歇洛剋·福爾摩斯先生坐在桌旁早餐，他除了時常徹夜不眠之外，早晨總是起得很晚 的。我站在壁爐前的小地毯上，拿起了昨晚那位客人遺忘的手杖。這是一根很精緻而又沉重 的手杖，頂端有個疙疸；這種木料産於檳榔嶼，名叫檳榔子木。緊挨頂端的下面是一圈很寬 的銀箍，寬度約有一英寸。上刻“送給皇傢外科醫學院學士傑姆士·摩梯末， Ｃ．Ｃ．Ｈ．的朋友們贈”，還刻有“一八八四年”。這不過是一根舊式的私人醫生所常用 的那種既莊重、堅固而又實用的手杖。
“啊，華生，你對它的看法怎麽樣？”
福爾摩斯正背對着我坐在那裏，我原以為我擺弄手杖的事並沒有叫他發覺呢。
“你怎麽知道我在幹什麽呢？我想你的後腦勺兒上一定長了眼睛了吧。”
“至少我的眼前放着一把擦得很亮的鍍銀咖啡壺。”他說，“可是，華生，告訴我，你 對咱們這位客人的手杖怎樣看呢？
遺憾的是咱們沒有遇到他，對他此來的目的也一無所知，因此，這件意外的紀念品就變 得更重要了。在你把它仔細地察看過以後，把這個人給我形容一番吧。”
“我想，”我盡量沿用着我這位夥伴的推理方法說，“從認識他的人們送給他這件用來 表示敬意的紀念品來看，摩梯末醫生是一位功成名就、年歲較大的醫學界人士，並且很受人 尊敬。”
“好哇！”福爾摩斯說：“好極了！”
“我還認為，他很可能是一位在鄉村行醫的醫生，出診時多半是步行的。”
“為什麽呢？”
“因為這根手杖原來雖很漂亮，可是，已經磕碰得很厲害了，很難想象一位在城裏行醫 的醫生還肯拿着它。下端所裝的厚鐵包頭已經磨損得很厲害了，因此，顯然他曾用它走過很 多的路。”
“完全正確！”福爾摩斯說。
“還有，那上面刻着‘Ｃ．Ｃ．Ｈ．的朋友們’，據我猜想，所指的大概是個獵人會 ［因為獵人（Ｈｕｎｔｅｒ）一詞的頭一個字母是Ｈ，所以華生推想Ｃ．Ｃ．Ｈ．可能是個 什麽獵人會組織名稱的縮寫字。——譯者註］；他可能曾經給當地的這個獵人會的會員們作 過一些外科治療，因此，他們纔送了他這件小禮物表示酬謝。”
“華生，你真是大有長進了，”福爾摩斯一面說着，一面把椅子嚮後推了推，並點了支 紙煙，“我不能不說，在你熱心地為我那些微小的成就所作的一切記載裏面，你已經習慣於 低估自己的能力了。也許你本身並不能發光，但是，你是光的傳導者。有些人本身沒有天 纔，可是有着可觀的激發天才的力量。我承認，親愛的夥伴，我真是太感激你了。”
他以前從來沒有講過這麽多的話，不可否認，他的話給了我極大的快樂。因為過去他對 於我對他的欽佩和企圖將他的推理方法公諸於衆所作的努力，常是報以漠然視之的態度，這 樣很傷我的自尊心。而現在我居然也能掌握了他的方法，並且實際應用起來，還得到了他的 贊許，想起這點我就感到很驕傲。現在他從我手中把手杖拿了過去，用眼睛審視了幾分鐘， 然後帶着一副很感興趣的神情放下了紙煙，把手杖拿到窗前又用放大鏡仔細察看起來。
“雖很簡單，但還有趣，”他說着就重新在他所最喜歡的那衹長椅的一端坐下了，“手 杖上確實有一兩處能夠說明問題。它給我們的推論提供了根據。”
“我還漏掉了什麽東西嗎？”我有些自負地問道，“我相信我沒有把重大的地方忽略 掉。”
“親愛的華生，恐怕你的結論大部分都是錯誤的呢！坦白地說吧，當我說你激發了我的 時候，我的意思是說：在我指出你謬誤之處的同時，往往就把我引嚮了真理。但並不是說這 一次你完全錯誤了。那個人肯定是一位在鄉村行醫的醫生，而且他確是常常步行的。”
“那麽說，我的猜測就是對的了。”
“也衹是到這個程度而已。”
“但是，那就是全部事實了。”
“不，不，親愛的華生，並非全部——决不是全部。譬如說，我倒願意提出，送給這位 醫生的這件禮物，與其說是來自獵人會，倒不如說是來自一傢醫院；由於兩個字頭 ‘Ｃ．Ｃ．’是放在‘醫院’一詞（在英文中，醫院一詞的字頭也是Ｈ）之前的。因此，很 自然的使人想起了ＣｈａｒｉｎｇＣｒｏｓｓ這兩個字來。”
“也許是你對了。”
“很可能是這樣的。如果咱們拿這一點當作有效的假設的話，那我們就又有了一個新的 根據了。由這個根據出發，就能對這位未知的來客進行描繪了。”
“好吧！假設‘Ｃ．Ｃ．Ｈ．’所指的就是查林十字醫院，那麽我們究竟能得出什麽進 一步的結論呢？”
“難道就沒有一點能夠說明問題的地方了嗎？既然懂得了我的方法，那麽就應用吧！”
“我衹能想出一個明顯的結論來，那個人在下鄉之前曾在城裏行過醫。”
“我想咱們可以大膽地比這更前進一步，從這樣的角度來看，最可能是在什麽樣的情況 下，纔會發生這樣的贈禮的行動呢？在什麽時候，他的朋友們纔會聯合起來嚮他表示他們的 好意呢？顯然是在摩梯末為了自行開業而離開醫院的時候。
我們知道有過一次贈禮的事；我們相信他曾從一傢城市醫院轉到鄉村去行醫。那麽咱們 下結論，說這禮物是在這個轉換的當兒送的不算過分吧。”
“看來當然是可能的。”
“現在，你可以看得出來，他不會是主要醫師，因為衹有當一個人在倫敦行醫已有了相 當名望的時候，才能據有這樣的地位，而這樣的一個人就不會遷往鄉村去了。那麽，他究竟 是個做什麽的呢？如果說他是在醫院裏工作而又不算在主要醫師之列，那麽他就衹可能是個 住院外科醫生或者是住院內科醫生——地位稍稍高於醫學院最高年級的學生；而他是在五年 以前離開的——日期是刻在手杖上的，因此你的那位嚴肅的、中年的醫生就化為烏有了。親 愛的華生，可是這裏出現了一位青年人，不到三十歲，和藹可親、安於現狀、馬馬虎虎，他 還有一隻心愛的狗，我可以大略地把它形容成比狸犬大，比獒犬小。”
我不相信地笑了起來。歇洛剋·福爾摩斯嚮後靠在長椅上，嚮天花板上吐着飄蕩不定的 小煙圈。
“至於後一部份，我無法檢查你是否正確，”我說，“但是要想找出幾個有關他的年齡 和履歷的特點來，至少是不怎麽睏難的。”我從我那小小的放醫學書籍的書架上拿下一本醫 藥手册來，翻到人名欄的地方。裏面有好幾個姓摩梯末的，但衹有一個可能是我們的來客。 我高聲地讀出了這段記載：
“傑姆士·摩梯末，一八八二年畢業於皇傢外科醫學院，德文郡達特沼地格林盆人。一 八八二至一八八四年在查林十字醫院任住院外科醫生。因著文《疾病是否隔代遺傳》而獲得 傑剋遜比較病理學奬金。瑞典病理學協會通訊會員。曾著有《幾種隔代遺傳的畸形癥》（載 於一八八二年的《柳葉刀》），［《柳葉刀》（原文為Ｌａｎｃｅ）是英國的一種醫學雜 志，至今仍繼續出版。——譯者註］《我們在前進嗎？》（載於一八八三年三月份的《心理 學報》）。曾任格林盆、索斯利和高塚村等教區的醫務官。”
“並沒有提到那個本地的獵人會啊，華生！”福爾摩斯帶着嘲弄的微笑說，“正象你所 說的觀察結果一樣，他不過是個鄉村醫生；我覺得我的推論是很正確的了。至於那些形容 詞，如果我記得不錯的話，我說過‘和藹可親、安於現狀和馬馬虎虎’。根據我的經驗，在 這個世界裏衹有待人親切的人才會收到紀念品；衹有不貪功名的人才會放棄倫敦的生涯而跑 到鄉村去；衹有馬馬虎虎的人才會在你的屋裏等了一小時以後不留下自己的名片，反而留下 自己的手杖。”
“那狗呢？”
“經常是叼着這根手杖跟在它主人的後面。由於這根木杖很重，狗不得不緊緊地叼着它 的中央，因此，它的牙印就能看得很清楚了。從這些牙印間的空隙看來，我以為這衹狗的下 巴要比狸犬下巴寬，而比獒犬下巴窄。它可能是……對了，它一定是一隻捲毛的長耳獚 犬。”
他站了起來，一面說着一面在屋裏來回地走着。他在嚮樓外突出的窗臺前站住了。他的 語調裏充滿了自信，引得我擡起頭來，以驚奇的眼光望着他。
“親愛的夥伴，對這一點，你怎麽能這樣地肯定呢？”
“原因很簡單，我現在已經看到那衹狗正在咱們大門口的臺階上，而且它主人按鈴的聲 音也傳了上來。不要動，我懇求你，華生。他是你的同行兄弟，你在場對我也許會有幫助。
華生，現在真是命運之中最富戲劇性的時刻了，你聽得到樓梯上的腳步聲了吧，他正在 走進你的生活；可是，你竟不知道是禍是福。這位醫學界的人物，傑姆士·摩梯末醫生要嚮 犯罪問題專傢歇洛剋·福爾摩斯請教些什麽呢？請進！”
這位客人的外表，對我來說真是值得驚奇的事，因為我先前預料的是一位典型的鄉村醫 生，而他卻是一個又高又瘦的人，長長的鼻子象衹鳥嘴，突出在一雙敏銳而呈灰色的眼睛之 間，兩眼相距很近，在一副金邊眼鏡的後面炯炯發光。他穿的是他這一行人常愛穿的衣服， 可是相當落拓，因為他的外衣已經髒了，褲子也已磨損。雖然還年輕，可是長長的後背已經 彎麯了，他在走路的時候頭嚮前探着，並具有貴族般的慈祥風度。他一進來，眼光馬上就落 在福爾摩斯拿着的手杖上了，他歡呼一聲就嚮他跑了過去。“我太高興了！”他說道，“我 不能肯定究竟是把它忘在這裏了呢？還是忘在輪船公司裏了。我寧可失去整個世界，也不願 失去這根手杖。”
“我想它是件禮物吧。”福爾摩斯說。
“是的，先生。”
“是查林十字醫院送的嗎？”
“是那裏的兩個朋友在我結婚時送的。”
“唉呀！天哪，真糟糕！”福爾摩斯搖着頭說。
摩梯末醫生透過眼鏡稍顯驚異地眨了眨眼。
“為什麽糟糕？”
“因為您已經打亂了我們的幾個小小的推論。您說是在結婚的時候，是嗎？”
“是的，先生，我一結婚就離開了醫院，也放棄了成為顧問醫生［顧問醫生為醫生中之 地位最高者。顧問醫生停止一般醫療工作而專門協助診斷治療一般醫生難以診治之疑難病 癥。——譯者註］的全部希望。可是，為了能建立起自己的家庭來，這樣做是完全必要 的。”
“啊哈！我們總算還沒有弄錯。”福爾摩斯說道，“嗯，傑姆士·摩梯末博士……”
“您稱我先生好了，我是個卑微的皇傢外科醫學院的學生。”
“而且顯而易見，還是個思想精密的人。”
“一個對科學略知一二的人，福爾摩斯先生；一個在廣大的未知的海洋岸邊揀貝殼的 人。我想我是在對歇洛剋·福爾摩斯先生講話，而不是……”
“不，這是我的朋友華生醫生。”
“很高興能見到您，先生。我曾聽到人傢把您和您朋友的名字相提並論。您使我很感興 趣，福爾摩斯先生。我真想不到會看見這樣長長的頭顱或是這種深深陷入的眼窩。您不反對 我用手指沿着您的頭頂骨縫摸一摸吧，先生？在沒有得到您這具頭骨的實物以前，如果按照 您的頭骨做成模型，對任何人類學博物館說來都會是一件出色的標本。我並不想招人討厭， 可是我承認，我真是羨慕您的頭骨。”
歇洛剋·福爾摩斯用手勢請我們的陌生客人在椅子上坐下。“先生，我看得出來，您和 我一樣，是個很熱心於思考本行問題的人，如同我對我的本行一樣。”他說道，“我從您的 食指上能看出來您是自己捲煙抽的；不必猶豫了，請點一支吧。”
那人拿出了捲煙紙和煙草，在手中以驚人的熟練手法捲成了一支。他那長長的手指抖動 着，好象昆蟲的觸須一樣。
福爾摩斯很平靜，可是他那迅速地轉來轉去的眼珠使我看出，他已對我們這位怪異的客 人發生了興趣。
“我認為，先生，”他終於說起話來了，“您昨晚賞光來訪，今天又來，恐怕不僅僅是 為了研究我的頭顱吧？”
“不，先生，不是的，雖然我也很高興有機會這樣做。我所以來找您，福爾摩斯先生， 是因為我知道我自己是個缺乏實際經驗的人，而且我忽然遇到了一件最為嚴重而又極為特殊 的問題。由於我確知您是歐洲第二位最高明的專傢……”
“喝，先生！請問，榮幸地站在第一位的是誰呢？”福爾摩斯有些刻薄地問道。
“對於一個具有精確的科學頭腦的人來說，貝蒂榮先生辦案的手法總是具有很強的吸引 力的。”
“那麽您去找他商討不是更好嗎？”
“先生，我是說，就具有精確的科學頭腦的人說來。可是，就對事物的實際經驗說來， 衆所共知的，您是獨一無二的了。東西
我相信，先生，我並沒有在無意之中……”
“不過稍微有一點罷了，”福爾摩斯說道，“我想，摩梯末醫生，最好請您立刻把要求 我協助的問題明白地告訴我吧。”
"Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"
Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.
