At lunch,Sir henry told Holmes that he had decided to go to Baskerville Hall.
'I think you have decided to do the right thing,'said Holmes.'I know somebody is following you.If someone tries to harm you in London,it will be hard to stop him or catch him afterwards.In the country we have a better chance.'
Holmes went on to tell them about what we had seen that morning.Then he asked Dr Mortimer if anyone with a large black beard lived in or near Baskerville Hall.
'Yes,said Dr Mortimer,'Barrymore,Sir Charles'butler,has a black heard.'
'We must check whether Barrymore is in London or at Baskerville Hall,'said Holmes.'I shall send a telegram to Bar rymore at the Hall,which will say:“Is everything ready for Sir Henry?”Then I'll send another telegram to the local post of fice.This one will say:“please put telegram to Mr Barrymore into his own hand.If he is away,please return telegram to Sir Henry Baskerville.”I'll give your address at this hotel.We shall know before evening whether Barrymore is in Devonshire or not.'
'Barrymore and his wife have a very fine home and nothing to do while the family is not living in the Hall,'said Sir Henry.
'That's true,'said Holmes.'Did the Barrymores receive anything from Sir Chades'will?And did they know that they would get some money when he died?'
'Yes,'said Dr Mortimer.'They each received￡500,and Sir Charles told everyone what he had written in his will.'
'That's very interesting,'said Holmes.
'I hope you don't suspect everyone who got something from the will,'said Dr Mortimer.'I received￡1000.'
'Indeed!'said Holmes.'And who else received money?'
'A lot of people received a little money.He gave a lot of money to a number of hospitals.The rest all went to Sir Henry,who received￡740000.'
'I had no idea it was so much,'said Holmes in surprise.
'The Baskerville lands are worth about one million pounds,' Dr Mortimer said.
'Dear me,'said Holmes.'A man could kill for that much.One more question.If something happened to our young friend here,who would get Baskerville Hall and all its lands?'
'Well,as you know,Sir Charles had two brothers.Sir Henry is the only son of Sir Charles'younger brother.The youngest brother of the three,Roger,was a criminal.The police wanted him,so he had to leave England.They say he looked exactly like the family picture of old Sir Hugo,who first saw the Hound.He was the same kind of man,too.He went to South America,where he died of a fever.So if Sir Henry died,Baskerville Hall would go to James Desmond,who is a cousin of the Baskervilles.James Desmond is an old man,who lives in the north of England.His life is very simple and he would not want to be rich.'
'Thank you,Dr Mortimer,'said Holmes.'Now,Sir Henry,I agree that you should go to Baskerville Hall as quickly as pos sible.But you must not go alone.I myself cannot leave London at the present time.I am working on another case.I am trying to save one of the most important men in England from a diffi cult situation.I hope my friend Watson will go with you.If there is danger,you could not have a better man by your side.'
Sir Henry and I were both very happy with this idea.So we arranged to travel to Devonshire on the following Saturday.
Just as we were leaving Sir Henry's room,he gave a cry and got down on his knees by the table.
'Here's my brown shoe that was lost,'he said,reaching un der the table.
'That's very strange,'said Dr Mortimer.'We both
searched the room before lunch,and it wasn't under the table then.'
None of the people who worked at the hotel could explain how the shoe had got back into the room.
So we had another mystery.On the way back to Baker Street in the taxi,Holmes sat thinking deeply.All through the afternoon and the evening he went on thinking silently,and smoking pipe after pipe.
Just before dinner,a telegram arrived.It was from Sir Henry and said:'Have just heard that Barrymore is at the Hall.'
'So we don't have the answer to the mystery of the man with the beard,'said Holmes.'But perhaps we shall soon have an answer to another question.'
At that moment the door bell rang.It was the driver of the bearded man's taxi.
'I got a message that you wanted to see me,'said the driver.'I hope there's nothing wrong.'
'No,no,my good man,'said Holmes.'In fact I'll give you some money if you can answer my questions clearly.Tell me all about the man in your taxi this morning.He was watching this house at ten o'clock and then told you to follow the two gentlemen who came out of it.'
The taxi driver was surprised at how much Holmes seemed to know.He answered:'The man told me that he was a detec tive,and that I should say nothing about him to anyone.'
