of
a low sun turning the streams to threads of gold,
and glowing on the red earth new turn by the
plow and the broad tangle of the woodlands. The road
in front of us grew bleaker and wilder, over huge
(13:40):
russet and olive slopes sprinkled with giant boulders. Now and
then we passed a moorland cottage, walled and roofed with stone,
with no creeper to break its harsh outline. Suddenly we
looked down into a cuplike depression, patched with stunted oaks
and furs which had been twisted and bent by the
(14:02):
fury of years of storm. Two high, narrow towers rose
over the trees. The driver pointed with his whip. Baskerville
Hall said he Its master had risen and was staring
with flushed cheeks and shining eyes. A few minutes later
(14:22):
we had reached the lodge gates, a maze of fantastic
tracery and wrought iron, with weather bitten pillars on either side,
blotched with lichens, and surmounted by the boars heads of
the Baskervilles. The lodge was a ruin of black granite
and bared ribs of rafters, but facing it was a
(14:44):
new building, half constructed, the first fruit of Sir Charles's
South African gold. Through the gateway we passed into the avenue,
where the wheels were again hushed amid the leaves, and
the old trees shot the branches in a somber tunnel
over our heads. Baskerville shuddered as he looked up the
(15:06):
long dark drive to where the house glimmered like a
ghost at the farther end. Was it here, he asked.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
In a low voice.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
No, No, the hue alley is on the other side.
The young air glanced round with the gloomy face. It's
no wonder my uncle felt as if trouble were coming
on him in such a place as this, said he.
It's enough to scare any man. I'll have a row
of electric lamps up here inside of six months, and
(15:37):
you won't know it again. With a thousand candlepowers Swan
and Edison right here in front of the hall door.
The avenue opened into a broad expanse of turf, and
the house lay before us. In the fading light, I
could see that the center was a heavy block of
building from which a porch projected. The whole front was
(16:00):
draped in ivy, with a patch clipped bare. Here and
there where a window a coat of arms broke through
the dark veil. From this central block rose the twin towers,
ancient crenulated and pierced with many loopholes. To right and
left of the turrets were more modern wings of black granite.
(16:22):
A dull light shone through heavy mullioned windows, and from
the high chimneys which rose from the steep, high angled roof.
There sprang a single black column of smoke. Welcome, Sir Henry,
Welcome to Baskerville Hall. A tall man had stepped from
(16:42):
the shadow of the porch to open the door of
the wagonette. The figure of a woman was silhouetted against
the yellow light of the hall. She came out and
helped the man to hand down our bags. You don't
mind thy driving straight home, Sir Henry, said Doctor Mortimer.
My wife is expecting me. Surely you will stay and
(17:04):
have some dinner. No, I must go. I shall probably
find some work awaiting me. I would stay to show
you over the house, but Barrymore will be a better
guide than I. Good Bye, and never hesitate night or
day to send for me if I can be of service.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
The wheels died away down the drive while Sir Henry
and I turned.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Into the hall, and the door clanged heavily behind us.
It was a fine apartment in which we found ourselves large,
lofty and heavily raftered, with huge box of age blackened
oak in the great old fashioned fireplace. Behind the high
iron dogs. A log fire crackled and snapped.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Sir Henry and I held out.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Our hands to it, for we were numb from our
long drive. Then we gazed round us at the high,
thin window of all old stained glass, the oak paneling,
the stag's heads, the coats of arms upon the walls,
all dim and somber in the subdued light of the
(18:12):
central lap. It's just as I imagined it, said Sir Henry.
Is it not the very picture of an old family home?
To think that this should be the same hall in
which for five hundred years my people have lived? It
strikes me solemn to think of it. I saw his
(18:33):
dark face lit up with a boyish enthusiasm as he
gazed about him. The light beat upon him where he stood,
but long shadows trailed down the walls and hung like
a black canopy above him. Barrymore had returned from taking
our luggage to our rooms. He stood in front of
(18:53):
us now with the subdued manner of a well trained servant.