"How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head."
"I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me," said he. "But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor's stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it."
"I think," said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, "that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation."
"Good!" said Holmes. "Excellent!"
"I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot."
"Why so?"
"Because this stick, though originally a very handsome one has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it. The thick-iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it."
"Perfectly sound!" said Holmes.
"And then again, there is the 'friends of the C.C.H.' I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return."
"Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt."
He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens.
"Interesting, though elementary," said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. "There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions."
"Has anything escaped me?" I asked with some self-importance. "I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked?"
"I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth. Not that you are entirely wrong in this instance. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal."
"Then I was right."
"To that extent."
"But that was all."
"No, no, my dear Watson, not all--by no means all. I would suggest, for example, that a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt, and that when the initials 'C.C.' are placed before that hospital the words 'Charing Cross' very naturally suggest themselves."
"You may be right."
"The probability lies in that direction. And if we take this as a working hypothesis we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor."
"Well, then, supposing that 'C.C.H.' does stand for 'Charing Cross Hospital,' what further inferences may we draw?"
"Do none suggest themselves? You know my methods. Apply them!"
"I can only think of the obvious conclusion that the man has practised in town before going to the country."
"I think that we might venture a little farther than this. Look at it in this light. On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? When would his friends unite to give him a pledge of their good will? Obviously at the moment when Dr. Mortimer withdrew from the service of the hospital in order to start in practice for himself. We know there has been a presentation. We believe there has been a change from a town hospital to a country practice. Is it, then, stretching our inference too far to say that the presentation was on the occasion of the change?"
"It certainly seems probable."
"Now, you will observe that he could not have been on the staff of the hospital, since only a man well-established in a London practice could hold such a position, and such a one would not drift into the country. What was he, then? If he was in the hospital and yet not on the staff he could only have been a house-surgeon or a house-physician--little more than a senior student. And he left five years ago--the date is on the stick. So your grave, middle-aged family practitioner vanishes into thin air, my dear Watson, and there emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, absent-minded, and the possessor of a favourite dog, which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff."
I laughed incredulously as Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his settee and blew little wavering rings of smoke up to the ceiling.
"As to the latter part, I have no means of checking you," said I, "but at least it is not difficult to find out a few particulars about the man's age and professional career." From my small medical shelf I took down the Medical Directory and turned up the name. There were several Mortimers, but only one who could be our visitor. I read his record aloud.
"Mortimer, James, M.R.C.S., 1882, Grimpen, Dartmoor, Devon. House-surgeon, from 1882 to 1884, at Charing Cross Hospital. Winner of the Jackson prize for Comparative Pathology, with essay entitled 'Is Disease a Reversion?' Corresponding member of the Swedish Pathological Society. Author of 'Some Freaks of Atavism' (Lancet 1882). 'Do We Progress?' (Journal of Psychology, March, 1883). Medical Officer for the parishes of Grimpen, Thorsley, and High Barrow."
"No mention of that local hunt, Watson," said Holmes with a mischievous smile, "but a country doctor, as you very astutely observed. I think that I am fairly justified in my inferences. As to the adjectives, I said, if I remember right, amiable, unambitious, and absent-minded. It is my experience that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, only an unambitious one who abandons a London career for the country, and only an absent-minded one who leaves his stick and not his visiting-card after waiting an hour in your room."
"And the dog?"
"Has been in the habit of carrying this stick behind his master. Being a heavy stick the dog has held it tightly by the middle, and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible. The dog's jaw, as shown in the space between these marks, is too broad in my opinion for a terrier and not broad enough for a mastiff. It may have been--yes, by Jove, it is a curly-haired spaniel."
He had risen and paced the room as he spoke. Now he halted in the recess of the window. There was such a ring of conviction in his voice that I glanced up in surprise.
"My dear fellow, how can you possibly be so sure of that?"
"For the very simple reason that I see the dog himself on our very door-step, and there is the ring of its owner. Don't move, I beg you, Watson. He is a professional brother of yours, and your presence may be of assistance to me. Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill. What does Dr. James Mortimer, the man of science, ask of Sherlock Holmes, the specialist in crime? Come in!"
The appearance of our visitor was a surprise to me, since I had expected a typical country practitioner. He was a very tall, thin man, with a long nose like a beak, which jutted out between two keen, gray eyes, set closely together and sparkling brightly from behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He was clad in a professional but rather slovenly fashion, for his frock-coat was dingy and his trousers frayed. Though young, his long back was already bowed, and he walked with a forward thrust of his head and a general air of peering benevolence. As he entered his eyes fell upon the stick in Holmes's hand, and he ran towards it with an exclamation of joy. "I am so very glad," said he. "I was not sure whether I had left it here or in the Shipping Office. I would not lose that stick for the world."
"A presentation, I see," said Holmes.
"Yes, sir."
"From Charing Cross Hospital?"
"From one or two friends there on the occasion of my marriage."
"Dear, dear, that's bad!" said Holmes, shaking his head.
Dr. Mortimer blinked through his glasses in mild astonishment.
"Why was it bad?"
"Only that you have disarranged our little deductions. Your marriage, you say?"
"Yes, sir. I married, and so left the hospital, and with it all hopes of a consulting practice. It was necessary to make a home of my own."
"Come, come, we are not so far wrong, after all," said Holmes. "And now, Dr. James Mortimer ------"
"Mister, sir, Mister--a humble M.R.C.S."
"And a man of precise mind, evidently."
"A dabbler in science, Mr. Holmes, a picker up of shells on the shores of the great unknown ocean. I presume that it is Mr. Sherlock Holmes whom I am addressing and not ------"
"No, this is my friend Dr. Watson."
"Glad to meet you, sir. I have heard your name mentioned in connection with that of your friend. You interest me very much, Mr. Holmes. I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull."
Sherlock Holmes waved our strange visitor into a chair. "You are an enthusiast in your line of thought, I perceive, sir, as I am in mine," said he. "I observe from your forefinger that you make your own cigarettes. Have no hesitation in lighting one."
The man drew out paper and tobacco and twirled the one up in the other with surprising dexterity. He had long, quivering fingers as agile and restless as the antennae of an insect.
Holmes was silent, but his little darting glances showed me the interest which he took in our curious companion.
"I presume, sir," said he at last, "that it was not merely for the purpose of examining my skull that you have done me the honour to call here last night and again to-day?"
"No, sir, no; though I am happy to have had the opportunity of doing that as well. I came to you, Mr. Holmes, because I recognized that I am myself an unpractical man and because I am suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. Recognizing, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europe ------"
"Indeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?" asked Holmes with some asperity.
"To the man of precisely scientific mind the work of Monsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly."
"Then had you not better consult him?"
"I said, sir, to the precisely scientific mind. But as a practical man of affairs it is acknowledged that you stand alone. I trust, sir, that I have not inadvertently ------"
"Just a little," said Holmes. "I think, Dr. Mortimer, you would do wisely if without more ado you would kindly tell me plainly what the exact nature of the problem is in which you demand my assistance."
“啊，華生，你對它的看法怎麽樣？”
福爾摩斯正背對着我坐在那裏，我原以為我擺弄手杖的事並沒有叫他發覺呢。
“你怎麽知道我在幹什麽呢？我想你的後腦勺兒上一定長了眼睛了吧。”
“至少我的眼前放着一把擦得很亮的鍍銀咖啡壺。”他說，“可是，華生，告訴我，你 對咱們這位客人的手杖怎樣看呢？
遺憾的是咱們沒有遇到他，對他此來的目的也一無所知，因此，這件意外的紀念品就變 得更重要了。在你把它仔細地察看過以後，把這個人給我形容一番吧。”
“我想，”我盡量沿用着我這位夥伴的推理方法說，“從認識他的人們送給他這件用來 表示敬意的紀念品來看，摩梯末醫生是一位功成名就、年歲較大的醫學界人士，並且很受人 尊敬。”
“好哇！”福爾摩斯說：“好極了！”
“我還認為，他很可能是一位在鄉村行醫的醫生，出診時多半是步行的。”
“為什麽呢？”
“因為這根手杖原來雖很漂亮，可是，已經磕碰得很厲害了，很難想象一位在城裏行醫 的醫生還肯拿着它。下端所裝的厚鐵包頭已經磨損得很厲害了，因此，顯然他曾用它走過很 多的路。”
“完全正確！”福爾摩斯說。
“還有，那上面刻着‘Ｃ．Ｃ．Ｈ．的朋友們’，據我猜想，所指的大概是個獵人會 ［因為獵人（Ｈｕｎｔｅｒ）一詞的頭一個字母是Ｈ，所以華生推想Ｃ．Ｃ．Ｈ．可能是個 什麽獵人會組織名稱的縮寫字。——譯者註］；他可能曾經給當地的這個獵人會的會員們作 過一些外科治療，因此，他們纔送了他這件小禮物表示酬謝。”
“華生，你真是大有長進了，”福爾摩斯一面說着，一面把椅子嚮後推了推，並點了支 紙煙，“我不能不說，在你熱心地為我那些微小的成就所作的一切記載裏面，你已經習慣於 低估自己的能力了。也許你本身並不能發光，但是，你是光的傳導者。有些人本身沒有天 纔，可是有着可觀的激發天才的力量。我承認，親愛的夥伴，我真是太感激你了。”
他以前從來沒有講過這麽多的話，不可否認，他的話給了我極大的快樂。因為過去他對 於我對他的欽佩和企圖將他的推理方法公諸於衆所作的努力，常是報以漠然視之的態度，這 樣很傷我的自尊心。而現在我居然也能掌握了他的方法，並且實際應用起來，還得到了他的 贊許，想起這點我就感到很驕傲。現在他從我手中把手杖拿了過去，用眼睛審視了幾分鐘， 然後帶着一副很感興趣的神情放下了紙煙，把手杖拿到窗前又用放大鏡仔細察看起來。
“雖很簡單，但還有趣，”他說着就重新在他所最喜歡的那衹長椅的一端坐下了，“手 杖上確實有一兩處能夠說明問題。它給我們的推論提供了根據。”
“我還漏掉了什麽東西嗎？”我有些自負地問道，“我相信我沒有把重大的地方忽略 掉。”
“親愛的華生，恐怕你的結論大部分都是錯誤的呢！坦白地說吧，當我說你激發了我的 時候，我的意思是說：在我指出你謬誤之處的同時，往往就把我引嚮了真理。但並不是說這 一次你完全錯誤了。那個人肯定是一位在鄉村行醫的醫生，而且他確是常常步行的。”
“那麽說，我的猜測就是對的了。”
“也衹是到這個程度而已。”
“但是，那就是全部事實了。”
“不，不，親愛的華生，並非全部——决不是全部。譬如說，我倒願意提出，送給這位 醫生的這件禮物，與其說是來自獵人會，倒不如說是來自一傢醫院；由於兩個字頭 ‘Ｃ．Ｃ．’是放在‘醫院’一詞（在英文中，醫院一詞的字頭也是Ｈ）之前的。因此，很 自然的使人想起了ＣｈａｒｉｎｇＣｒｏｓｓ這兩個字來。”
“也許是你對了。”
“很可能是這樣的。如果咱們拿這一點當作有效的假設的話，那我們就又有了一個新的 根據了。由這個根據出發，就能對這位未知的來客進行描繪了。”
“好吧！假設‘Ｃ．Ｃ．Ｈ．’所指的就是查林十字醫院，那麽我們究竟能得出什麽進 一步的結論呢？”
“難道就沒有一點能夠說明問題的地方了嗎？既然懂得了我的方法，那麽就應用吧！”
“我衹能想出一個明顯的結論來，那個人在下鄉之前曾在城裏行過醫。”
“我想咱們可以大膽地比這更前進一步，從這樣的角度來看，最可能是在什麽樣的情況 下，纔會發生這樣的贈禮的行動呢？在什麽時候，他的朋友們纔會聯合起來嚮他表示他們的 好意呢？顯然是在摩梯末為了自行開業而離開醫院的時候。
我們知道有過一次贈禮的事；我們相信他曾從一傢城市醫院轉到鄉村去行醫。那麽咱們 下結論，說這禮物是在這個轉換的當兒送的不算過分吧。”
“看來當然是可能的。”
“現在，你可以看得出來，他不會是主要醫師，因為衹有當一個人在倫敦行醫已有了相 當名望的時候，才能據有這樣的地位，而這樣的一個人就不會遷往鄉村去了。那麽，他究竟 是個做什麽的呢？如果說他是在醫院裏工作而又不算在主要醫師之列，那麽他就衹可能是個 住院外科醫生或者是住院內科醫生——地位稍稍高於醫學院最高年級的學生；而他是在五年 以前離開的——日期是刻在手杖上的，因此你的那位嚴肅的、中年的醫生就化為烏有了。親 愛的華生，可是這裏出現了一位青年人，不到三十歲，和藹可親、安於現狀、馬馬虎虎，他 還有一隻心愛的狗，我可以大略地把它形容成比狸犬大，比獒犬小。”
我不相信地笑了起來。歇洛剋·福爾摩斯嚮後靠在長椅上，嚮天花板上吐着飄蕩不定的 小煙圈。
“至於後一部份，我無法檢查你是否正確，”我說，“但是要想找出幾個有關他的年齡 和履歷的特點來，至少是不怎麽睏難的。”我從我那小小的放醫學書籍的書架上拿下一本醫 藥手册來，翻到人名欄的地方。裏面有好幾個姓摩梯末的，但衹有一個可能是我們的來客。 我高聲地讀出了這段記載：
“傑姆士·摩梯末，一八八二年畢業於皇傢外科醫學院，德文郡達特沼地格林盆人。一 八八二至一八八四年在查林十字醫院任住院外科醫生。因著文《疾病是否隔代遺傳》而獲得 傑剋遜比較病理學奬金。瑞典病理學協會通訊會員。曾著有《幾種隔代遺傳的畸形癥》（載 於一八八二年的《柳葉刀》），［《柳葉刀》（原文為Ｌａｎｃｅ）是英國的一種醫學雜 志，至今仍繼續出版。——譯者註］《我們在前進嗎？》（載於一八八三年三月份的《心理 學報》）。曾任格林盆、索斯利和高塚村等教區的醫務官。”
