Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 2

Chapter 75 The Hound of the Baskervilles 14
I was stunned.

I couldn't help shouting: "Holmes! It's you!"

He said to me, "Come out quickly! But watch out for your dangerous revolver."

He sat on a rock outside.I couldn't be happier to meet him!

I said to him, "I'm so glad to see you!"

"You should say more surprised, Watson?"

"Indeed."

"Actually, I wasn't surprised. You found my temporary hiding place, and you actually ran into my house to hide. I didn't discover this fact until I was less than twenty steps away from the door."

"It was my footprints that exposed me."

"No, Watson, I saw the cigarette butt that you threw on the side of the path. It said 'Bradley, Oxford Street' on it."

"Yes."

"I also guessed that you must be waiting in the dark, holding your pistol tightly in your hand, waiting for the owner of the house to return. You always thought that I was the fugitive you wanted to catch?"

"I don't know, but I want to find out."

"Excellent, Watson! How did you find out my hiding place? Perhaps on the night of the capture of the fugitive?"

"exactly."

"You must have searched every house around you before you found this one?"

"That's not true. I saw the kid who brought you food. He made it easy for me to find this place."

"Must have seen it at the old gentleman's with a telescope on the roof." He glanced toward the dark cabin. What? So you've been to Combe Tracy."

"Yes, I have been there."

"Are you looking for Laura Mrs. Lyons?"

"correct."

"Well done! We have thought together, Watson, and the case will be clear when our collections come together."

"Hey, I'm glad you're here, but when did you come here? What have you been up to all this time? I always thought you were working on some other case in Baker Street. But you it's here."

"I was hoping you would think so!"

"So you don't trust me!" I was furious.

"Watson, you have been most helpful to me in this case, and I beg your pardon if you think I have played a trick. In fact, I did it partly for your sake. It is precisely because of your situation. Dangerous, I have only come here to investigate the matter myself. Sir Henry and you—me and I—together would be tantamount to telling our enemies to guard against us, and in fact I have always been able to act at will. And if I also live in If it is in the manor, there is no such possibility at all. I try my best to make myself a little-known role in this matter, and give the enemy a fatal blow at a critical moment anytime, anywhere."

"But why hide it from me?"

"Because letting you know wouldn't help our case. It might expose me to someone else, and we'd run a big risk, so I brought that little guy from the Cartley Merchant Agency— He takes care of my life, a loaf of bread and a clean collar."

"So the report I wrote to you is useless?" My voice trembled.

"Watson, I have read and re-read your reports. I assure you that I have arranged everything so that they reach me only two days late. I thank you very much. "

The praise of Holmes drove away the dark clouds in my heart.What he said and what he did was right.That was the best way to solve the case, and I shouldn't have known he was in the moor.

I understand him.He added: "Now please tell me the result of your visit to Mrs. Laura Lyons. She is the only witness who can help us solve the case."

As the sun went down and it became cold, we retreated into the cabin for warmth.I told Holmes every word of my conversation with the lady.He was so interested in it that I had to repeat certain important parts twice before he was satisfied.

When I told him all, he said, "It's important. There's something going on between that lady and Staple Valley."

"I don't know about that!"

"They meet frequently, correspond frequently, and get to know each other. Let us use this to divide the wives of Staple Valley, Watson, what do you think will result?"

"He has a wife?" I was surprised.

"The lady who is called Staple Valley here is actually his wife."

"Good heavens, Holmes! How then did you make Sir Henry fall in love with her?"

"Sir Henry is in love with no harm to anyone but Sir Henry himself. He has taken special care to prevent Sir Henry from courting his wife, as you have seen with your own eyes. You can't go wrong. I say again Again, that lady is actually Staple Valley's wife, not his sister as he claims."

"But why would he do that?"

"Because it would be so much more useful to him to have his wife pretend to be his sister."

"Then he is our enemy, and he is our follower in London."

"It was through these that I was able to see through the mystery."

"That warning was from his wife?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure that woman is his wife?"

"When he first met you, he told you a true part of his life. Since then, he has always regretted the time he spent a year as headmaster of a primary school in the North of England. Clearly anyone who has ever worked in education. I did a little research and I figured it out. There was an elementary school that went down, and the owner of the school - a different name from the gentleman we're talking about - and his wife Missing. Their features are exactly the same as those we see here. When I learned that the missing person was also interested in entomology, the problem became clear."

"If this woman is really his wife, why did Mrs. Laura Lyons intervene?" I wondered. "The matter has been brought to light by your investigative work, and your visit to the lady has made it clear. I have never heard of her husband wanting to divorce her. If she planned a divorce and Staple Valley as an unmarried man, then she must want to be his wife."

"But what if she knows the truth?"

"In that case, this lady will be of great help to us. We will go to her to-morrow. Watson, you should have been at Baskerville Park to protect Sir Henry at this time."

Night fell.

Holmes dropped his tone. "He did it with the intent and purpose of murder. He is about to become my possession. The only danger I fear is that he may strike before we do. The two Within days, you must protect the person you protect. I hope you will never leave him again!"