'This is a serious business,'said Holmes,'and you will be in trouble if you try to hide anything.What can you tell me?'
'The man told me his name,'said the driver.
Holmes looked like a man who has just won an important game.'That was not very clever of him,'he said.'What was his name?'
'His name,'said the taxi driver,'was Sherlock Holmes.'
I have never seen my friend look more surprised Then he laughed loudly.'Tell me where be got into your taxi and everything that happened.'
We already knew most of what the taxi driver told us.But we learned that after we had lost sight of the taxi,it had gone to Waterloo Station,where the man had caught his train.The taxi driver said that the man was welldressed and had a black beard and pale face.He was about forty and not very tall.The driver did not know the colour of the man's eyes.
Holmes gave the man a pound,and sent him away.Then he said:
'We have a very clever enemy,Watson.He is winning the game at the moment.We have no answers at all to the strange things that have happened in London.I hope you are more suc cessful at Baskerville Hall,but I am not happy about sending you there.There is too much danger in this case.'
之后，我們繼續(xù)向前走，到了亨利爵士下榻的旅館。他見到我們很高興，可是又因他的另一只鞋也失蹤了而相當生氣。這次丟的是一只舊鞋。我可以看出，福爾摩斯發(fā)現(xiàn)這件事既有趣又古怪。他斟酌了片刻，可是除卻說明他不明白為何又被偷了一只鞋之外只字未說。
午餐時，亨利爵士告訴福爾摩斯他已決定去巴斯克維爾莊園。
“我認為您的決定是正確的，”福爾摩斯說道。“我知道有人在盯您的梢。如果他想在倫敦加害您的話，那我們將很難阻止他或在事后捕獲他。但在鄉(xiāng)下我們的機會就會大一些了。”
福爾摩斯接著告訴他們我們早上所見到的事情。然后，他問摩梯末醫(yī)生巴斯克維爾莊園之內(nèi)或附近是否住有留著又黑又長的胡子的人。
“有的，”摩梯末醫(yī)生道。“白瑞摩，查爾斯爵士的總管，就留著黑胡子。”
“我們必須驗證一下白瑞摩此時是在倫敦還是在巴斯克維爾莊園里，”福爾摩斯說道。“我將給在巴斯克維爾莊園的白瑞摩發(fā)封電報，就說：‘是否已為亨利爵士準備好了一切？’然后，我再給當?shù)氐泥]局發(fā)封電報。這上面就說：‘發(fā)給白瑞摩先生的電報務(wù)交其本人。如若不在，請寄回亨利·巴斯克維爾爵士。’我則把您下榻的這個旅館的地址附上。晚上以前我們便會知道白瑞摩在不在德文郡了。”
“我們家的人不住在莊園里時白瑞摩和他妻子可就有很好的住處而又閑著無事可做了，”查爾斯爵士說道。
“那是實情，”福爾摩斯道。“白瑞摩夫婦從查爾斯爵士的遺囑得到了什么沒有？他們是否知道他一死他們就能拿到一筆錢呢？”