“並沒有提到那個本地的獵人會啊，華生！”福爾摩斯帶着嘲弄的微笑說，“正象你所 說的觀察結果一樣，他不過是個鄉村醫生；我覺得我的推論是很正確的了。至於那些形容 詞，如果我記得不錯的話，我說過‘和藹可親、安於現狀和馬馬虎虎’。根據我的經驗，在 這個世界裏衹有待人親切的人才會收到紀念品；衹有不貪功名的人才會放棄倫敦的生涯而跑 到鄉村去；衹有馬馬虎虎的人才會在你的屋裏等了一小時以後不留下自己的名片，反而留下 自己的手杖。”
“那狗呢？”
“經常是叼着這根手杖跟在它主人的後面。由於這根木杖很重，狗不得不緊緊地叼着它 的中央，因此，它的牙印就能看得很清楚了。從這些牙印間的空隙看來，我以為這衹狗的下 巴要比狸犬下巴寬，而比獒犬下巴窄。它可能是……對了，它一定是一隻捲毛的長耳獚 犬。”
他站了起來，一面說着一面在屋裏來回地走着。他在嚮樓外突出的窗臺前站住了。他的 語調裏充滿了自信，引得我擡起頭來，以驚奇的眼光望着他。
“親愛的夥伴，對這一點，你怎麽能這樣地肯定呢？”
“原因很簡單，我現在已經看到那衹狗正在咱們大門口的臺階上，而且它主人按鈴的聲 音也傳了上來。不要動，我懇求你，華生。他是你的同行兄弟，你在場對我也許會有幫助。
華生，現在真是命運之中最富戲劇性的時刻了，你聽得到樓梯上的腳步聲了吧，他正在 走進你的生活；可是，你竟不知道是禍是福。這位醫學界的人物，傑姆士·摩梯末醫生要嚮 犯罪問題專傢歇洛剋·福爾摩斯請教些什麽呢？請進！”
這位客人的外表，對我來說真是值得驚奇的事，因為我先前預料的是一位典型的鄉村醫 生，而他卻是一個又高又瘦的人，長長的鼻子象衹鳥嘴，突出在一雙敏銳而呈灰色的眼睛之 間，兩眼相距很近，在一副金邊眼鏡的後面炯炯發光。他穿的是他這一行人常愛穿的衣服， 可是相當落拓，因為他的外衣已經髒了，褲子也已磨損。雖然還年輕，可是長長的後背已經 彎麯了，他在走路的時候頭嚮前探着，並具有貴族般的慈祥風度。他一進來，眼光馬上就落 在福爾摩斯拿着的手杖上了，他歡呼一聲就嚮他跑了過去。“我太高興了！”他說道，“我 不能肯定究竟是把它忘在這裏了呢？還是忘在輪船公司裏了。我寧可失去整個世界，也不願 失去這根手杖。”
“我想它是件禮物吧。”福爾摩斯說。
“是的，先生。”
“是查林十字醫院送的嗎？”
“是那裏的兩個朋友在我結婚時送的。”
“唉呀！天哪，真糟糕！”福爾摩斯搖着頭說。
摩梯末醫生透過眼鏡稍顯驚異地眨了眨眼。
“為什麽糟糕？”
“因為您已經打亂了我們的幾個小小的推論。您說是在結婚的時候，是嗎？”
“是的，先生，我一結婚就離開了醫院，也放棄了成為顧問醫生［顧問醫生為醫生中之 地位最高者。顧問醫生停止一般醫療工作而專門協助診斷治療一般醫生難以診治之疑難病 癥。——譯者註］的全部希望。可是，為了能建立起自己的家庭來，這樣做是完全必要 的。”
“啊哈！我們總算還沒有弄錯。”福爾摩斯說道，“嗯，傑姆士·摩梯末博士……”
“您稱我先生好了，我是個卑微的皇傢外科醫學院的學生。”
“而且顯而易見，還是個思想精密的人。”
“一個對科學略知一二的人，福爾摩斯先生；一個在廣大的未知的海洋岸邊揀貝殼的 人。我想我是在對歇洛剋·福爾摩斯先生講話，而不是……”
“不，這是我的朋友華生醫生。”
“很高興能見到您，先生。我曾聽到人傢把您和您朋友的名字相提並論。您使我很感興 趣，福爾摩斯先生。我真想不到會看見這樣長長的頭顱或是這種深深陷入的眼窩。您不反對 我用手指沿着您的頭頂骨縫摸一摸吧，先生？在沒有得到您這具頭骨的實物以前，如果按照 您的頭骨做成模型，對任何人類學博物館說來都會是一件出色的標本。我並不想招人討厭， 可是我承認，我真是羨慕您的頭骨。”
歇洛剋·福爾摩斯用手勢請我們的陌生客人在椅子上坐下。“先生，我看得出來，您和 我一樣，是個很熱心於思考本行問題的人，如同我對我的本行一樣。”他說道，“我從您的 食指上能看出來您是自己捲煙抽的；不必猶豫了，請點一支吧。”
那人拿出了捲煙紙和煙草，在手中以驚人的熟練手法捲成了一支。他那長長的手指抖動 着，好象昆蟲的觸須一樣。
福爾摩斯很平靜，可是他那迅速地轉來轉去的眼珠使我看出，他已對我們這位怪異的客 人發生了興趣。
“我認為，先生，”他終於說起話來了，“您昨晚賞光來訪，今天又來，恐怕不僅僅是 為了研究我的頭顱吧？”
“不，先生，不是的，雖然我也很高興有機會這樣做。我所以來找您，福爾摩斯先生， 是因為我知道我自己是個缺乏實際經驗的人，而且我忽然遇到了一件最為嚴重而又極為特殊 的問題。由於我確知您是歐洲第二位最高明的專傢……”
“喝，先生！請問，榮幸地站在第一位的是誰呢？”福爾摩斯有些刻薄地問道。
“對於一個具有精確的科學頭腦的人來說，貝蒂榮先生辦案的手法總是具有很強的吸引 力的。”
“那麽您去找他商討不是更好嗎？”
“先生，我是說，就具有精確的科學頭腦的人說來。可是，就對事物的實際經驗說來， 衆所共知的，您是獨一無二的了。東西
我相信，先生，我並沒有在無意之中……”
“不過稍微有一點罷了，”福爾摩斯說道，“我想，摩梯末醫生，最好請您立刻把要求 我協助的問題明白地告訴我吧。”
"Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"
Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.
"How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head."
"I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me," said he. "But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor's stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it."
"I think," said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, "that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation."
"Good!" said Holmes. "Excellent!"
"I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot."
"Why so?"
"Because this stick, though originally a very handsome one has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it. The thick-iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it."
"Perfectly sound!" said Holmes.
"And then again, there is the 'friends of the C.C.H.' I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return."
"Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt."
He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens.
"Interesting, though elementary," said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. "There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions."
"Has anything escaped me?" I asked with some self-importance. "I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked?"
"I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth. Not that you are entirely wrong in this instance. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal."
"Then I was right."
"To that extent."
"But that was all."
"No, no, my dear Watson, not all--by no means all. I would suggest, for example, that a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt, and that when the initials 'C.C.' are placed before that hospital the words 'Charing Cross' very naturally suggest themselves."
"You may be right."
"The probability lies in that direction. And if we take this as a working hypothesis we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor."
"Well, then, supposing that 'C.C.H.' does stand for 'Charing Cross Hospital,' what further inferences may we draw?"
"Do none suggest themselves? You know my methods. Apply them!"
"I can only think of the obvious conclusion that the man has practised in town before going to the country."
"I think that we might venture a little farther than this. Look at it in this light. On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? When would his friends unite to give him a pledge of their good will? Obviously at the moment when Dr. Mortimer withdrew from the service of the hospital in order to start in practice for himself. We know there has been a presentation. We believe there has been a change from a town hospital to a country practice. Is it, then, stretching our inference too far to say that the presentation was on the occasion of the change?"
"It certainly seems probable."
"Now, you will observe that he could not have been on the staff of the hospital, since only a man well-established in a London practice could hold such a position, and such a one would not drift into the country. What was he, then? If he was in the hospital and yet not on the staff he could only have been a house-surgeon or a house-physician--little more than a senior student. And he left five years ago--the date is on the stick. So your grave, middle-aged family practitioner vanishes into thin air, my dear Watson, and there emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, absent-minded, and the possessor of a favourite dog, which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff."
I laughed incredulously as Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his settee and blew little wavering rings of smoke up to the ceiling.
"As to the latter part, I have no means of checking you," said I, "but at least it is not difficult to find out a few particulars about the man's age and professional career." From my small medical shelf I took down the Medical Directory and turned up the name. There were several Mortimers, but only one who could be our visitor. I read his record aloud.
"Mortimer, James, M.R.C.S., 1882, Grimpen, Dartmoor, Devon. House-surgeon, from 1882 to 1884, at Charing Cross Hospital. Winner of the Jackson prize for Comparative Pathology, with essay entitled 'Is Disease a Reversion?' Corresponding member of the Swedish Pathological Society. Author of 'Some Freaks of Atavism' (Lancet 1882). 'Do We Progress?' (Journal of Psychology, March, 1883). Medical Officer for the parishes of Grimpen, Thorsley, and High Barrow."
"No mention of that local hunt, Watson," said Holmes with a mischievous smile, "but a country doctor, as you very astutely observed. I think that I am fairly justified in my inferences. As to the adjectives, I said, if I remember right, amiable, unambitious, and absent-minded. It is my experience that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, only an unambitious one who abandons a London career for the country, and only an absent-minded one who leaves his stick and not his visiting-card after waiting an hour in your room."
"And the dog?"
"Has been in the habit of carrying this stick behind his master. Being a heavy stick the dog has held it tightly by the middle, and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible. The dog's jaw, as shown in the space between these marks, is too broad in my opinion for a terrier and not broad enough for a mastiff. It may have been--yes, by Jove, it is a curly-haired spaniel."
He had risen and paced the room as he spoke. Now he halted in the recess of the window. There was such a ring of conviction in his voice that I glanced up in surprise.
"My dear fellow, how can you possibly be so sure of that?"
"For the very simple reason that I see the dog himself on our very door-step, and there is the ring of its owner. Don't move, I beg you, Watson. He is a professional brother of yours, and your presence may be of assistance to me. Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill. What does Dr. James Mortimer, the man of science, ask of Sherlock Holmes, the specialist in crime? Come in!"
The appearance of our visitor was a surprise to me, since I had expected a typical country practitioner. He was a very tall, thin man, with a long nose like a beak, which jutted out between two keen, gray eyes, set closely together and sparkling brightly from behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He was clad in a professional but rather slovenly fashion, for his frock-coat was dingy and his trousers frayed. Though young, his long back was already bowed, and he walked with a forward thrust of his head and a general air of peering benevolence. As he entered his eyes fell upon the stick in Holmes's hand, and he ran towards it with an exclamation of joy. "I am so very glad," said he. "I was not sure whether I had left it here or in the Shipping Office. I would not lose that stick for the world."
"A presentation, I see," said Holmes.
"Yes, sir."
"From Charing Cross Hospital?"
"From one or two friends there on the occasion of my marriage."
"Dear, dear, that's bad!" said Holmes, shaking his head.
Dr. Mortimer blinked through his glasses in mild astonishment.
"Why was it bad?"
"Only that you have disarranged our little deductions. Your marriage, you say?"
"Yes, sir. I married, and so left the hospital, and with it all hopes of a consulting practice. It was necessary to make a home of my own."
"Come, come, we are not so far wrong, after all," said Holmes. "And now, Dr. James Mortimer ------"
"Mister, sir, Mister--a humble M.R.C.S."
"And a man of precise mind, evidently."
"A dabbler in science, Mr. Holmes, a picker up of shells on the shores of the great unknown ocean. I presume that it is Mr. Sherlock Holmes whom I am addressing and not ------"
"No, this is my friend Dr. Watson."
"Glad to meet you, sir. I have heard your name mentioned in connection with that of your friend. You interest me very much, Mr. Holmes. I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull."
Sherlock Holmes waved our strange visitor into a chair. "You are an enthusiast in your line of thought, I perceive, sir, as I am in mine," said he. "I observe from your forefinger that you make your own cigarettes. Have no hesitation in lighting one."
The man drew out paper and tobacco and twirled the one up in the other with surprising dexterity. He had long, quivering fingers as agile and restless as the antennae of an insect.
Holmes was silent, but his little darting glances showed me the interest which he took in our curious companion.
"I presume, sir," said he at last, "that it was not merely for the purpose of examining my skull that you have done me the honour to call here last night and again to-day?"
"No, sir, no; though I am happy to have had the opportunity of doing that as well. I came to you, Mr. Holmes, because I recognized that I am myself an unpractical man and because I am suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. Recognizing, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europe ------"
"Indeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?" asked Holmes with some asperity.
"To the man of precisely scientific mind the work of Monsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly."
"Then had you not better consult him?"
"I said, sir, to the precisely scientific mind. But as a practical man of affairs it is acknowledged that you stand alone. I trust, sir, that I have not inadvertently ------"
"Just a little," said Holmes. "I think, Dr. Mortimer, you would do wisely if without more ado you would kindly tell me plainly what the exact nature of the problem is in which you demand my assistance."