He was a remarkable looking man, tall handsome, with a
square black beard and pale distinguished features. Would you wish
dinner to be served at once, sir? Is it ready
(19:13):
in a few minutes? Sir, you will find hot water
in your rooms. My wife and I will be happy,
Sir Henry, to stay with you until you have made
your fresh arrangements. But you will understand that under the
new conditions, this house will require a considerable staff. What
new conditions? I only meant, Sir, that Sir Charles led
(19:36):
a very retired life, and we were able to look
after his wants. You would naturally wish to have more company,
and so you will need changes in your household. Do
you mean that your wife and you wish to leave
only when it is quite convenient to you, sir? But
(19:57):
your family have been with us for several generations, have
they not? I should be sorry to begin my life
here by breaking an old family connection. I seem to
discern some signs of emotion upon the butler's white face.
I feel that also, sir, and so does my wife.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
But to tell the truth, Sir, we were both very.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Much attached to Sir Charles, and his death gave us
a shock and made these surroundings very painful to us.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I fear that we shall never.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Again be easy in our minds at Basterville Hall.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
But what do you intend to do?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I have no doubt, sir, that we shall succeed in
establishing ourselves in some business. Sir Charles's generosity has given
us the means to do so. And now, sir, perhaps
I had best show you to your rooms. A square
balustraded gallery round the top of the old hall, approached
by a double stare. From this central point to long,
(21:00):
long corridors extended the whole length of the building, from
which all the bedrooms opened. My own was in the
same wing as Baskerville's, and almost next door to it.
These rooms appeared to be much more modern than the
central part of the house, and the bright paper and
the numerous candles did something to remove the somber impression
(21:22):
which our arrival had left upon my mind. But the
dining room, which opened out of the hall was a
place of shadow and gloom. It was a long chamber
with a step separating the dais where the family sat,
from the lower portion, reserved for their dependence. At one end,
(21:43):
a minstrel's gallery overlooked it. Black beams shot across above
our heads, with the smoke doted and ceiling beyond them
with rows of flaring torches to light it up, and
the color and rude hilarity of an old time I'm banquet,
it might have softened. But now, when two black little
(22:05):
gentlemen sat in the little circle of light thrown by
a shaded lamp, one's voice became hushed in one's spirit subdued.
A dim line of ancestors in every variety of dress,
from the Elizabethan Knight to the buck of the Regency,
stared down upon us and daunted us by their silent company.
(22:29):
We talked little, and I, for one, was glad when
the meal was over and we were able to retire
into the modern billiard room and smoke a cigarette. My word,
it isn't a very cheerful place, said Sir Henry. I
suppose one can tone down to it, but I feel
(22:50):
a bit out of the picture at present. I don't
wonder that my uncle got a little jumpy if he
lived all alone in such a house as this. However,
if it suits you, we will retire early tonight, and
perhaps things may seem more cheerful in the morning. I
drew aside my curtains before I went to bed, and looked.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Out from my window.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
It opened upon the grassy space which lay in front
of the hall door. Beyond two copses of trees moaned
and swung in a rising wind. A half moon broke
through the rifts of racing clouds. In its cold light,
I saw beyond the trees a broken fringe of rocks,
(23:38):
and the long, low curve of the melancholy moor. I
closed the curtain, feeling that my last impression was in
keeping with the rest. And yet it was not quite
the last. I found myself weary and yet wakeful, tossing
restlessly from side to sun, seeking for the sleep which
(24:02):
would not come far away. A chiming clock struck out
quarters of the hours, but otherwise a deathly silence lay
upon the old house. And then suddenly, in the very
dead of the night, there came a sound to my ears, clear,
(24:22):
resonant and unmistakable. It was the sob of a woman,
the muffled, strangling gasp of one who was torn by
an uncontrollable sorrow. I sat up in bed and listened intently.
The noise could not have been far away, and was
(24:42):
certainly in the house. For half an hour, I waited
with every nerve on the alert, But there came no
other sound save the chiming clock and the rustle of
the ivy on the wall, end of Chapter six.
Chapter six of The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Read by Richard Ryman Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry Baskerville and
(00:25):
doctor Mortmar were ready upon the appointed day, and we
started as arranged for Devonshire. Mister Sherlock Holmes drove with
me to the station and gave me his last parting
injunctions and advice.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I will not bias your mind.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
By suggesting theories or suspicions, Watson said, he. I wish
you simply to report facts in the fullest possible manner
to me, and you can leave me to do the theorizing.