A terrible scream broke the silence of the moor.

I exclaimed, "Ah! My God, what's the matter?"

Holmes got up quickly, and stood at the door of the little room, listening.

"Hush!" he said softly to me. "Don't make any noise."

The shout was getting closer and louder.

"Which side is it?" Holmes was also deeply shocked. "Watson, where is it?"

I pointed to the darkness: "I think it's over there."

He pointed in the opposite direction and said, "No, it should be over there."

The cries of pain came closer than before, and there was another new voice mingling with them.A deep grunt, a sound that is both pleasant and terrifying, rising and falling, very familiar.

Holmes cried out: "This is the Hound, come on! Watson, hurry up! My God, we may not be able to catch up."

He ran quickly, and I followed closely.But suddenly, right in front of us, there was a final cry of despair, followed by a heavy thump.

He pressed his hand to his temple and stamped his foot.

"Watson, we came too late, and he started early."

"We will not be defeated."

"I really regret that I didn't take action. And you should now understand what the consequences of leaving the person you want to protect will be."

We ran forward in the darkness, and wherever we came, Holmes looked anxiously around to determine in what direction.

"Did you hear something move?"

"I can't see anything."

"But do you hear what that sound is?"

A low moan came, and it was to our left.There's a ridge over there that ends in a cliff that goes straight up and down.Looking down from there, you can see a hillside.On it, there is a pile of black things spread out.It turned out to be a person lying on the ground, with his head terribly nestled under his body, and his body huddled inwards.He looked very special. Looking at that man, we bent over and couldn't say a word, motionless.Holmes stretched out his hand and lifted him up, with a cry of horror! He struck a match, and the light illuminated the dead man's clasped fingers, and also illuminated the terrible puddle on the ground which had burst from him. The blood flowed from his skull, which was gradually expanding.It was the body of Sir Henry Baskerville!

I exclaimed angrily: "The damned beast! Holmes, I am sorry! I will never forgive myself. I should not have left him to his fate!"

"I am more responsible than you. Watson, in order to make preparations before solving the case in all aspects, I have neglected the safety of our client's life. This is the greatest irony to me."

"Where's the hound that killed him? And Staple Valley? He must be responsible for it."

"Of course he's responsible for this, and I'm going to catch that guy before tomorrow night!"

"Why can't we act now?"

"Because we haven't fully met the conditions to solve the case, as long as we make a wrong step, the villain will escape the law."

"What should we do?"

"Let's take care of the poor friend first tonight."

The two of us went down the slope together and walked towards the body.

"Holmes, the two of us cannot lift him..." He bent down beside the corpse.Then Holmes took my hand and shook it wildly, and laughed aloud.

"Beard! This man has a beard!"

"What beard?"

"This is not the baronet. This man is the fugitive."

I hastily turned the body over, and it was indeed Seldan.

"What are we going to do with his body? It's impossible to put him here to feed foxes and crows!"

"I would suggest that his body be kept in a house until we get in touch with the police."

"Well, Watson, don't say a single word of doubt, or our plan will fail."

There was a man coming towards us on the moor, Staple Valley.

"Ah, Dr. Watson, are you here too? Is anyone hurt? It's my good friend Sir Henry!" He knelt down beside the dead man to examine.I heard him take a sharp breath and the cigar dropped to the floor.

He was very surprised and asked, "Who is this?"

"Seldan, the fugitive."

"My God! How did he die?"

"I don't know. We were two walking in this moor when we heard his cry."

"I too heard the shouting and came running. I was very worried about Sir Henry."

I couldn't help asking him: "Why are you worried about Sir Henry?"

"Because I asked him out today. I haven't seen him yet, and when I heard the shouts from the moor, I was of course worried about Sir Henry." His eyes flicked from mine to Holmes's. face. "Are there any other sounds besides the man's yelling?"

Holmes replied: "I have not, and you?"

"I do not have either."

"Then what is the purpose of your question?" asked Holmes.

"I'm wondering if I can hear the voice of that magic dog tonight."

I said, "We didn't hear that."

"What do you think the poor fellow died of?"

"Probably something was wrong with him psychologically. Anxiety and long-term living outside the home may have driven him crazy. He probably ran wildly in the swamp, and finally fell hard and broke his neck. It was broken, and the head was broken."

"That's a reasonable reasoning," said Staple Valley, with a sigh of relief. "What do you think, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"

My friend said, "You know people so quickly."

"After Dr. Watson came, people here thought that you would come too. You were in time to see this tragedy."

"Yes, indeed, and I trust Dr. Watson to handle the case well. I shall be returning to London to-morrow."

"Are you going back tomorrow?"

"That's my plan."

"I sincerely hope that your visit this time can clear up our doubts."

Holmes shrugged his shoulders. "People don't always succeed according to their subjective wishes."

Staple Valley was still staring at him incredulously, and finally he turned back to me.

"I think it would do well to cover his head, and we'll try to get him in the morning."

(End of this chapter)