“我口袋裏有一篇手稿，”傑姆士·摩梯末醫生說道。
“在您進屋時我就看出來了，”福爾摩斯說。
“是一張舊手稿。”
“是十八世紀初期的，否則就是假造的了。”
“您怎麽知道的呢，先生？”
“在您說話的時候，我看到那手稿一直露着一兩英寸的光景。如果一位專傢不能把一份 文件的時期估計得相差不出十年左右的話，那他就真是一位差勁兒的蹩腳專傢了。可能您已 經讀過了我寫的那篇關於這問題的小論吧。據我判斷，這篇手稿是在一七三○年寫成的。”
“確切的年代是一七四二年。”摩梯末醫生從胸前的口袋裏把它掏了出來，“這份祖傳 的傢書，是查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士交托給我的，三個月前他忽遭慘死，在德文郡引起了很 大的驚恐。可以說，我是他的朋友，同時又是他的醫生。他是個意志堅強的人，先生，很敏 銳，經驗豐富，並和我一樣地講求實際。他把這份文件看得很認真，他心裏早已準備接受這 樣的結局了；而結果，他竟真的得到了這樣的結局。”
福爾摩斯接過了手稿，把它平鋪在膝頭上。
“華生，你註意看，長Ｓ和短Ｓ的換用，這就是使我能確定年代的幾個特點之一。”
我湊在他的肩後看着那張黃紙和退了色的字跡。頂上寫着“巴斯剋維爾莊園”，再下面 就是潦草的數字“１７４２”。
“看來好象是一篇什麽記載似的。”
“對了，是關於一件在巴斯剋維爾傢流傳的傳說。”
“不過我想您來找我恐怕是為了當前的和更有實際意義的事情吧？”
“是近在眼前的事，這是一件最為現實和急迫的事了，必須在二十四小時之內做出决 定。不過這份手稿很短，而且與這件事有着密切聯繫。如果您允許的話，我就把它讀給您 聽。”
福爾摩斯靠在椅背上，兩手的指尖對頂在一起，閉上了眼睛，顯出一副聽其自然的神 情。摩梯末將手稿拿嚮亮處，以高亢而嘶啞的聲音朗讀着下面的奇特而古老的故事：
“關於巴斯剋維爾的獵犬一事有過很多的說法，我所以要寫下來是因為我相信確曾發生 過象我所寫的這樣的事。我是修果·巴斯剋維爾的直係後代，這件事是我從我父親那裏聽來 的，而我父親又是直接聽我祖父說的。兒子們，但願你們相信，公正的神明能夠懲罰那些有 罪的人，但是衹要他們能祈禱悔過，無論犯了多麽深重的罪，也都能得到寬恕。你們知道了 這件事，也不用因為前輩們所得的惡果而恐懼，衹要自己將來謹慎就可以了，以免咱們這傢 族過去所嘗到的深重的痛苦重新落在咱們這些敗落的後代身上。
“據說是在大叛亂時期［指英國１６４２—１６６０年的內戰而言。——譯者註］（我 真心地嚮你們推薦，應該讀一讀博學的剋萊侖頓男爵所寫的歷史），這所巴斯剋維爾大廈本 為修果·巴斯剋維爾所占用，無可否認，他是個最卑俗粗野、最目無上帝的人了。事實上， 如果衹是這一點的話，鄉鄰本是可以原諒他的，因為在這一地區聖教從來就沒有興旺過。他 的天性狂妄、殘忍，在西部已是傢喻戶曉了。這位修果先生偶然地愛上了（如果還能用這樣 純潔的字眼稱呼他那卑鄙的情欲的話）在巴斯剋維爾莊園附近種着幾畝地的一個莊稼人的女 兒。可是這位少女一嚮有着謹言慎行的好名聲，當然要躲着他了，何況她還懼怕他的惡名。 後來有一次，在米可摩斯節［教紀念聖徒麥可（Ｓｔ．Ｍｉｃｈａｅｌ）的節日（每年 ９月２９日）。——譯者註］那天，這位修果先生知道她的父兄倆都出門去了，就和五六個 遊手好閑的下流朋友一起，偷偷地到她傢去把這個姑娘搶了回來。他們把她弄進了莊園，關 在樓上的一間小屋子裏，修果就和朋友們圍坐狂歡痛飲起來，他們在夜裏是常常這樣幹的。 這時，樓上的那位可憐的姑娘聽到了樓下狂歌亂吼和那些不堪入耳的髒字，已是驚恐萬分不 知所措了。有人說，修果·巴斯剋維爾酒醉時所說的那些話，不管是誰，即使是重說一遍都 可能會遭到天譴。最後，她在恐懼已極的情況之下竟幹出來一樁就連最勇敢和最狡黠的人都 會為之咋舌的事來。
她從窗口出來，攀緣着至今仍爬滿南墻的蔓藤由房檐下面一直爬了下來，然後就穿過沼 地直往傢裏跑去了，莊園離她傢約有九英裏的樣子。
“過了一會兒，修果離開了客人，帶着食物和酒——說不定還有更糟糕的東西呢——就 去找被他擄來的那個姑娘去了，可是竟發現籠中之鳥已經逃走了。隨後，他就象中了魔似地 衝下樓來，一到飯廳就跳上了大餐桌，眼前的東西，不管是酒瓶還是木盤全都被他踢飛了。 他在朋友面前大嚷大鬧着說：衹要當晚他能追上那丫頭，他願把肉體和靈魂全都獻給惡魔任 其擺布。當那些縱酒狂飲的浪子們被他的暴怒嚇得目瞪口呆的時候，有一個特別兇惡的傢夥 ——也許是因為他比別人喝得更醉——大叫着說應當把獵狗都放出去追她。修果聽他一說就 跑了出去，高呼馬夫牽馬備鞍並把犬捨裏的狗全都放出來，把那少女丟下的頭巾給那些獵狗 聞了聞就把它們一窩蜂地轟了出去，這些狗在一片狂吠聲中往被月光照耀着的沼地上狂奔而 去。
“這些浪子們目瞪口呆地站着，不知道這樣匆匆忙忙地搞了半天究竟是怎麽回事。過了 一會兒他們纔弄明白了到沼地裏去要幹什麽，接着又都大喊大叫起來了，有的人喊着要帶手 槍，有的人找自己的馬，有的人甚至還想再帶一瓶酒。最後，他們那瘋狂的頭腦終於恢復了 一點理智，十三個人全體上馬追了下去。頭頂上的月亮清清楚楚地照着他們，他們彼此緊靠 一起順着那少女返傢的必經之途疾馳而去。
“在他們跑了一二英裏路的時候，遇到了一個沼地裏的牧人，他們大喊着問他看到了他 們所追捕的人沒有。據說那牧人當時被嚇得簡直都說不出話來了，後來，他終於說他確實看 到了那個可憐的少女，後面還有一群追索着她的獵狗。‘我看到的還不止這些呢，’他說 道，‘修果·巴斯剋維爾也騎着他那黑馬從這裏過去了，還有一隻魔鬼似的大獵狗一聲不響 地跟在他的後面。上帝啊，可別讓那樣的狗跟在我的後面！’那些醉鬼老爺們駡了那牧人一 頓就又騎着馬趕了下去。可是不久他們就被嚇得渾身發冷了。因為他們聽到沼地裏傳來了馬 跑的聲音，隨後就看到了那匹黑馬，嘴裏流着白沫跑了過去，鞍上無人，繮繩拖在地上。從 那時起那些浪子們就都擠到了一起，因為他們已經感到萬分恐怖了，可是他們總還是在沼地 裏前進着。如果他們衹是一個人走在那裏的話，無疑地早就會撥轉馬頭跑回去了。他們就這 樣慢慢地騎着前進，最後終於趕上了那群獵狗。這些狗雖然都是以驍勇和優種出名的，可是 這時竟也擠在沼地裏的一條深溝的盡頭處，競相哀鳴起來，有些衹已經逃之夭夭了，有些則 頸毛直竪，兩眼直瞪瞪地嚮前面一條窄窄的小溝裏望着。
“這幫人勒住了馬，可以猜想得到，他們現在已比出發的時候清醒得多了。其中大多數 已經不想再前進了，可是有三個膽子最大的——也許是醉得最厲害的——繼續策馬嚮山溝走 了下去。前面出現了一片寬闊的平地，中間立着兩根大石柱——至今還可以看到——是古時 不知是誰立起來的。月光把那塊空地照得很亮，那因驚恐和疲憊而死的少女就躺在那塊空地 的中央。可是使這三個膽大包天的酒鬼毛骨悚然的既不是少女的屍體，也不是躺在她近旁的 修果·巴斯剋維爾的屍體，而是站在修果身旁撕扯着他喉嚨的那個可怕的東西，一隻既大又 黑的畜生，樣子象一隻獵狗，可是誰也沒見過這樣大的獵狗。正當他們看着那傢夥撕扯修 果·巴斯剋維爾的喉嚨的時候，它把閃亮的眼睛和直流口涎的大嘴嚮他們轉了過來。三個人 一看就嚇得大叫起來，趕忙撥轉馬頭逃命去了，甚至在穿過沼地的時候還驚呼不已。據說其 中的一個因為看到了那傢夥當晚就嚇死了，另外兩個也落得個終身精神失常。
“我的兒子們啊，這就是那衹獵狗的傳說的來歷，據說從那時起那衹狗就一直可怕地騷 擾着咱們的傢族。我所以要把它寫下來，還因為我覺得：隨便聽到的東西和猜測的東西要比 知道得清清楚楚的東西可怕得多。不可否認，在咱傢的人裏，有許多都是未得善終的，死得 突然、凄慘而又神秘。但願能得上帝無邊慈愛的庇護，不致降罰於我等三代以至四代唯聖經 是聽的人們。我的兒子們，我藉上帝之名命令你們，並且勸你們要多加小心，千萬要避免在 黑夜降臨、罪惡勢力囂張的時候走過沼地。
“〔這是修果·巴斯剋維爾［此修果·巴斯剋維爾為這篇傢書開頭所提到之修果·巴斯 剋維爾之同名後代。——譯者註］留給兩個兒子羅傑和約翰的傢書，並敦囑二人萬勿將此事 告知其姊伊莉莎白。〕”
摩梯末醫生讀完了這篇怪異的記載之後就把眼鏡推上了前額，直望着歇洛剋·福爾摩 斯。福爾摩斯打完呵欠就把煙頭扔進了爐火。
“嗯？”他說。
“您不覺得很有趣味嗎？”
“對一個搜集神話的人來說，是很有趣味的。”
摩梯末醫生從衣袋裏掏出來一張摺叠着的報紙。
“福爾摩斯先生，現在我要告訴您一件發生時間較近的事。這是一張今年五月十四日的 《德文郡紀事報》。是一篇有關幾天前查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士死亡的簡短敘述。”
我的朋友上身稍嚮前傾，神色也變得專註起來。
我們的來客重新放好了眼鏡，又開始讀了起來：
“最近，查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士之暴卒，使本郡不勝哀悼。據雲，在下屆選舉中，此 人可能被選為中部德文郡自由黨候選人。雖然查爾茲爵士在巴斯剋維爾莊園居住不久，但其 厚道與慷慨已深得周圍群衆之敬愛。值此暴發戶充斥之時，如查爾茲這樣一支名門之後，竟 能致富還鄉，重振因厄運而中衰之傢聲，誠為可喜之事。衆所周知之查爾茲爵士曾在南非投 機致富。但他較之一直於到倒黴為止的人們聰明，他帶着變賣了的資財返回英倫。他來到巴 斯剋維爾莊園不過兩年，人們普遍在談論着他那龐大的重建和修幕的計劃，然此計劃已因其 本人逝世而中斷。因他並無子嗣，他曾公開表示，在他有生之日整個鄉區將得到他的資助， 因此，有很多人都悲悼他的暴亡。至於他對本地及郡慈善機關的慷慨捐輸，本欄曾常有登 載。
“驗屍之結果尚未能將與查爾茲爵士之死亡相關之諸情況弄清，至少尚未能消除由於當 地之迷信所引起之諸種謠傳。毫無理由懷疑有任何犯罪成分，或想象死亡並非由於自然原 因。查爾茲爵士為鰥夫，據說他在某些方面表現精神狀態有些反常。他雖有如許財産，但個 人所好卻很簡單。巴斯剋維爾莊園中之僕人衹有白瑞摩夫婦二人，丈夫是總管，妻子當管傢 婦。他們的已被幾個朋友證實了的證詞說明：查爾茲爵士曾有健康情況不良之徵象，尤其是 幾點心髒癥狀；表現在面色改變、呼吸睏難和嚴重的神經衰弱。死者的朋友和私人醫生傑姆 士·摩梯未也提供了同樣的證明。
“案件實情甚為簡單。查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾有一種習慣，每晚在就寢前，須沿巴斯剋維 爾莊園出名之水鬆夾道散步。白瑞摩夫婦的證詞說明死者之習慣確是如此。五月四日，查爾 茲爵士曾聲稱他第二天想去倫敦，並曾命白瑞摩為他準備行李。當晚他照常出去作晚間散 步，他常吸着雪茄散步，可是他再也沒有回來。在十二點鐘的時候，白瑞摩發現廳門還開 着，他吃了一驚，於是就點了燈籠，出去尋找主人。當時外面很潮濕，所以沿着夾道下去很 容易看到爵士的足跡，小路的中間有個通嚮沼地的柵門。種種跡象都說明查爾茲爵士曾站在 門前，然後他就沿着夾道走了下去，他的屍體就是在夾道的末端被發現的。有一件尚未得到 解釋的事實就是：白瑞摩說，他主人的足跡在過了通往沼地的柵門後就變了樣，好象是從那 以後就換用足尖走路了。有一個叫作摩菲的吉卜賽馬販子，當時正在沼地裏距出事地點不遠 的地方，可是他自己承認當時酒醉得很厲害。他說他曾聽到過呼喊聲，但說不清是來自哪 方。在查爾茲爵士身上找不出遭受暴力襲擊的痕跡，可是醫生的證明中曾指出面容變形到幾 乎難以相信的程度的、躺在他面前的就是他的朋友和病人的屍體——據解釋說，這是一種在 因呼吸睏難和心髒衰竭而死的時候常有的現象。這一解釋已為屍體解剖所證明，說明存在着 由來已久的官能上的病癥。法院驗屍官也繳呈了一份與醫生證明相符的判斷書。如此結束究 屬妥善，因查爾茲爵士之後代仍將在莊園居住，並將繼續不幸為之中斷的善行，因此，顯然 此點具有極端重要性，如驗屍官平凡的發現不能最後撲滅那些鄰里相傳的有關此事的荒誕故 事，則欲為巴斯剋維爾莊園找個住戶就很睏難了。據瞭解，如果說爵士還有活着的最近的親 屬的話，那就是他弟弟的兒子亨利·巴斯剋維爾先生了。以前曾聽說這位年輕人在美洲。現 已進行調查，以便通知他來接受這筆為數龐大的財産。”
摩梯末把報紙疊好，放回口袋去。
“福爾摩斯先生，這些都是衆所周知的有關查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士死亡的事實。”
“我真得感謝您，”歇洛剋·福爾摩斯說，“能引起我對這件饒有興趣的案件的註意。 當時我曾讀過一些報紙的報導，但那時我正專心致力於梵蒂岡寶石案那件小事，在受着教皇 急迫的囑托之下竟忽略了在英倫發生的一些案件。您說這段新聞已包括了全部公開的事實 嗎？”
“是的。”
“那麽再告訴我一些內幕的事實吧！”他靠在椅背上，把兩衹手的指尖對頂在一起。顯 出了他那極為冷靜的、法官似的表情。
“這樣一來，”摩梯末醫生一面說着，一面感情開始激動起來，“就會把我還沒有告訴 過任何人的事情都說出來了，我連驗屍官都隱瞞了。因為一個從事科學工作的人，最怕在公 衆面前顯得他似乎是相信了一種流傳的迷信。我的另一個動機，就象報紙上所說的那樣，如 果有任何事情再進一步惡化它那已經相當可怕的名聲，那麽巴斯剋維爾莊園就真的再不會有 人敢住了。為了這兩個原因，我想，不把我知道的全部事情都說出來還是正確的，因為那樣 做不會有什麽好處，但是對你說來，我沒有理由不開誠布公，徹底談出來。
“沼地上的住戶們住得彼此相距都很遠，而彼此居住較近的人們就産生了密切的關係。 因此我和查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士見面的機會就很多。除了賴福特莊園的弗蘭剋蘭先生和生 物學家斯臺普吞先生而外，方圓數十英裏之內就再沒有受過教育的人了。查爾茲爵士是一位 喜歡隱居獨處的人，可是他的病把我們倆拉到了一起，而且對科學的共同興趣也大大有助於 使我們兩人親近起來。他從南非帶回來很多科學資料，我還常常將整個美好動人的傍晚和他 共同消磨在研討對布史人［南非一種原始的、以遊牧狩獵為生的種族。——譯者註］和豪騰 脫人［南非黑人中的一個種族。——譯者註］的比較解剖學上。
“在最後的幾個月裏我看得愈來愈清楚，查爾茲爵士的神經係統已經緊張到極點了。他 深信着我讀給你聽的那個傳說——雖然他經常在自己的宅邸之內散步，但一到晚上就說什麽 也不肯到沼地上去了。福爾摩斯先生，在你看來是那樣的不可信，可是，他竟深信他的傢已 經是厄運臨頭了。當然，他由上輩得知的傳說確實使人不快。可怕的事就要在眼前出現的想 法經常占據着他的身心，他不衹一次地問過我，是否在夜間出診的途中看到過什麽奇怪的東 西，或是聽見過一隻獵狗的嗥叫。後邊這個問題他曾問過我好多次，而且總是帶着驚慌顫抖 的聲調。
“我記得很清楚，有一天傍晚我駕着馬車到他傢去，那是在這件致命的事情發生以前約 有三個星期的時候。碰巧他正在正廳門前。我已經從我的小馬車上下來站在他的面前了，我 忽然看到他的眼裏帶着極端恐怖的表情，死死地盯視着我的背後。我猛然轉過身去，剛剛來 得及看到一個象大牛犢似的黑東西飛快地跑了過去。他驚慌恐怖得那樣厲害，我不得不走到 那動物曾經走過的地方四下尋找了一番。它已經跑了。但是，這件事似乎在他心中造成了極 為惡劣的影響。我陪着他呆了一晚，就在那時，為瞭解釋他所表現的情緒，他就把我剛來的 時候讀給您聽的那篇記載托我保存了。我所以要提到這一小小的插麯，是因為它在隨後發生 的悲劇中可能有些重要性，可是在當時，我確實認為那衹是一件微不足道的小事，他的驚恐 也是沒有來由的。
“還是聽從了我的勸告，查爾茲爵士纔打算到倫敦去。我知道，他的心髒已經受了影 響，他經常處於焦慮之中，不管其緣由是如何的虛幻，顯然已嚴重地影響了他的健康。我 想，幾個月的都市生活就能把他變成一個新人了。我們共同的朋友斯臺普吞先生非常關心他 的健康狀況，他和我的意見相同。
可是，這可怕的災禍竟在臨行前的最後一刻發生了。
“在查爾茲爵士暴死的當晚，總管白瑞摩發現以後，立刻就派了馬夫波金斯騎着馬來找 我，因為我就寢很晚，所以在出事後一小時之內我就來到了巴斯剋維爾莊園。我驗證了所有 在驗屍過程中提到過的事實。我順着水鬆夾道往前觀察了他的腳印，看過了對着沼地的那扇 柵門的地方，看來他曾在那兒等過人，我註意到由那一點以下的足跡形狀的變化。我還發現 了，除了白瑞摩在軟土地上留下的那些足跡之外沒有其他足跡。最後我又細心地檢查了屍 體，在我到達以前還沒有人動過它。查爾茲爵士趴在地上，兩臂伸出，他的手指插在泥土 裏；他的面部肌肉因強烈的情感而緊縮起來，甚至使我無法辨認，確實沒有任何傷痕。可是 在驗屍的時候白瑞摩曾提供了一個不真實的證明。他說在屍體周圍的地上沒有任何痕跡，他 什麽也沒有看到。可是，我倒看到了——就在相距不遠的地方，不僅清晰而且是痕跡猶 新。”
“足跡？”
“足跡。”
“是男人的還是女人的？”
摩梯末奇怪地望了我們一會兒，在回答的時候，聲音低得幾乎象耳語一樣：“福爾摩斯 先生，是個極大的獵狗的爪印！”
"I observed it as you entered the room," said Holmes.
"It is an old manuscript."
"Early eighteenth century, unless it is a forgery."
"How can you say that, sir?"
"You have presented an inch or two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking. It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that at 1730."
"The exact date is 1742." Dr. Mortimer drew it from his breast-pocket. "This family paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant. He was a strong-minded man, sir, shrewd, practical, and as unimaginative as I am myself. Yet he took this document very seriously, and his mind was prepared for just such an end as did eventually overtake him."
Holmes stretched out his hand for the manuscript and flattened it upon his knee.
"You will observe, Watson, the alternative use of the long s and the short. It is one of several indications which enabled me to fix the date."
I looked over his shoulder at the yellow paper and the faded script. At the head was written: "Baskerville Hall," and below in large, scrawling figures: "1742."
"It appears to be a statement of some sort."
"Yes, it is a statement of a certain legend which runs in the Baskerville family."
"But I understand that it is something more modern and practical upon which you wish to consult me?"
"Most modern. A most practical, pressing matter, which must be decided within twenty-four hours. But the manuscript is short and is intimately connected with the affair. With your permission I will read it to you."
Holmes leaned back in his chair, placed his finger-tips together, and closed his eyes, with an air of resignation. Dr. Mortimer turned the manuscript to the light and read in a high, cracking voice the following curious, old-world narrative:--