What sort of facts I asked, anything which may seem
to have a bearing, however indirect, upon the case, and
(01:04):
especially the relations between young Baskerville and his neighbors, or
any fresh particulars concerning the death of Sir Charles. I
have made some inquiries myself in the last few days,
but the results have, I fear been negative.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Only one thing appears to be.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Certain, and that is that mister James Desmond who is
the next heir, is an elderly gentleman of a very
amiable disposition, So that this persecution does not arise from him.
I really think that we may eliminate him entirely. From
our calculations, there remain the people who will actually surround
(01:43):
Sir Henry Baskerville upon the moor. Would it not be
well in the first place to get rid of this
Barrymore couple by no means you could not make a
greater mistake. If they are innocent, it would be a
cruel injustice. And if they are guilty, we should be
giving up all chance of bringing it home to them.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, no, we will.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Preserve them upon our list of suspects. Then there is
a groom at the hall. If I remember right, there
are two Moreland farmers. There is our friend, doctor Mortimer,
whom I believe to be entirely honest, and there is
his wife, of whom we know nothing. There is this
naturalist Stapleton, and there is his sister, who is said
(02:27):
to be a young lady of attractions. There is mister
Franklin of Lofter Hall, who is also an unknown factor,
and there are one or two other neighbors. These are
the folk who must be your very special study.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I will do my best.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You have arms, I suppose yes, I thought it as
well to take them. Most certainly, keep your revolver near
you night and day, and never relax your precautions. Our
friends had already secured a first class carriage and were
waiting for us upon the platform. No, we have no
(03:07):
news of any kind, said doctor Mortimer, in answer to
my friend's question. I can swear to one thing, and
that is that we have not been shadowed during the
last two days. We have never gone out without keeping
a sharp watch, and no one could have escaped our notice.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You have always kept together.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I presume, except yesterday afternoon. I usually give up one
day to pure amusement when I come to town. So I
spent it at the museum of the College of Surgeons,
and I want to look at the folk in the park,
said Baskerville. But we had no trouble of any kind.
It was imprudent all the same, said Holmes, shaking his
(03:51):
head and looking very grave. I beg sir Henry, that
you will not go about alone. Some great misfortune will
befall you if you do.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Did you get your other boot?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
No, sir, it is gone forever. Indeed, that is very interesting.
Well good bye, he added, as the train began to
glide down the platform.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Bear in mind, Sir Henry, one of the phrases.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
In that queer old legend which doctor Mortimer has read
to us, and avoid the more in those hours of darkness,
when the powers of evil are exalted. I looked back
at the platform when we had left it far behind,
and saw the tall, austere figure of Homes standing motionless
(04:41):
and gazing after us. The journey was a swift and
pleasant one, and I spent it in making the more
intimate acquaintance of my two companions, and in playing with
Doctor Murtimer's spaniel. In a very few hours, the brown
earth had become ruddy, the brick had changed to granite,
(05:01):
and red cows grazed in well hedged fields, where the
lush grasses and mortal, luxuriant vegetation spoke of a richer
if a damper climate. Young Baskerville stared eagerly out of
the window and cried aloud with delight as he recognized
the familiar features of the devon scenery. I've been over
(05:25):
a good part of the world since I left it,
doctor Watson said he but I have never seen a
place to compare with it. I never saw a Devonshire
man who did not swear by his county. I remarked.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It depends upon the breed of men quite as much.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
As on the county, said doctor Mortimer. A glance at
our friend here reveals the rounded head of the celt
which carries inside it the Celtic enthusiasm and power of attachment.
Poor Sir Charles's head was of a very rare type.
He hath Gaelic f Ivernian in its characteristics. But you
(06:04):
were very young when you last saw Bosterville Hall, were
you not. I was a boy in my teens at
the time of my father's death and had never seen
the hall, for he lived in a little cottage on
the south coast. Thence I went straight to a friend
in America. I tell you it is all as new
to me as it is to doctor Watson, and I
(06:25):
am as keen as possible to see the moor.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Are you? Then your wish is.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Easily granted, for there is your first sight of the moor,
said doctor Mortimer, pointing out of the carriage window.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Over the green squares of the.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Fields and the low curve of a wood. There rose
in the distance a gray, melancholy hill with a strange,
jagged summit, dim and vague in the distance, like some
fantastic landscape in a dream. Boskerville sat for a long time,
his eyes fixed upon it, and I read upon his
(07:04):
eager face how much it meant to him, this first
sight of that strange spot where the men of his
blood had held sway so long and left their marks
so deep. There he sat, with his tweed suit and
his American accent, in the corner of a prosaic railway carriage.
