Собака Баскервилей / The Hound of the Baskervilles - стр. 8

“After you left I sent for a map of this portion of the moor,” said Holmes.

He pointed to a map which he held on his knee. “That is Baskerville Hall in the middle. I believe this must be the yew alley, with the moor on the right of it. This small group of buildings here is the village of Grimpen. Within a radius of five miles there are, as you see, only a few houses. There is a house here which may be the home of the naturalist—Stapleton. Here are two farms. Then fourteen miles away is the prison of Princetown. Around these buildings extends the lifeless moor.”

“It must be a wild place.”

“Yes, there are two questions waiting for us. The first is whether any crime has been committed at all; the second is, what the crime is and how it was committed. What do you make of it?”

“I don’t know what to make of it.”

“That change in the footprints, for example. What do you make of that?”

“Mortimer said that the man had walked on tiptoe down that portion of the alley.”

“Why should a man walk on tiptoe down the alley? He was running, Watson—running for his life, running until he burst his heart—and fell dead.”

“Running from what?”

“There lies our problem. I presume that the man was crazy with fear before he began to run.”

“How can you say that?”

“I presume that the cause of his fears came to him across the moor. Only a man crazy with fear would have run from the house and not towards it. Then, whom was he waiting for that night, and why was he waiting for him in the yew alley rather than in his own house?”

“You think that he was waiting for someone?”

“The man was elderly and in poor health. The night was damp. Is it natural for him to stand for five or ten minutes? He avoided the moor. That night he waited there. It was the night before he left for London. Now, we will think over this business when we meet Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville in the morning.”

Our clients were punctual, for the clock had just struck ten when Dr. Mortimer was shown in, followed by the young baronet. Sir Henry Baskerville was a small, dark-eyed man of about thirty, very strongly built, with thick black eyebrows and a strong, lively face. He had the weather-beaten appearance of a man who has spent most of his time in the open air.

“This is Sir Henry Baskerville,” said Dr. Mortimer.

“Yes,” said he, “and the strange thing is, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, that if my friend had not suggested coming to you this morning I should have come myself. I understand that you solve little puzzles, and I’ve had one this morning which I am not able to solve.”