"Of the origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles there have been many statements, yet as I come in a direct line from Hugo Baskerville, and as I had the story from my father, who also had it from his, I have set it down with all belief that it occurred even as is here set forth. And I would have you believe, my sons, that the same Justice which punishes sin may also most graciously forgive it, and that no ban is so heavy but that by prayer and repentance it may be removed. Learn then from this story not to fear the fruits of the past, but rather to be circumspect in the future, that those foul passions whereby our family has suffered so grievously may not again be loosed to our undoing.
"Know then that in the time of the Great Rebellion (the history of which by the learned Lord Clarendon I most earnestly commend to your attention) this Manor of Baskerville was held by Hugo of that name, nor can it be gainsaid that he was a most wild, profane, and godless man. This, in truth, his neighbours might have pardoned, seeing that saints have never flourished in those parts, but there was in him a certain wanton and cruel humour which made his name a byword through the West. It chanced that this Hugo came to love (if, indeed, so dark a passion may be known under so bright a name) the daughter of a yeoman who held lands near the Baskerville estate. But the young maiden, being discreet and of good repute, would ever avoid him, for she feared his evil name. So it came to pass that one Michaelmas this Hugo, with five or six of his idle and wicked companions, stole down upon the farm and carried off the maiden, her father and brothers being from home, as he well knew. When they had brought her to the Hall the maiden was placed in an upper chamber, while Hugo and his friends sat down to a long carouse, as was their nightly custom. Now, the poor lass upstairs was like to have her wits turned at the singing and shouting and terrible oaths which came up to her from below, for they say that the words used by Hugo Baskerville, when he was in wine, were such as might blast the man who said them. At last in the stress of her fear she did that which might have daunted the bravest or most active man, for by the aid of the growth of ivy which covered (and still covers) the south wall she came down from under the eaves, and so homeward across the moor, there being three leagues betwixt the Hall and her father's farm.
"It chanced that some little time later Hugo left his guests to carry food and drink--with other worse things, perchance--to his captive, and so found the cage empty and the bird escaped. Then, as it would seem, he became as one that hath a devil, for, rushing down the stairs into the dining-hall, he sprang upon the great table, flagons and trenchers flying before him, and he cried aloud before all the company that he would that very night render his body and soul to the Powers of Evil if he might but overtake the wench. And while the revellers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one more wicked or, it may be, more drunken than the rest, cried out that they should put the hounds upon her. Whereat Hugo ran from the house, crying to his grooms that they should saddle his mare and unkennel the pack, and giving the hounds a kerchief of the maid's, he swung them to the line, and so off full cry in the moonlight over the moor.
"Now, for some space the revellers stood agape, unable to understand all that had been done in such haste. But anon their bemused wits awoke to the nature of the deed which was like to be done upon the moorlands. Everything was now in an uproar, some calling for their pistols, some for their horses, and some for another flask of wine. But at length some sense came back to their crazed minds, and the whole of them, thirteen in number, took horse and started in pursuit. The moon shone clear above them, and they rode swiftly abreast, taking that course which the maid must needs have taken if she were to reach her own home.
"They had gone a mile or two when they passed one of the night shepherds upon the moorlands, and they cried to him to know if he had seen the hunt. And the man, as the story goes, was so crazed with fear that he could scarce speak, but at last he said that he had indeed seen the unhappy maiden, with the hounds upon her track. 'But I have seen more than that,' said he, 'for Hugo Baskerville passed me upon his black mare, and there ran mute behind him such a hound of hell as God forbid should ever be at my heels.' So the drunken squires cursed the shepherd and rode onward. But soon their skins turned cold, for there came a galloping across the moor, and the black mare, dabbled with white froth, went past with trailing bridle and empty saddle. Then the revellers rode close together, for a great fear was on them, but they still followed over the moor, though each, had he been alone, would have been right glad to have turned his horse's head. Riding slowly in this fashion they came at last upon the hounds. These, though known for their valour and their breed, were whimpering in a cluster at the head of a deep dip or goyal, as we call it, upon the moor, some slinking away and some, with starting hackles and staring eyes, gazing down the narrow valley before them.
"The company had come to a halt, more sober men, as you may guess, than when they started. The most of them would by no means advance, but three of them, the boldest, or it may be the most drunken, rode forward down the goyal. Now, it opened into a broad space in which stood two of those great stones, still to be seen there, which were set by certain forgotten peoples in the days of old. The moon was shining bright upon the clearing, and there in the centre lay the unhappy maid where she had fallen, dead of fear and of fatigue. But it was not the sight of her body, nor yet was it that of the body of Hugo Baskerville lying near her, which raised the hair upon the heads of these three daredevil roysterers, but it was that, standing over Hugo, and plucking at his throat, there stood a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon. And even as they looked the thing tore the throat out of Hugo Baskerville, on which, as it turned its blazing eyes and dripping jaws upon them, the three shrieked with fear and rode for dear life, still screaming, across the moor. One, it is said, died that very night of what he had seen, and the other twain were but broken men for the rest of their days.
"Such is the tale, my sons, of the coming of the hound which is said to have plagued the family so sorely ever since. If I have set it down it is because that which is clearly known hath less terror than that which is but hinted at and guessed. Nor can it be denied that many of the family have been unhappy in their deaths, which have been sudden, bloody, and mysterious. Yet may we shelter ourselves in the infinite goodness of Providence, which would not forever punish the innocent beyond that third or fourth generation which is threatened in Holy Writ. To that Providence, my sons, I hereby commend you, and I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted.
"(This from Hugo Baskerville to his sons Rodger and John, with instructions that they say nothing thereof to their sister Elizabeth.)"
When Dr. Mortimer had finished reading this singular narrative he pushed his spectacles up on his forehead and stared across at Mr. Sherlock Holmes. The latter yawned and tossed the end of his cigarette into the fire.
"Well?" said he.
"Do you not find it interesting?"
"To a collector of fairy tales."
Dr. Mortimer drew a folded newspaper out of his pocket.
"Now, Mr. Holmes, we will give you something a little more recent. This is the Devon County Chronicle of May 14th of this year. It is a short account of the facts elicited at the death of Sir Charles Baskerville which occurred a few days before that date."
My friend leaned a little forward and his expression became intent. Our visitor readjusted his glasses and began:--
"The recent sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville, whose name has been mentioned as the probable Liberal candidate for Mid-Devon at the next election, has cast a gloom over the county. Though Sir Charles had resided at Baskerville Hall for a comparatively short period his amiability of character and extreme generosity had won the affection and respect of all who had been brought into contact with him. In these days of nouveaux riches it is refreshing to find a case where the scion of an old county family which has fallen upon evil days is able to make his own fortune and to bring it back with him to restore the fallen grandeur of his line. Sir Charles, as is well known, made large sums of money in South African speculation. More wise than those who go on until the wheel turns against them, he realized his gains and returned to England with them. It is only two years since he took up his residence at Baskerville Hall, and it is common talk how large were those schemes of reconstruction and improvement which have been interrupted by his death. Being himself childless, it was his openly expressed desire that the whole country-side should, within his own lifetime, profit by his good fortune, and many will have personal reasons for bewailing his untimely end. His generous donations to local and county charities have been frequently chronicled in these columns.