(07:24):
And yet as I looked at his dark and expressive face,
I felt more than ever how true it descented he
was of that long line of high blooded, fiery and
masterful men. There were pride, valah and strength in his
thick brows, his sensitive nostrils, and his large hazel eyes.
(07:48):
If on that forbidding more a difficult and dangerous, questioned
lie before us, this was at least a comrade for
whom one might venture to take a risk, with the
so certainty that he would bravely share it. The train
pulled up at a small wayside station, and we all
descended outside. Beyond the low white fence, a wagon neck
(08:12):
with a pair of cobs was waiting. Our coming was
evidently a great event for station master, and porters clustered
round us to carry out our luggage. It was a sweet,
simple country spot, but I was surprised to observe that
by the gate there stood two soldierly men in dark uniforms,
(08:33):
who leaned upon their short rifles and glanced keenly at us.
As we passed the coachman, a hard faced, gnarled little
fellow saluted Sir Henry Baskerville, and in a few minutes
we were flying swiftly down the broad white road, rolling
pasture lands curved upward on either side of us, and
(08:55):
old gabled houses peeped out from amid the thick green foliage.
But behind the peaceful and sunlit countryside there rose, ever
dark against the evening sky, the long, gloomy curve of
the moor broken by the jagged and sinister hills. The
(09:18):
wagonette swung round into a side road, and we curved
upward through deep lanes worn by centuries of wheels, high
banks on either side, heavy with dripping moss, and fleshy
hearts tongue ferns, bronzing bracken and mottled bramble gleamed in
the light of the sinking sun, still steadily rising. We
(09:41):
passed over a narrow granite bridge and skirted a noisy stream,
which gushed swiftly down, foaming.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And roaring amid the gray boulders.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Both road and stream wound up through a valley dense
with scrub, oak and fur. At every turn, s Kerville
gave an exclamation of delight, looking eagerly about him and
asking countless questions. To his eyes, all seemed beautiful, but
to me a tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside,
(10:14):
which bore so clearly the mark of the waning year.
Yellow leaves carpeted the lanes and fluttered down upon us
as we passed. The rattle of our wheels died away
as we drove through drifts of rotting vegetation, sad gifts,
as it seemed to me for nature to throw before
(10:37):
the carriage of the returning air of the Baskervilles. Hello, Hello,
cried doctor Mortimer.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
What is this?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
A steep curve of heat clad lad an outline spur
of the moor lay in front of us on the SunNet,
hard and clear, like an equestrian statue. Upon its pedestal
was a mounted soldier, dark and stern, his rifle poised
(11:09):
ready over his forearm. He was watching the road along
which we traveled. What is this, Perkins asked Doctor Mortimer,
our driver half turned in his seat. There's a convict
escape from Princetown, Sir. He's been out three days now,
and the waters watch every road, in every station, but
(11:34):
they've had no side of him yet. The farmers about
here don't like it, sir. And that's a fact.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Well.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I understand that they get five.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Pounds if they can give information, Yes, sir, But the
chance of five pounds is but a poor thing compared
to the chance of having.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Your throat cut.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
You see, it isn't like any ordinary convict. This is
a man that would stick at no Who is he?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Then?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It is Selden, the nodding, ill murderer. I remembered the
case well, for it was one in which Holmes had
taken an interest on account of the peculiar ferocity of
the crime and the wanton brutality which had marked all
the actions of the assassin. The commutation of his death
sentence had been due to some doubts as to his
(12:25):
complete sanity. So atrocious was his conduct. Our wagonette had
topped her eyes, and in front of us rose the
huge expanse of the moor, mottled with gnarled and craggy
cairns and doers. A cold wind swept down from it
and set us shivering. Somewhere there on that desolate plain
(12:49):
was lurking, this fiendish man, hiding in a burrow like
a wild beast, his heart full of malignancy against the
whole race which had cast him out. It needed but
this to complete the grim suggestiveness of the barren waste,
the chilling wind, and the dark leading sky. Even Baskerville
(13:12):
