The Hound of the Baskerville
Summaries
Chapters 1 to 4
On the 221B Baker Street (in a September morning), Dr. James Mortimer arrived at Sherlock’s home place, after sending him a letter to ask for an appointment, three days before. The doctor believed that something might happen during the next twenty-four hours, linked to Sir Charles Baskerville and a story found in the papers. The story talked about an evil man named Hugo, who with the help of six evil friends kidnapped a young woman who Hugo liked. The woman was scared of him, and decided to climb out of the room and escape.
Hugo jumped on his black horse to run after her. When his friends arrived at a place in the valley with the two stones, they found the woman dead from exhaustion and Hugo’s body was near her. Who was filled with fear, until a huge hound tore the man’s throat. Hugo’s friends (Who were looking for him) found the hound on top of him and witnessed the scene. Soon after, they ran away. Sir Charles warned his sons, to not cross the moors at night. Holmes found the story boring, but when Dr. Mortimer started talking about Sir Charles Baskerville’s death, the detective regained interest.
All the county was sad and surprised by the death of the kind and beloved Sir Charles Baskerville, who had died due to natural reasons, his weak heart; According to the stories told, but that wasn’t true. The body of the man was found at the end of the valley, on 4th June (Three months before). The body was found by Barrymore, Sir Charles butler. Baskerville had gone on a walk in the gardens of Baskerville Hall, but the butler got worried since he hadn’t come back. He followed footprints, these looked like full footprints, until he reached the end of the Alley, where it seemed that he had walked on his toes. There was no sign of murder, and it seemed like a heart dysfunction.
Nevertheless, Dr. Mortimer facts were different. Three weeks before Sir Charles’ death, Mortimer went to the Hall; Where Sir Charles looked at something between the trees (like a black cow that disappeared) with horror in his face. After Baskerville’s death, Dr. Mortimer said he had found footprints of a huge hound about twenty meters away from the body. The night was wet and cold, the Alley was a path between two long yew hedges; the Yew Alley could be left from the Hall, moor gate, and a summer house (that Sir Charles never reached); Sir Charles stood by the moor gate for five to ten minutes.
Dr. Mortimer didn’t believe in supernatural things. Still, everyone he had asked always mentioned the huge creature. Lastly, Holmes said that he couldn’t help if the reason was a supernatural creature. So, Mortimer said that Henry Baskerville was the last of the Baskerville, and he had come to England. He proceeded to explain that every Baskerville died in the Hall, but if Sir Henry didn’t stay in the Baskerville lands, all people would be poorer. Mortimer asked for advice; Holmes said he would advise him in twenty-four hours.
After Dr. Mortimer left, Holmes looked pleased and said that Sir Charles was likely running for his life and was mad before he started running; perhaps he was even waiting for someone. Holmes began to play his violin, and would resume the case later.
Questions
When was the Hound of the Baskerville first seen?
The hound was first seen in 1640, it appeared while a woman was being chased by a man, named Hugo. The large creature tore the man’s throat.
What was interesting about Sir Charles' footprints in Yew Alley?
The footprints had changed between the moor gate (where two footprints could be seen), and the end of the Alley (where only toe prints could be seen).
Who saw the footprints of a huge hound in Yew Alley?
Dr. Mortimer saw footprints of a huge hound, 20 meters from where the body was.
How did Dr Mortimer know that Sir Charles had stood for five or ten minutes by the moor gate?
In those five to ten minutes, the cigar that Sir Charles was smoking had burned down, and the ash had dropped twice. Meaning that the cigar had in off time to burn down.
Chapters 5-9
Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry arrived at ten o’clock the next morning. Sir Henry met Holmes, and explained that he had received a letter that warned him from going to the moor. Also, that someone had stolen one of his shoes (Later on, another shoe disappeared and reappeared). Mr. Mortimer explained everything to Sir Henry, after they both left to go to the hotel. Watson and Holmes followed them. In the way, they noticed that a man with a beard was following them too; Holmes wanted to follow him, but he drove off in a taxi. When they contacted the taxi driver, he said that the passenger didn’t want anyone to know about him and that his name was Sherlock Holmes.
They thought that the one that was chasing Sir Henry was Barrymore (because of his black beard) and decided to send him a telegram to prove it. Holmes thought that the reason might have been money, yet it was discarded. The detective told Holmes that he needed to stay because of a case, but Sir Henry could go in company with Mr. Watson to the Hall.
Holmes went to the Waterloo station to say goodbye; While they were close to the moor, they saw a soldier who was guarding. Apparently, a killer/criminal had escaped from prison.
The night they arrived, they met Mr and Mrs. Barrymore and had dinner together. Then, Mr. Watson heard a woman crying. The next morning he noticed it was Mrs. Barrymore, but Mr. Barrymore tried to hide it. After coming out from the post office, Watson met a man named Stapleton with a butterfly net. The man started to walk along Mr. Watson, and also found out that the man could find his way through the Great Grimpen Marsh. Then, Stapleton started following a butterfly to the marsh.
Mr. Watson was left behind and a woman (Miss Stapleton) told Mr. Watson that was in danger thinking that he was Sir Henry. When his brother returned they invited him to their house, and after Watson left the house he met with Miss Stapleton who explained to him that her brother was interested in becoming the head of the Baskerville to live in the Hall.
The next day the Stapletons met Sir Henry and day after day Sir Henry and Miss Stapleton fell in love, even though Mr. Stapleton wasn’t in favor.
A few nights later, Mr. Watson woke up, due to a noise that happened to be Mr. Barrymore with a light in his hand standing at the window; Watson followed him. The next night, Mr. Barrymore did the same, but was now followed by Sir Henry and Mr. Watson. They caught him and found out that the escaped prisoner, Selden was Mrs. Barrymore’s brother, and they were helping him to get food, so they used the light to give the message to the man hiding in the moors. Suddenly, they heard the low cry of the Hound of the Baskerville (The same that Mr. Watson heard with Mr. Stapleton). Sir Henry and Mr. Watson went to catch Selden; however, he escaped.
While they rested from exhaustion, they saw a tall, thin man that looked at them from the hill with the moon behind him.
Considering that Sir Henry was in danger, they went back and Watson sent a telegram to Holmes about what had happened.
1 The man with the large black beard in the taxi was Barrymore. (F)
2 Roger Baskerville was Sir Henry's uncle. (F)
3 Holmes stayed in London while Dr Watson and Sir Henry went to Baskerville Hall (T)
4 Miss Stapleton· thought that Dr Watson was in danger (F) She thought Mr. Henry was in danger, but thought that Mr. Watson was Sir Henry.
5 Selden, the escaped prisoner, was Mrs Barrymore's brother (T)
By Natalia Pérez S., Step 8 Yellow.