"The circumstances connected with the death of Sir Charles cannot be said to have been entirely cleared up by the inquest, but at least enough has been done to dispose of those rumours to which local superstition has given rise. There is no reason whatever to suspect foul play, or to imagine that death could be from any but natural causes. Sir Charles was a widower, and a man who may be said to have been in some ways of an eccentric habit of mind. In spite of his considerable wealth he was simple in his personal tastes, and his indoor servants at Baskerville Hall consisted of a married couple named Barrymore, the husband acting as butler and the wife as housekeeper. Their evidence, corroborated by that of several friends, tends to show that Sir Charles's health has for some time been impaired, and points especially to some affection of the heart, manifesting itself in changes of colour, breathlessness, and acute attacks of nervous depression. Dr. James Mortimer, the friend and medical attendant of the deceased, has given evidence to the same effect.
"The facts of the case are simple. Sir Charles Baskerville was in the habit every night before going to bed of walking down the famous Yew Alley of Baskerville Hall. The evidence of the Barrymores shows that this had been his custom. On the 4th of May Sir Charles had declared his intention of starting next day for London, and had ordered Barrymore to prepare his luggage. That night he went out as usual for his nocturnal walk, in the course of which he was in the habit of smoking a cigar. He never returned. At twelve o'clock Barrymore, finding the hall door still open, became alarmed, and, lighting a lantern, went in search of his master. The day had been wet, and Sir Charles's footmarks were easily traced down the Alley. Half-way down this walk there is a gate which leads out on to the moor. There were indications that Sir Charles had stood for some little time here. He then proceeded down the Alley, and it was at the far end of it that his body was discovered. One fact which has not been explained is the statement of Barrymore that his master's footprints altered their character from the time that he passed the moor-gate, and that he appeared from thence onward to have been walking upon his toes. One Murphy, a gipsy horse-dealer, was on the moor at no great distance at the time, but he appears by his own confession to have been the worse for drink. He declares that he heard cries, but is unable to state from what direction they came. No signs of violence were to be discovered upon Sir Charles's person, and though the doctor's evidence pointed to an almost incredible facial distortion--so great that Dr. Mortimer refused at first to believe that it was indeed his friend and patient who lay before him--it was explained that that is a symptom which is not unusual in cases of dyspnoea and death from cardiac exhaustion. This explanation was borne out by the post-mortem examination, which showed long-standing organic disease, and the coroner's jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. It is well that this is so, for it is obviously of the utmost importance that Sir Charles's heir should settle at the Hall and continue the good work which has been so sadly interrupted. Had the prosaic finding of the coroner not finally put an end to the romantic stories which have been whispered in connection with the affair, it might have been difficult to find a tenant for Baskerville Hall. It is understood that the next of kin is Mr. Henry Baskerville, if he be still alive, the son of Sir Charles Baskerville's younger brother. The young man when last heard of was in America, and inquiries are being instituted with a view to informing him of his good fortune."
Dr. Mortimer refolded his paper and replaced it in his pocket.
"Those are the public facts, Mr. Holmes, in connection with the death of Sir Charles Baskerville."
"I must thank you," said Sherlock Holmes, "for calling my attention to a case which certainly presents some features of interest. I had observed some newspaper comment at the time, but I was exceedingly preoccupied by that little affair of the Vatican cameos, and in my anxiety to oblige the Pope I lost touch with several interesting English cases. This article, you say, contains all the public facts?"
"It does."
"Then let me have the private ones." He leaned back, put his finger-tips together, and assumed his most impassive and judicial expression.
"In doing so," said Dr. Mortimer, who had begun to show signs of some strong emotion, "I am telling that which I have not confided to anyone. My motive for withholding it from the coroner's inquiry is that a man of science shrinks from placing himself in the public position of seeming to indorse a popular superstition. I had the further motive that Baskerville Hall, as the paper says, would certainly remain untenanted if anything were done to increase its already rather grim reputation. For both these reasons I thought that I was justified in telling rather less than I knew, since no practical good could result from it, but with you there is no reason why I should not be perfectly frank.
"The moor is very sparsely inhabited, and those who live near each other are thrown very much together. For this reason I saw a good deal of Sir Charles Baskerville. With the exception of Mr. Frankland, of Lafter Hall, and Mr. Stapleton, the naturalist, there are no other men of education within many miles. Sir Charles was a retiring man, but the chance of his illness brought us together, and a community of interests in science kept us so. He had brought back much scientific information from South Africa, and many a charming evening we have spent together discussing the comparative anatomy of the Bushman and the Hottentot.
"Within the last few months it became increasingly plain to me that Sir Charles's nervous system was strained to the breaking point. He had taken this legend which I have read you exceedingly to heart--so much so that, although he would walk in his own grounds, nothing would induce him to go out upon the moor at night. Incredible as it may appear to you, Mr. Holmes, he was honestly convinced that a dreadful fate overhung his family, and certainly the records which he was able to give of his ancestors were not encouraging. The idea of some ghastly presence constantly haunted him, and on more than one occasion he has asked me whether I had on my medical journeys at night ever seen any strange creature or heard the baying of a hound. The latter question he put to me several times, and always with a voice which vibrated with excitement.
"I can well remember driving up to his house in the evening some three weeks before the fatal event. He chanced to be at his hall door. I had descended from my gig and was standing in front of him, when I saw his eyes fix themselves over my shoulder, and stare past me with an expression of the most dreadful horror. I whisked round and had just time to catch a glimpse of something which I took to be a large black calf passing at the head of the drive. So excited and alarmed was he that I was compelled to go down to the spot where the animal had been and look around for it. It was gone, however, and the incident appeared to make the worst impression upon his mind. I stayed with him all the evening, and it was on that occasion, to explain the emotion which he had shown, that he confided to my keeping that narrative which I read to you when first I came. I mention this small episode because it assumes some importance in view of the tragedy which followed, but I was convinced at the time that the matter was entirely trivial and that his excitement had no justification.
"It was at my advice that Sir Charles was about to go to London. His heart was, I knew, affected, and the constant anxiety in which he lived, however chimerical the cause of it might be, was evidently having a serious effect upon his health. I thought that a few months among the distractions of town would send him back a new man. Mr. Stapleton, a mutual friend who was much concerned at his state of health, was of the same opinion. At the last instant came this terrible catastrophe.
"On the night of Sir Charles's death Barrymore the butler, who made the discovery, sent Perkins the groom on horseback to me, and as I was sitting up late I was able to reach Baskerville Hall within an hour of the event. I checked and corroborated all the facts which were mentioned at the inquest. I followed the footsteps down the Yew Alley, I saw the spot at the moor-gate where he seemed to have waited, I remarked the change in the shape of the prints after that point, I noted that there were no other footsteps save those of Barrymore on the soft gravel, and finally I carefully examined the body, which had not been touched until my arrival. Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out, his fingers dug into the ground, and his features convulsed with some strong emotion to such an extent that I could hardly have sworn to his identity. There was certainly no physical injury of any kind. But one false statement was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. He did not observe any. But I did--some little distance off, but fresh and clear."