fell silent and pulled his overcoat.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
More closely around him.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
We had left the fertile country behind, and beneath us
we looked back on it now, the slanting rays of
a low sun turning the streams to threads of gold,
and glowing on the red earth new turn by the
plow and the broad tangle of the woodlands. The road
in front of us grew bleaker and wilder, over huge
(13:40):
russet and olive slopes sprinkled with giant boulders. Now and
then we passed a moorland cottage, walled and roofed with stone,
with no creeper to break its harsh outline. Suddenly we
looked down into a cuplike depression, patched with stunted oaks
and furs which had been twisted and bent by the
(14:02):
fury of years of storm. Two high, narrow towers rose
over the trees. The driver pointed with his whip. Baskerville
Hall said he Its master had risen and was staring
with flushed cheeks and shining eyes. A few minutes later
(14:22):
we had reached the lodge gates, a maze of fantastic
tracery and wrought iron, with weather bitten pillars on either side,
blotched with lichens, and surmounted by the boars heads of
the Baskervilles. The lodge was a ruin of black granite
and bared ribs of rafters, but facing it was a
(14:44):
new building, half constructed, the first fruit of Sir Charles's
South African gold. Through the gateway we passed into the avenue,
where the wheels were again hushed amid the leaves, and
the old trees shot the branches in a somber tunnel
over our heads. Baskerville shuddered as he looked up the
(15:06):
long dark drive to where the house glimmered like a
ghost at the farther end. Was it here, he asked.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
In a low voice.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
No, No, the hue alley is on the other side.
The young air glanced round with the gloomy face. It's
no wonder my uncle felt as if trouble were coming
on him in such a place as this, said he.
It's enough to scare any man. I'll have a row
of electric lamps up here inside of six months, and
(15:37):
you won't know it again. With a thousand candlepowers Swan
and Edison right here in front of the hall door.
The avenue opened into a broad expanse of turf, and
the house lay before us. In the fading light, I
could see that the center was a heavy block of
building from which a porch projected. The whole front was
(16:00):
draped in ivy, with a patch clipped bare. Here and
there where a window a coat of arms broke through
the dark veil. From this central block rose the twin towers,
ancient crenulated and pierced with many loopholes. To right and
left of the turrets were more modern wings of black granite.
(16:22):
A dull light shone through heavy mullioned windows, and from
the high chimneys which rose from the steep, high angled roof.
There sprang a single black column of smoke. Welcome, Sir Henry,
Welcome to Baskerville Hall. A tall man had stepped from
(16:42):
the shadow of the porch to open the door of
the wagonette. The figure of a woman was silhouetted against
the yellow light of the hall. She came out and
helped the man to hand down our bags. You don't
mind thy driving straight home, Sir Henry, said Doctor Mortimer.
My wife is expecting me. Surely you will stay and
(17:04):
have some dinner. No, I must go. I shall probably
find some work awaiting me. I would stay to show
you over the house, but Barrymore will be a better
guide than I. Good Bye, and never hesitate night or
day to send for me if I can be of service.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
The wheels died away down the drive while Sir Henry
and I turned.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Into the hall, and the door clanged heavily behind us.
It was a fine apartment in which we found ourselves large,
lofty and heavily raftered, with huge box of age blackened
oak in the great old fashioned fireplace. Behind the high
iron dogs. A log fire crackled and snapped.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Sir Henry and I held out.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Our hands to it, for we were numb from our
long drive. Then we gazed round us at the high,
thin window of all old stained glass, the oak paneling,
the stag's heads, the coats of arms upon the walls,
all dim and somber in the subdued light of the
(18:12):
central lap. It's just as I imagined it, said Sir Henry.
Is it not the very picture of an old family home?
To think that this should be the same hall in
which for five hundred years my people have lived? It
strikes me solemn to think of it. I saw his
(18:33):
dark face lit up with a boyish enthusiasm as he
gazed about him. The light beat upon him where he stood,
but long shadows trailed down the walls and hung like
a black canopy above him. Barrymore had returned from taking
our luggage to our rooms. He stood in front of
(18:53):
us now with the subdued manner of a well trained servant.