“是的，”摩梯末醫(yī)生說道。“他倆每人得了500英鎊；查爾斯爵士生前還將遺囑的內(nèi)容告訴了眾人。”
“這事很有意思，”福爾摩斯說道。
“我希望您不要對每一位從查爾斯爵士的遺囑那兒得到好處的人都加以懷疑，”摩梯末醫(yī)生說道。“我得了1000英鎊呢。”
“是嘛！”福爾摩斯說道。“那么還有誰也得到錢了呢？”
“許多人得到了一小筆款子。他把許多錢給了許多家醫(yī)院。余產(chǎn)全歸亨利爵士所有。他得了74萬英鎊。”
“我真沒想到會有這么多，”福爾摩斯驚訝地說道。
“巴斯克維爾家族的地產(chǎn)價值大約一百萬英鎊，”摩梯末醫(yī)生說道。
“天啊，”福爾摩斯說道。“一個人為了這個會殺人的。還有一個問題，假若我們的這位年輕朋友發(fā)生不測的話，那么將由誰來繼承巴斯克維爾莊園及其地產(chǎn)呢？”
“哦，如您所知，查爾斯爵士有兩個兄弟。亨利爵士是查爾斯爵士的弟弟的獨生子。兄弟三人中最小的那個羅杰是個罪犯。警察局想緝拿他，于是他不得不離開了英國。人們說他長得和家中的老雨果爵士即最初見到那個獵犬的那位的畫像一模一樣。他和雨果還是同一類人。他去了南美，在那兒死于黃熱病。因此，要是亨利爵士不在了的話，巴斯克維爾莊園將歸他的表兄詹姆斯·戴斯蒙所有。詹姆斯·戴斯蒙年事已高，住在英格蘭北部。他的生活非常簡樸，也不想成為富豪。”
“謝謝您，摩梯末醫(yī)生。”福爾摩斯說道。“現(xiàn)在，亨利爵士，我同意您盡快前往巴斯克維爾莊園了�？墒牵鷽Q不能單獨去。我目前尚不能離開倫敦。我正在辦理另一宗案子。我正在想方設(shè)法制止英格蘭的一位極其重要的人士陷于危險的處境之中。我希望我的朋友華生能與您一同前往。如果您的情況危急，則沒有比他更好的人選陪在您身邊了。”
我和亨利爵士對這個主意都感到很高興。因此我們安排在接下來的星期六動身前往德文郡。
就在我們正要離開亨利爵士的房間時，他叫喊了一聲并在桌邊跪下了。
“這正是我丟了的那只棕色的鞋子，”他說道，同時把手伸向桌子底下。
“那真是太怪了，”摩梯末醫(yī)生說道。“午飯前我們已查找過這屋子了，那時它還不在桌子底下。”
旅館里的工作人員誰也解釋不清這只鞋是如何回到房間里來的。
這樣我們又有了一個疑團。我們乘出租馬車回貝克街時，福爾摩斯一直在坐著沉思。整個下午乃至傍晚他都一聲不吭地思考著，抽了一煙斗又一煙斗的煙。
就是晚飯前，來了一封電報。那是亨利爵士發(fā)來的，上面說：“頃悉白瑞摩現(xiàn)在莊園。”
“因此，我們并沒有找到關(guān)于那個蓄胡須的人的疑團的答案，”福爾摩斯說道。“可是，我們沒準很快便會找到另一個疑團的答案。”
這時門鈴響了。來者是蓄胡子的那人乘坐的那輛出租馬車的車夫。
“我接到通知說您想見我，”車夫說道。“我希望我沒有什么做錯之處。”
“沒有，沒有，好伙計。”福爾摩斯說道。“如果你能清楚地回答我的問題，事實上我就會給你一些錢。告訴我今早乘坐你的馬車的那個人的所有情況。他在10點時監(jiān)視這幢房子，后來又讓你尾隨從這兒出來的兩位紳士來著。”
車夫?qū)Ω柲λ箍此普莆樟撕芏嗲闆r而感到驚詫。他回答道：“那人曾對我說他是位偵探，還對我說不許對任何人講關(guān)于他的事情。”
“這是一件很嚴重的事情，”福爾摩斯說道。“如果你想對我隱瞞什么的話，你就要倒霉了。你能告訴我什么呢？”
“這人告訴了我他的名字，”車夫說道。
福爾摩斯就像剛剛贏得了一場重大比賽的人一樣。“那他可真不太精明，”他說道。“他（說他）叫什么名字��？”
“他的名字，”車夫說道，“是歇洛克·福爾摩斯。”
我從來沒有看到我的朋友那樣吃驚過。然后，他縱聲大笑起來。“告訴我他在什么地方搭上你的車的以及都發(fā)生了些什么事情。”
車夫告訴我們的大多數(shù)事情我們都已經(jīng)知道了�？墒俏覀冞�得知，在我們那時看不見了馬車之后，馬車去了滑鐵盧車站，那個人在那兒上了火車。車夫說那人衣著考究，留著黑胡須，臉色蒼白。他大約四十歲年紀，身材不算太高。車夫不知道那人的眼珠的顏色。
福爾摩斯給了他一英鎊，然后把他打發(fā)走了。接著他說道：
“我們這次搞上了個狡猾的對手，華生。目前來看他是贏了。我們對在倫敦發(fā)生的那些怪事毫無答案。我希望你在巴斯克維爾莊園要順當些，可是派你去那兒我可真是不放心。這宗案子有著太多的危險。”