"Footprints?"
"Footprints."
"A man's or a woman's?"
Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered:--
"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"
“在您進屋時我就看出來了，”福爾摩斯說。
“是一張舊手稿。”
“是十八世紀初期的，否則就是假造的了。”
“您怎麽知道的呢，先生？”
“在您說話的時候，我看到那手稿一直露着一兩英寸的光景。如果一位專傢不能把一份 文件的時期估計得相差不出十年左右的話，那他就真是一位差勁兒的蹩腳專傢了。可能您已 經讀過了我寫的那篇關於這問題的小論吧。據我判斷，這篇手稿是在一七三○年寫成的。”
“確切的年代是一七四二年。”摩梯末醫生從胸前的口袋裏把它掏了出來，“這份祖傳 的傢書，是查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士交托給我的，三個月前他忽遭慘死，在德文郡引起了很 大的驚恐。可以說，我是他的朋友，同時又是他的醫生。他是個意志堅強的人，先生，很敏 銳，經驗豐富，並和我一樣地講求實際。他把這份文件看得很認真，他心裏早已準備接受這 樣的結局了；而結果，他竟真的得到了這樣的結局。”
福爾摩斯接過了手稿，把它平鋪在膝頭上。
“華生，你註意看，長Ｓ和短Ｓ的換用，這就是使我能確定年代的幾個特點之一。”
我湊在他的肩後看着那張黃紙和退了色的字跡。頂上寫着“巴斯剋維爾莊園”，再下面 就是潦草的數字“１７４２”。
“看來好象是一篇什麽記載似的。”
“對了，是關於一件在巴斯剋維爾傢流傳的傳說。”
“不過我想您來找我恐怕是為了當前的和更有實際意義的事情吧？”
“是近在眼前的事，這是一件最為現實和急迫的事了，必須在二十四小時之內做出决 定。不過這份手稿很短，而且與這件事有着密切聯繫。如果您允許的話，我就把它讀給您 聽。”
福爾摩斯靠在椅背上，兩手的指尖對頂在一起，閉上了眼睛，顯出一副聽其自然的神 情。摩梯末將手稿拿嚮亮處，以高亢而嘶啞的聲音朗讀着下面的奇特而古老的故事：
“關於巴斯剋維爾的獵犬一事有過很多的說法，我所以要寫下來是因為我相信確曾發生 過象我所寫的這樣的事。我是修果·巴斯剋維爾的直係後代，這件事是我從我父親那裏聽來 的，而我父親又是直接聽我祖父說的。兒子們，但願你們相信，公正的神明能夠懲罰那些有 罪的人，但是衹要他們能祈禱悔過，無論犯了多麽深重的罪，也都能得到寬恕。你們知道了 這件事，也不用因為前輩們所得的惡果而恐懼，衹要自己將來謹慎就可以了，以免咱們這傢 族過去所嘗到的深重的痛苦重新落在咱們這些敗落的後代身上。
“據說是在大叛亂時期［指英國１６４２—１６６０年的內戰而言。——譯者註］（我 真心地嚮你們推薦，應該讀一讀博學的剋萊侖頓男爵所寫的歷史），這所巴斯剋維爾大廈本 為修果·巴斯剋維爾所占用，無可否認，他是個最卑俗粗野、最目無上帝的人了。事實上， 如果衹是這一點的話，鄉鄰本是可以原諒他的，因為在這一地區聖教從來就沒有興旺過。他 的天性狂妄、殘忍，在西部已是傢喻戶曉了。這位修果先生偶然地愛上了（如果還能用這樣 純潔的字眼稱呼他那卑鄙的情欲的話）在巴斯剋維爾莊園附近種着幾畝地的一個莊稼人的女 兒。可是這位少女一嚮有着謹言慎行的好名聲，當然要躲着他了，何況她還懼怕他的惡名。 後來有一次，在米可摩斯節［教紀念聖徒麥可（Ｓｔ．Ｍｉｃｈａｅｌ）的節日（每年 ９月２９日）。——譯者註］那天，這位修果先生知道她的父兄倆都出門去了，就和五六個 遊手好閑的下流朋友一起，偷偷地到她傢去把這個姑娘搶了回來。他們把她弄進了莊園，關 在樓上的一間小屋子裏，修果就和朋友們圍坐狂歡痛飲起來，他們在夜裏是常常這樣幹的。 這時，樓上的那位可憐的姑娘聽到了樓下狂歌亂吼和那些不堪入耳的髒字，已是驚恐萬分不 知所措了。有人說，修果·巴斯剋維爾酒醉時所說的那些話，不管是誰，即使是重說一遍都 可能會遭到天譴。最後，她在恐懼已極的情況之下竟幹出來一樁就連最勇敢和最狡黠的人都 會為之咋舌的事來。
她從窗口出來，攀緣着至今仍爬滿南墻的蔓藤由房檐下面一直爬了下來，然後就穿過沼 地直往傢裏跑去了，莊園離她傢約有九英裏的樣子。
“過了一會兒，修果離開了客人，帶着食物和酒——說不定還有更糟糕的東西呢——就 去找被他擄來的那個姑娘去了，可是竟發現籠中之鳥已經逃走了。隨後，他就象中了魔似地 衝下樓來，一到飯廳就跳上了大餐桌，眼前的東西，不管是酒瓶還是木盤全都被他踢飛了。 他在朋友面前大嚷大鬧着說：衹要當晚他能追上那丫頭，他願把肉體和靈魂全都獻給惡魔任 其擺布。當那些縱酒狂飲的浪子們被他的暴怒嚇得目瞪口呆的時候，有一個特別兇惡的傢夥 ——也許是因為他比別人喝得更醉——大叫着說應當把獵狗都放出去追她。修果聽他一說就 跑了出去，高呼馬夫牽馬備鞍並把犬捨裏的狗全都放出來，把那少女丟下的頭巾給那些獵狗 聞了聞就把它們一窩蜂地轟了出去，這些狗在一片狂吠聲中往被月光照耀着的沼地上狂奔而 去。
“這些浪子們目瞪口呆地站着，不知道這樣匆匆忙忙地搞了半天究竟是怎麽回事。過了 一會兒他們纔弄明白了到沼地裏去要幹什麽，接着又都大喊大叫起來了，有的人喊着要帶手 槍，有的人找自己的馬，有的人甚至還想再帶一瓶酒。最後，他們那瘋狂的頭腦終於恢復了 一點理智，十三個人全體上馬追了下去。頭頂上的月亮清清楚楚地照着他們，他們彼此緊靠 一起順着那少女返傢的必經之途疾馳而去。
“在他們跑了一二英裏路的時候，遇到了一個沼地裏的牧人，他們大喊着問他看到了他 們所追捕的人沒有。據說那牧人當時被嚇得簡直都說不出話來了，後來，他終於說他確實看 到了那個可憐的少女，後面還有一群追索着她的獵狗。‘我看到的還不止這些呢，’他說 道，‘修果·巴斯剋維爾也騎着他那黑馬從這裏過去了，還有一隻魔鬼似的大獵狗一聲不響 地跟在他的後面。上帝啊，可別讓那樣的狗跟在我的後面！’那些醉鬼老爺們駡了那牧人一 頓就又騎着馬趕了下去。可是不久他們就被嚇得渾身發冷了。因為他們聽到沼地裏傳來了馬 跑的聲音，隨後就看到了那匹黑馬，嘴裏流着白沫跑了過去，鞍上無人，繮繩拖在地上。從 那時起那些浪子們就都擠到了一起，因為他們已經感到萬分恐怖了，可是他們總還是在沼地 裏前進着。如果他們衹是一個人走在那裏的話，無疑地早就會撥轉馬頭跑回去了。他們就這 樣慢慢地騎着前進，最後終於趕上了那群獵狗。這些狗雖然都是以驍勇和優種出名的，可是 這時竟也擠在沼地裏的一條深溝的盡頭處，競相哀鳴起來，有些衹已經逃之夭夭了，有些則 頸毛直竪，兩眼直瞪瞪地嚮前面一條窄窄的小溝裏望着。
“這幫人勒住了馬，可以猜想得到，他們現在已比出發的時候清醒得多了。其中大多數 已經不想再前進了，可是有三個膽子最大的——也許是醉得最厲害的——繼續策馬嚮山溝走 了下去。前面出現了一片寬闊的平地，中間立着兩根大石柱——至今還可以看到——是古時 不知是誰立起來的。月光把那塊空地照得很亮，那因驚恐和疲憊而死的少女就躺在那塊空地 的中央。可是使這三個膽大包天的酒鬼毛骨悚然的既不是少女的屍體，也不是躺在她近旁的 修果·巴斯剋維爾的屍體，而是站在修果身旁撕扯着他喉嚨的那個可怕的東西，一隻既大又 黑的畜生，樣子象一隻獵狗，可是誰也沒見過這樣大的獵狗。正當他們看着那傢夥撕扯修 果·巴斯剋維爾的喉嚨的時候，它把閃亮的眼睛和直流口涎的大嘴嚮他們轉了過來。三個人 一看就嚇得大叫起來，趕忙撥轉馬頭逃命去了，甚至在穿過沼地的時候還驚呼不已。據說其 中的一個因為看到了那傢夥當晚就嚇死了，另外兩個也落得個終身精神失常。
“我的兒子們啊，這就是那衹獵狗的傳說的來歷，據說從那時起那衹狗就一直可怕地騷 擾着咱們的傢族。我所以要把它寫下來，還因為我覺得：隨便聽到的東西和猜測的東西要比 知道得清清楚楚的東西可怕得多。不可否認，在咱傢的人裏，有許多都是未得善終的，死得 突然、凄慘而又神秘。但願能得上帝無邊慈愛的庇護，不致降罰於我等三代以至四代唯聖經 是聽的人們。我的兒子們，我藉上帝之名命令你們，並且勸你們要多加小心，千萬要避免在 黑夜降臨、罪惡勢力囂張的時候走過沼地。
“〔這是修果·巴斯剋維爾［此修果·巴斯剋維爾為這篇傢書開頭所提到之修果·巴斯 剋維爾之同名後代。——譯者註］留給兩個兒子羅傑和約翰的傢書，並敦囑二人萬勿將此事 告知其姊伊莉莎白。〕”
摩梯末醫生讀完了這篇怪異的記載之後就把眼鏡推上了前額，直望着歇洛剋·福爾摩 斯。福爾摩斯打完呵欠就把煙頭扔進了爐火。
“嗯？”他說。
“您不覺得很有趣味嗎？”
“對一個搜集神話的人來說，是很有趣味的。”
摩梯末醫生從衣袋裏掏出來一張摺叠着的報紙。
“福爾摩斯先生，現在我要告訴您一件發生時間較近的事。這是一張今年五月十四日的 《德文郡紀事報》。是一篇有關幾天前查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士死亡的簡短敘述。”
我的朋友上身稍嚮前傾，神色也變得專註起來。
我們的來客重新放好了眼鏡，又開始讀了起來：
“最近，查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士之暴卒，使本郡不勝哀悼。據雲，在下屆選舉中，此 人可能被選為中部德文郡自由黨候選人。雖然查爾茲爵士在巴斯剋維爾莊園居住不久，但其 厚道與慷慨已深得周圍群衆之敬愛。值此暴發戶充斥之時，如查爾茲這樣一支名門之後，竟 能致富還鄉，重振因厄運而中衰之傢聲，誠為可喜之事。衆所周知之查爾茲爵士曾在南非投 機致富。但他較之一直於到倒黴為止的人們聰明，他帶着變賣了的資財返回英倫。他來到巴 斯剋維爾莊園不過兩年，人們普遍在談論着他那龐大的重建和修幕的計劃，然此計劃已因其 本人逝世而中斷。因他並無子嗣，他曾公開表示，在他有生之日整個鄉區將得到他的資助， 因此，有很多人都悲悼他的暴亡。至於他對本地及郡慈善機關的慷慨捐輸，本欄曾常有登 載。
“驗屍之結果尚未能將與查爾茲爵士之死亡相關之諸情況弄清，至少尚未能消除由於當 地之迷信所引起之諸種謠傳。毫無理由懷疑有任何犯罪成分，或想象死亡並非由於自然原 因。查爾茲爵士為鰥夫，據說他在某些方面表現精神狀態有些反常。他雖有如許財産，但個 人所好卻很簡單。巴斯剋維爾莊園中之僕人衹有白瑞摩夫婦二人，丈夫是總管，妻子當管傢 婦。他們的已被幾個朋友證實了的證詞說明：查爾茲爵士曾有健康情況不良之徵象，尤其是 幾點心髒癥狀；表現在面色改變、呼吸睏難和嚴重的神經衰弱。死者的朋友和私人醫生傑姆 士·摩梯未也提供了同樣的證明。
“案件實情甚為簡單。查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾有一種習慣，每晚在就寢前，須沿巴斯剋維 爾莊園出名之水鬆夾道散步。白瑞摩夫婦的證詞說明死者之習慣確是如此。五月四日，查爾 茲爵士曾聲稱他第二天想去倫敦，並曾命白瑞摩為他準備行李。當晚他照常出去作晚間散 步，他常吸着雪茄散步，可是他再也沒有回來。在十二點鐘的時候，白瑞摩發現廳門還開 着，他吃了一驚，於是就點了燈籠，出去尋找主人。當時外面很潮濕，所以沿着夾道下去很 容易看到爵士的足跡，小路的中間有個通嚮沼地的柵門。種種跡象都說明查爾茲爵士曾站在 門前，然後他就沿着夾道走了下去，他的屍體就是在夾道的末端被發現的。有一件尚未得到 解釋的事實就是：白瑞摩說，他主人的足跡在過了通往沼地的柵門後就變了樣，好象是從那 以後就換用足尖走路了。有一個叫作摩菲的吉卜賽馬販子，當時正在沼地裏距出事地點不遠 的地方，可是他自己承認當時酒醉得很厲害。他說他曾聽到過呼喊聲，但說不清是來自哪 方。在查爾茲爵士身上找不出遭受暴力襲擊的痕跡，可是醫生的證明中曾指出面容變形到幾 乎難以相信的程度的、躺在他面前的就是他的朋友和病人的屍體——據解釋說，這是一種在 因呼吸睏難和心髒衰竭而死的時候常有的現象。這一解釋已為屍體解剖所證明，說明存在着 由來已久的官能上的病癥。法院驗屍官也繳呈了一份與醫生證明相符的判斷書。如此結束究 屬妥善，因查爾茲爵士之後代仍將在莊園居住，並將繼續不幸為之中斷的善行，因此，顯然 此點具有極端重要性，如驗屍官平凡的發現不能最後撲滅那些鄰里相傳的有關此事的荒誕故 事，則欲為巴斯剋維爾莊園找個住戶就很睏難了。據瞭解，如果說爵士還有活着的最近的親 屬的話，那就是他弟弟的兒子亨利·巴斯剋維爾先生了。以前曾聽說這位年輕人在美洲。現 已進行調查，以便通知他來接受這筆為數龐大的財産。”
摩梯末把報紙疊好，放回口袋去。
“福爾摩斯先生，這些都是衆所周知的有關查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士死亡的事實。”
“我真得感謝您，”歇洛剋·福爾摩斯說，“能引起我對這件饒有興趣的案件的註意。 當時我曾讀過一些報紙的報導，但那時我正專心致力於梵蒂岡寶石案那件小事，在受着教皇 急迫的囑托之下竟忽略了在英倫發生的一些案件。您說這段新聞已包括了全部公開的事實 嗎？”
“是的。”
“那麽再告訴我一些內幕的事實吧！”他靠在椅背上，把兩衹手的指尖對頂在一起。顯 出了他那極為冷靜的、法官似的表情。
“這樣一來，”摩梯末醫生一面說着，一面感情開始激動起來，“就會把我還沒有告訴 過任何人的事情都說出來了，我連驗屍官都隱瞞了。因為一個從事科學工作的人，最怕在公 衆面前顯得他似乎是相信了一種流傳的迷信。我的另一個動機，就象報紙上所說的那樣，如 果有任何事情再進一步惡化它那已經相當可怕的名聲，那麽巴斯剋維爾莊園就真的再不會有 人敢住了。為了這兩個原因，我想，不把我知道的全部事情都說出來還是正確的，因為那樣 做不會有什麽好處，但是對你說來，我沒有理由不開誠布公，徹底談出來。
“沼地上的住戶們住得彼此相距都很遠，而彼此居住較近的人們就産生了密切的關係。 因此我和查爾茲·巴斯剋維爾爵士見面的機會就很多。除了賴福特莊園的弗蘭剋蘭先生和生 物學家斯臺普吞先生而外，方圓數十英裏之內就再沒有受過教育的人了。查爾茲爵士是一位 喜歡隱居獨處的人，可是他的病把我們倆拉到了一起，而且對科學的共同興趣也大大有助於 使我們兩人親近起來。他從南非帶回來很多科學資料，我還常常將整個美好動人的傍晚和他 共同消磨在研討對布史人［南非一種原始的、以遊牧狩獵為生的種族。——譯者註］和豪騰 脫人［南非黑人中的一個種族。——譯者註］的比較解剖學上。
“在最後的幾個月裏我看得愈來愈清楚，查爾茲爵士的神經係統已經緊張到極點了。他 深信着我讀給你聽的那個傳說——雖然他經常在自己的宅邸之內散步，但一到晚上就說什麽 也不肯到沼地上去了。福爾摩斯先生，在你看來是那樣的不可信，可是，他竟深信他的傢已 經是厄運臨頭了。當然，他由上輩得知的傳說確實使人不快。可怕的事就要在眼前出現的想 法經常占據着他的身心，他不衹一次地問過我，是否在夜間出診的途中看到過什麽奇怪的東 西，或是聽見過一隻獵狗的嗥叫。後邊這個問題他曾問過我好多次，而且總是帶着驚慌顫抖 的聲調。
“我記得很清楚，有一天傍晚我駕着馬車到他傢去，那是在這件致命的事情發生以前約 有三個星期的時候。碰巧他正在正廳門前。我已經從我的小馬車上下來站在他的面前了，我 忽然看到他的眼裏帶着極端恐怖的表情，死死地盯視着我的背後。我猛然轉過身去，剛剛來 得及看到一個象大牛犢似的黑東西飛快地跑了過去。他驚慌恐怖得那樣厲害，我不得不走到 那動物曾經走過的地方四下尋找了一番。它已經跑了。但是，這件事似乎在他心中造成了極 為惡劣的影響。我陪着他呆了一晚，就在那時，為瞭解釋他所表現的情緒，他就把我剛來的 時候讀給您聽的那篇記載托我保存了。我所以要提到這一小小的插麯，是因為它在隨後發生 的悲劇中可能有些重要性，可是在當時，我確實認為那衹是一件微不足道的小事，他的驚恐 也是沒有來由的。
“還是聽從了我的勸告，查爾茲爵士纔打算到倫敦去。我知道，他的心髒已經受了影 響，他經常處於焦慮之中，不管其緣由是如何的虛幻，顯然已嚴重地影響了他的健康。我 想，幾個月的都市生活就能把他變成一個新人了。我們共同的朋友斯臺普吞先生非常關心他 的健康狀況，他和我的意見相同。
可是，這可怕的災禍竟在臨行前的最後一刻發生了。
“在查爾茲爵士暴死的當晚，總管白瑞摩發現以後，立刻就派了馬夫波金斯騎着馬來找 我，因為我就寢很晚，所以在出事後一小時之內我就來到了巴斯剋維爾莊園。我驗證了所有 在驗屍過程中提到過的事實。我順着水鬆夾道往前觀察了他的腳印，看過了對着沼地的那扇 柵門的地方，看來他曾在那兒等過人，我註意到由那一點以下的足跡形狀的變化。我還發現 了，除了白瑞摩在軟土地上留下的那些足跡之外沒有其他足跡。最後我又細心地檢查了屍 體，在我到達以前還沒有人動過它。查爾茲爵士趴在地上，兩臂伸出，他的手指插在泥土 裏；他的面部肌肉因強烈的情感而緊縮起來，甚至使我無法辨認，確實沒有任何傷痕。可是 在驗屍的時候白瑞摩曾提供了一個不真實的證明。他說在屍體周圍的地上沒有任何痕跡，他 什麽也沒有看到。可是，我倒看到了——就在相距不遠的地方，不僅清晰而且是痕跡猶 新。”
“足跡？”
“足跡。”
“是男人的還是女人的？”
摩梯末奇怪地望了我們一會兒，在回答的時候，聲音低得幾乎象耳語一樣：“福爾摩斯 先生，是個極大的獵狗的爪印！”
"I observed it as you entered the room," said Holmes.
"It is an old manuscript."
"Early eighteenth century, unless it is a forgery."
"How can you say that, sir?"
"You have presented an inch or two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking. It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that at 1730."
"The exact date is 1742." Dr. Mortimer drew it from his breast-pocket. "This family paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant. He was a strong-minded man, sir, shrewd, practical, and as unimaginative as I am myself. Yet he took this document very seriously, and his mind was prepared for just such an end as did eventually overtake him."
Holmes stretched out his hand for the manuscript and flattened it upon his knee.
"You will observe, Watson, the alternative use of the long s and the short. It is one of several indications which enabled me to fix the date."
I looked over his shoulder at the yellow paper and the faded script. At the head was written: "Baskerville Hall," and below in large, scrawling figures: "1742."
"It appears to be a statement of some sort."
"Yes, it is a statement of a certain legend which runs in the Baskerville family."
"But I understand that it is something more modern and practical upon which you wish to consult me?"
"Most modern. A most practical, pressing matter, which must be decided within twenty-four hours. But the manuscript is short and is intimately connected with the affair. With your permission I will read it to you."