He was a remarkable looking man, tall handsome, with a
square black beard and pale distinguished features. Would you wish
dinner to be served at once, sir? Is it ready
(19:13):
in a few minutes? Sir, you will find hot water
in your rooms. My wife and I will be happy,
Sir Henry, to stay with you until you have made
your fresh arrangements. But you will understand that under the
new conditions, this house will require a considerable staff. What
new conditions? I only meant, Sir, that Sir Charles led
(19:36):
a very retired life, and we were able to look
after his wants. You would naturally wish to have more company,
and so you will need changes in your household. Do
you mean that your wife and you wish to leave
only when it is quite convenient to you, sir? But
(19:57):
your family have been with us for several generations, have
they not? I should be sorry to begin my life
here by breaking an old family connection. I seem to
discern some signs of emotion upon the butler's white face.
I feel that also, sir, and so does my wife.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
But to tell the truth, Sir, we were both very.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Much attached to Sir Charles, and his death gave us
a shock and made these surroundings very painful to us.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I fear that we shall never.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Again be easy in our minds at Basterville Hall.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
But what do you intend to do?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I have no doubt, sir, that we shall succeed in
establishing ourselves in some business. Sir Charles's generosity has given
us the means to do so. And now, sir, perhaps
I had best show you to your rooms. A square
balustraded gallery round the top of the old hall, approached
by a double stare. From this central point to long,
(21:00):
long corridors extended the whole length of the building, from
which all the bedrooms opened. My own was in the
same wing as Baskerville's, and almost next door to it.
These rooms appeared to be much more modern than the
central part of the house, and the bright paper and
the numerous candles did something to remove the somber impression
(21:22):
which our arrival had left upon my mind. But the
dining room, which opened out of the hall was a
place of shadow and gloom. It was a long chamber
with a step separating the dais where the family sat,
from the lower portion, reserved for their dependence. At one end,
(21:43):
a minstrel's gallery overlooked it. Black beams shot across above
our heads, with the smoke doted and ceiling beyond them
with rows of flaring torches to light it up, and
the color and rude hilarity of an old time I'm banquet,
it might have softened. But now, when two black little
(22:05):
gentlemen sat in the little circle of light thrown by
a shaded lamp, one's voice became hushed in one's spirit subdued.
A dim line of ancestors in every variety of dress,
from the Elizabethan Knight to the buck of the Regency,
stared down upon us and daunted us by their silent company.
(22:29):
We talked little, and I, for one, was glad when
the meal was over and we were able to retire
into the modern billiard room and smoke a cigarette. My word,
it isn't a very cheerful place, said Sir Henry. I
suppose one can tone down to it, but I feel
(22:50):
a bit out of the picture at present. I don't
wonder that my uncle got a little jumpy if he
lived all alone in such a house as this. However,
if it suits you, we will retire early tonight, and
perhaps things may seem more cheerful in the morning. I
drew aside my curtains before I went to bed, and looked.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Out from my window.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
It opened upon the grassy space which lay in front
of the hall door. Beyond two copses of trees moaned
and swung in a rising wind. A half moon broke
through the rifts of racing clouds. In its cold light,
I saw beyond the trees a broken fringe of rocks,
(23:38):
and the long, low curve of the melancholy moor. I
closed the curtain, feeling that my last impression was in
keeping with the rest. And yet it was not quite
the last. I found myself weary and yet wakeful, tossing
restlessly from side to sun, seeking for the sleep which
(24:02):
would not come far away. A chiming clock struck out
quarters of the hours, but otherwise a deathly silence lay
upon the old house. And then suddenly, in the very
dead of the night, there came a sound to my ears, clear,
(24:22):
resonant and unmistakable. It was the sob of a woman,
the muffled, strangling gasp of one who was torn by
an uncontrollable sorrow. I sat up in bed and listened intently.
The noise could not have been far away, and was
(24:42):
certainly in the house. For half an hour, I waited
with every nerve on the alert, But there came no
other sound save the chiming clock and the rustle of
the ivy on the wall, end of Chapter six.
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