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Home -> Arthur Conan Doyle -> The Hound of the Baskervilles -> Chapter 12 - Death on the Moor

The Hound of the Baskervilles - Chapter 12 - Death on the Moor

1. Chapter 1 - Mr. Sherlock Holmes

2. Chapter 2 - The Curse of the Baskervilles

3. Chapter 3 - The Problem

4. Chapter 4 - Sir Henry Baskerville

5. Chapter 5 - Three Broken Threads

6. Chapter 6 - Baskerville Hall

7. Chapter 7 - The Stapletons of Merripit House

8. Chapter 8 - First Report of Dr. Watson

9. Chapter 9 - The Light Upon the Moor

10. Chapter 10 - Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson

11. Chapter 11 - The Man on the Tor

12. Chapter 12 - Death on the Moor

13. Chapter 13 - Fixing the Nets

14. Chapter 14 - The Hound of the Baskervilles

15. Chapter 15 - A Retrospection







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

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

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

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

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

"Or more astonished, eh?"

"Well, I must confess to it."

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

"My footprint, I presume?"

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

"Exactly."

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

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

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

"Yes, I saw you then."

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

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

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

"Yes."

"To see Mrs. Laura Lyons?"

"Exactly."

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

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

"That was what I wished you to think."

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

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

"But why keep me in the dark?"

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

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

Holmes took a bundle of papers from his pocket.

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

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

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

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

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

"I did not know of a close intimacy."

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

"His wife?"

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

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

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

"But why this elaborate deception?"

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

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

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

"So I read the riddle."

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

"Exactly."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And when she is undeceived?"

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

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

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

Holmes's voice sank as he answered:----

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

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

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

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

"Hush!" he whispered. "Hush!"

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

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

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

"No, there!"

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

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

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

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

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

"No, no, surely not!"

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

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

"Can you see anything?"

"Nothing."

"But, hark, what is that?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why should we not seize him at once?"

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

"What can we do?"

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

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

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

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

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

"A beard?"

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

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

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

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

"He heard him."

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

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

"I presume nothing."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"No."

"What do you mean, then?"

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

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

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

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

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

My friend bowed his compliments.

"You are quick at identification," said he.

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

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

"Oh, you return to-morrow?"

"That is my intention."

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

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

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

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

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

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




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