Holmes leaned back in his chair, placed his finger-tips together, and closed his eyes, with an air of resignation. Dr. Mortimer turned the manuscript to the light and read in a high, cracking voice the following curious, old-world narrative:--
"Of the origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles there have been many statements, yet as I come in a direct line from Hugo Baskerville, and as I had the story from my father, who also had it from his, I have set it down with all belief that it occurred even as is here set forth. And I would have you believe, my sons, that the same Justice which punishes sin may also most graciously forgive it, and that no ban is so heavy but that by prayer and repentance it may be removed. Learn then from this story not to fear the fruits of the past, but rather to be circumspect in the future, that those foul passions whereby our family has suffered so grievously may not again be loosed to our undoing.
"Know then that in the time of the Great Rebellion (the history of which by the learned Lord Clarendon I most earnestly commend to your attention) this Manor of Baskerville was held by Hugo of that name, nor can it be gainsaid that he was a most wild, profane, and godless man. This, in truth, his neighbours might have pardoned, seeing that saints have never flourished in those parts, but there was in him a certain wanton and cruel humour which made his name a byword through the West. It chanced that this Hugo came to love (if, indeed, so dark a passion may be known under so bright a name) the daughter of a yeoman who held lands near the Baskerville estate. But the young maiden, being discreet and of good repute, would ever avoid him, for she feared his evil name. So it came to pass that one Michaelmas this Hugo, with five or six of his idle and wicked companions, stole down upon the farm and carried off the maiden, her father and brothers being from home, as he well knew. When they had brought her to the Hall the maiden was placed in an upper chamber, while Hugo and his friends sat down to a long carouse, as was their nightly custom. Now, the poor lass upstairs was like to have her wits turned at the singing and shouting and terrible oaths which came up to her from below, for they say that the words used by Hugo Baskerville, when he was in wine, were such as might blast the man who said them. At last in the stress of her fear she did that which might have daunted the bravest or most active man, for by the aid of the growth of ivy which covered (and still covers) the south wall she came down from under the eaves, and so homeward across the moor, there being three leagues betwixt the Hall and her father's farm.
"It chanced that some little time later Hugo left his guests to carry food and drink--with other worse things, perchance--to his captive, and so found the cage empty and the bird escaped. Then, as it would seem, he became as one that hath a devil, for, rushing down the stairs into the dining-hall, he sprang upon the great table, flagons and trenchers flying before him, and he cried aloud before all the company that he would that very night render his body and soul to the Powers of Evil if he might but overtake the wench. And while the revellers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one more wicked or, it may be, more drunken than the rest, cried out that they should put the hounds upon her. Whereat Hugo ran from the house, crying to his grooms that they should saddle his mare and unkennel the pack, and giving the hounds a kerchief of the maid's, he swung them to the line, and so off full cry in the moonlight over the moor.
"Now, for some space the revellers stood agape, unable to understand all that had been done in such haste. But anon their bemused wits awoke to the nature of the deed which was like to be done upon the moorlands. Everything was now in an uproar, some calling for their pistols, some for their horses, and some for another flask of wine. But at length some sense came back to their crazed minds, and the whole of them, thirteen in number, took horse and started in pursuit. The moon shone clear above them, and they rode swiftly abreast, taking that course which the maid must needs have taken if she were to reach her own home.
"They had gone a mile or two when they passed one of the night shepherds upon the moorlands, and they cried to him to know if he had seen the hunt. And the man, as the story goes, was so crazed with fear that he could scarce speak, but at last he said that he had indeed seen the unhappy maiden, with the hounds upon her track. 'But I have seen more than that,' said he, 'for Hugo Baskerville passed me upon his black mare, and there ran mute behind him such a hound of hell as God forbid should ever be at my heels.' So the drunken squires cursed the shepherd and rode onward. But soon their skins turned cold, for there came a galloping across the moor, and the black mare, dabbled with white froth, went past with trailing bridle and empty saddle. Then the revellers rode close together, for a great fear was on them, but they still followed over the moor, though each, had he been alone, would have been right glad to have turned his horse's head. Riding slowly in this fashion they came at last upon the hounds. These, though known for their valour and their breed, were whimpering in a cluster at the head of a deep dip or goyal, as we call it, upon the moor, some slinking away and some, with starting hackles and staring eyes, gazing down the narrow valley before them.
"The company had come to a halt, more sober men, as you may guess, than when they started. The most of them would by no means advance, but three of them, the boldest, or it may be the most drunken, rode forward down the goyal. Now, it opened into a broad space in which stood two of those great stones, still to be seen there, which were set by certain forgotten peoples in the days of old. The moon was shining bright upon the clearing, and there in the centre lay the unhappy maid where she had fallen, dead of fear and of fatigue. But it was not the sight of her body, nor yet was it that of the body of Hugo Baskerville lying near her, which raised the hair upon the heads of these three daredevil roysterers, but it was that, standing over Hugo, and plucking at his throat, there stood a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon. And even as they looked the thing tore the throat out of Hugo Baskerville, on which, as it turned its blazing eyes and dripping jaws upon them, the three shrieked with fear and rode for dear life, still screaming, across the moor. One, it is said, died that very night of what he had seen, and the other twain were but broken men for the rest of their days.
"Such is the tale, my sons, of the coming of the hound which is said to have plagued the family so sorely ever since. If I have set it down it is because that which is clearly known hath less terror than that which is but hinted at and guessed. Nor can it be denied that many of the family have been unhappy in their deaths, which have been sudden, bloody, and mysterious. Yet may we shelter ourselves in the infinite goodness of Providence, which would not forever punish the innocent beyond that third or fourth generation which is threatened in Holy Writ. To that Providence, my sons, I hereby commend you, and I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted.
"(This from Hugo Baskerville to his sons Rodger and John, with instructions that they say nothing thereof to their sister Elizabeth.)"
When Dr. Mortimer had finished reading this singular narrative he pushed his spectacles up on his forehead and stared across at Mr. Sherlock Holmes. The latter yawned and tossed the end of his cigarette into the fire.
"Well?" said he.
"Do you not find it interesting?"
"To a collector of fairy tales."
Dr. Mortimer drew a folded newspaper out of his pocket.
"Now, Mr. Holmes, we will give you something a little more recent. This is the Devon County Chronicle of May 14th of this year. It is a short account of the facts elicited at the death of Sir Charles Baskerville which occurred a few days before that date."
My friend leaned a little forward and his expression became intent. Our visitor readjusted his glasses and began:--
"The recent sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville, whose name has been mentioned as the probable Liberal candidate for Mid-Devon at the next election, has cast a gloom over the county. Though Sir Charles had resided at Baskerville Hall for a comparatively short period his amiability of character and extreme generosity had won the affection and respect of all who had been brought into contact with him. In these days of nouveaux riches it is refreshing to find a case where the scion of an old county family which has fallen upon evil days is able to make his own fortune and to bring it back with him to restore the fallen grandeur of his line. Sir Charles, as is well known, made large sums of money in South African speculation. More wise than those who go on until the wheel turns against them, he realized his gains and returned to England with them. It is only two years since he took up his residence at Baskerville Hall, and it is common talk how large were those schemes of reconstruction and improvement which have been interrupted by his death. Being himself childless, it was his openly expressed desire that the whole country-side should, within his own lifetime, profit by his good fortune, and many will have personal reasons for bewailing his untimely end. His generous donations to local and county charities have been frequently chronicled in these columns.
"The circumstances connected with the death of Sir Charles cannot be said to have been entirely cleared up by the inquest, but at least enough has been done to dispose of those rumours to which local superstition has given rise. There is no reason whatever to suspect foul play, or to imagine that death could be from any but natural causes. Sir Charles was a widower, and a man who may be said to have been in some ways of an eccentric habit of mind. In spite of his considerable wealth he was simple in his personal tastes, and his indoor servants at Baskerville Hall consisted of a married couple named Barrymore, the husband acting as butler and the wife as housekeeper. Their evidence, corroborated by that of several friends, tends to show that Sir Charles's health has for some time been impaired, and points especially to some affection of the heart, manifesting itself in changes of colour, breathlessness, and acute attacks of nervous depression. Dr. James Mortimer, the friend and medical attendant of the deceased, has given evidence to the same effect.
"The facts of the case are simple. Sir Charles Baskerville was in the habit every night before going to bed of walking down the famous Yew Alley of Baskerville Hall. The evidence of the Barrymores shows that this had been his custom. On the 4th of May Sir Charles had declared his intention of starting next day for London, and had ordered Barrymore to prepare his luggage. That night he went out as usual for his nocturnal walk, in the course of which he was in the habit of smoking a cigar. He never returned. At twelve o'clock Barrymore, finding the hall door still open, became alarmed, and, lighting a lantern, went in search of his master. The day had been wet, and Sir Charles's footmarks were easily traced down the Alley. Half-way down this walk there is a gate which leads out on to the moor. There were indications that Sir Charles had stood for some little time here. He then proceeded down the Alley, and it was at the far end of it that his body was discovered. One fact which has not been explained is the statement of Barrymore that his master's footprints altered their character from the time that he passed the moor-gate, and that he appeared from thence onward to have been walking upon his toes. One Murphy, a gipsy horse-dealer, was on the moor at no great distance at the time, but he appears by his own confession to have been the worse for drink. He declares that he heard cries, but is unable to state from what direction they came. No signs of violence were to be discovered upon Sir Charles's person, and though the doctor's evidence pointed to an almost incredible facial distortion--so great that Dr. Mortimer refused at first to believe that it was indeed his friend and patient who lay before him--it was explained that that is a symptom which is not unusual in cases of dyspnoea and death from cardiac exhaustion. This explanation was borne out by the post-mortem examination, which showed long-standing organic disease, and the coroner's jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. It is well that this is so, for it is obviously of the utmost importance that Sir Charles's heir should settle at the Hall and continue the good work which has been so sadly interrupted. Had the prosaic finding of the coroner not finally put an end to the romantic stories which have been whispered in connection with the affair, it might have been difficult to find a tenant for Baskerville Hall. It is understood that the next of kin is Mr. Henry Baskerville, if he be still alive, the son of Sir Charles Baskerville's younger brother. The young man when last heard of was in America, and inquiries are being instituted with a view to informing him of his good fortune."
Dr. Mortimer refolded his paper and replaced it in his pocket.
"Those are the public facts, Mr. Holmes, in connection with the death of Sir Charles Baskerville."
"I must thank you," said Sherlock Holmes, "for calling my attention to a case which certainly presents some features of interest. I had observed some newspaper comment at the time, but I was exceedingly preoccupied by that little affair of the Vatican cameos, and in my anxiety to oblige the Pope I lost touch with several interesting English cases. This article, you say, contains all the public facts?"
"It does."
"Then let me have the private ones." He leaned back, put his finger-tips together, and assumed his most impassive and judicial expression.
"In doing so," said Dr. Mortimer, who had begun to show signs of some strong emotion, "I am telling that which I have not confided to anyone. My motive for withholding it from the coroner's inquiry is that a man of science shrinks from placing himself in the public position of seeming to indorse a popular superstition. I had the further motive that Baskerville Hall, as the paper says, would certainly remain untenanted if anything were done to increase its already rather grim reputation. For both these reasons I thought that I was justified in telling rather less than I knew, since no practical good could result from it, but with you there is no reason why I should not be perfectly frank.
"The moor is very sparsely inhabited, and those who live near each other are thrown very much together. For this reason I saw a good deal of Sir Charles Baskerville. With the exception of Mr. Frankland, of Lafter Hall, and Mr. Stapleton, the naturalist, there are no other men of education within many miles. Sir Charles was a retiring man, but the chance of his illness brought us together, and a community of interests in science kept us so. He had brought back much scientific information from South Africa, and many a charming evening we have spent together discussing the comparative anatomy of the Bushman and the Hottentot.
"Within the last few months it became increasingly plain to me that Sir Charles's nervous system was strained to the breaking point. He had taken this legend which I have read you exceedingly to heart--so much so that, although he would walk in his own grounds, nothing would induce him to go out upon the moor at night. Incredible as it may appear to you, Mr. Holmes, he was honestly convinced that a dreadful fate overhung his family, and certainly the records which he was able to give of his ancestors were not encouraging. The idea of some ghastly presence constantly haunted him, and on more than one occasion he has asked me whether I had on my medical journeys at night ever seen any strange creature or heard the baying of a hound. The latter question he put to me several times, and always with a voice which vibrated with excitement.
"I can well remember driving up to his house in the evening some three weeks before the fatal event. He chanced to be at his hall door. I had descended from my gig and was standing in front of him, when I saw his eyes fix themselves over my shoulder, and stare past me with an expression of the most dreadful horror. I whisked round and had just time to catch a glimpse of something which I took to be a large black calf passing at the head of the drive. So excited and alarmed was he that I was compelled to go down to the spot where the animal had been and look around for it. It was gone, however, and the incident appeared to make the worst impression upon his mind. I stayed with him all the evening, and it was on that occasion, to explain the emotion which he had shown, that he confided to my keeping that narrative which I read to you when first I came. I mention this small episode because it assumes some importance in view of the tragedy which followed, but I was convinced at the time that the matter was entirely trivial and that his excitement had no justification.
"It was at my advice that Sir Charles was about to go to London. His heart was, I knew, affected, and the constant anxiety in which he lived, however chimerical the cause of it might be, was evidently having a serious effect upon his health. I thought that a few months among the distractions of town would send him back a new man. Mr. Stapleton, a mutual friend who was much concerned at his state of health, was of the same opinion. At the last instant came this terrible catastrophe.
"On the night of Sir Charles's death Barrymore the butler, who made the discovery, sent Perkins the groom on horseback to me, and as I was sitting up late I was able to reach Baskerville Hall within an hour of the event. I checked and corroborated all the facts which were mentioned at the inquest. I followed the footsteps down the Yew Alley, I saw the spot at the moor-gate where he seemed to have waited, I remarked the change in the shape of the prints after that point, I noted that there were no other footsteps save those of Barrymore on the soft gravel, and finally I carefully examined the body, which had not been touched until my arrival. Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out, his fingers dug into the ground, and his features convulsed with some strong emotion to such an extent that I could hardly have sworn to his identity. There was certainly no physical injury of any kind. But one false statement was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. He did not observe any. But I did--some little distance off, but fresh and clear."
"Footprints?"
"Footprints."
"A man's or a woman's?"
Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered:--
"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"