Seated in the armchair, opposite Holmes at 221b Baker Street, Dr Mortimer reads aloud the final paragraph from the unfolded manuscript he holds open with both hands, “To that providence, my sons, I hereby commend you, and counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted.” He looks at Holmes, “There is a footnote, Mr Holmes.”
Holmes draws on his pipe, “What does it say, Dr Mortimer?”
Mortimer imparts, “This from Hugo Baskerville to his sons Rodger and John, with instructions that they say nothing thereof to their sister Elizabeth.” He slowly lowers the manuscript to his lap, “That, then, Mr Holmes, is the legend of The Hound of the Baskervilles.”
Placing a dining-table chair beside Holmes, Watson sits, “What do you make of it, Holmes?”
Holmes wistfully exhales smoke, “Quite a melodramatic tale, eh, Watson?” He stares at Mortimer, “Shall we confine ourselves to the facts, Dr Mortimer? On the night in question, who discovered the body of Sir Charles Baskerville, surely not you?”
Mortimer folds the manuscript, “Barrymore the butler, who, in turn, sent Perkins the groom on horseback to fetch me. I reached Baskerville Hall at about half past nine and found Sir Charles lying face down on the ground, dead. Not a mark upon him.”
Holmes asks impatiently, “Where on the ground, exactly?”
Mortimer returns the folded manuscript to the inside pocket of his jacket, “A yew alley, Mr Holmes, which leads from the front of Baskerville Hall to a summerhouse.”
Holmes stares at him intently, “Describe the yew alley to me, Dr Mortimer.”
Mortimer squints at Holmes through his spectacles, “An earthen track, flanked either side by dense yew hedges, twelve feet high.”
“Might one conceivably breach the hedges?”
Mortimer removes his spectacles, fastidiously cleaning them with a handkerchief, “At one point only, Mr Holmes. Halfway along the track, through a small wooden gate, which leads out to the moor.”
Holmes enquires pensively, “The gate, Dr Mortimer? Was it open or closed?”
Mortimer replaces his spectacles, “Open, Mr Holmes. And there was something else. Footprints.”
Watson queries, “Those of a man, or a woman?”
Mortimer returns the handkerchief to his pocket, “Neither, Dr Watson. They were the footprints of a gigantic hound.”
Watson gasps, “Good grief, Holmes. Then the legend is true?”
Holmes sighs tetchily, “Come, come, Watson. It is quite obvious that the footprints were made by an animal of this world, and not by a phantom creature one hundred and forty-seven-years-old.” He turns to Mortimer, “When you found Sir Charles Baskerville, was he lying towards Baskerville Hall, or the summerhouse?”
Mortimer replies promptly, “Quite some distance from the gate, towards Baskerville Hall, Mr Holmes.”
Holmes thoughtfully draws on his pipe, “Then we can safely assume that Sir Charles, who having been out on the moor, came through the gate, left it open and was hurrying towards Baskerville Hall when he died.”
Mortimer imparts, “Sir Charles had not been hurrying along the yew alley, Mr Holmes. He had been tiptoeing.”
Watson stammers incredulously, “Tiptoeing?”
Holmes lowers his pipe, “Are you quite certain, Dr Mortimer?”
Mortimer nods fervently, “From the gate to where Sir Charles was found lying face down on the ground, only the tips of his boots were visible in the earth. Indicating he had been tiptoeing along the yew alley.”
Watson stands quickly, “Pursued by a gigantic hound? That is a ludicrous inference, Dr Mortimer.”
Holmes raises a silencing hand, “Quite so, Watson. Quite so.” He addresses Mortimer, “In your opinion there is a diabolical power at work which makes Dartmoor a perilous place for any Baskerville to reside. Therefore, and if I am not mistaken, you fear for the life of Sir Charles’ heir, do you not, Dr Mortimer?”
Mortimer nods again, “Sir Henry Baskerville, who has travelled from Canada, and will arrive at [469]Waterloo Station...” He looks at his pocket watch, “In exactly one hour and a quarter.”
“Sir Henry is the sole heir?”
Mortimer nods once more, “Yes, Mr Holmes.”
“There is no other claimant?”
Mortimer shakes his head, “Not that I am aware of, Mr Holmes.”
Putting down his pipe, Holmes slowly stands, “Then, Dr Mortimer, I propose you hail a cab, proceed to Waterloo Station and meet Sir Henry.” He indicates the walking stick leaning against the chair, “And this time, do not forget your walking stick.”
Feeling rebuffed, Mortimer stands, “I expected more of you, Mr Holmes.”
Holmes raises an enquiring eyebrow, “You did?”
Mortimer retrieves his walking stick, “Your help, Mr Holmes.”
Holmes jovially claps his hands together, “And you shall have it. Say nothing of this matter to Sir Henry tonight, but bring him here tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”
Mortimer nods approvingly, “I am indebted to you, Mr Holmes. But for what end?”
Holmes raises a tutorial finger, “Be guided by me, Dr Mortimer, and do as I say. If you fail to heed my advice, I fear Sir Henry will not be long for this world.”
Mortimer blanches, “Murder, Mr Holmes?”
Holmes strides across the room and opens the apartment door, “By the very hand that orchestrated the death of Sir Charles.” He ushers Mortimer through the door on to the landing, “Make haste, Dr Mortimer, and do not let Sir Henry stray from your sight.”
Politely raising his hat, Mortimer hurriedly descends the flight of stairs. Quietly closing the apartment door, Holmes turns to Watson, “Quickly, Watson. A map of Devonshire. Dartmoor, to be precise.”
Watson pulls open a drawer of the bureau, “I daresay there are those who are looked upon as gifted amateurs, but Dr Mortimer is hardly of that ilk, Holmes. Tiptoeing, indeed.”
Striding back across the room, Holmes picks up his pipe, “If not tiptoeing, what do you suppose Sir Charles was doing, Watson?”
Watson rummages in the drawer, “Running, of course.”
Holmes relights his pipe, “Bravo, Watson. Sir Charles was indeed running. Fleeing from the hound. He was running for his life, running until his heart burst and he fell dead upon his face.”
To be continued in next month’s issue.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Arthur Ignatius Conan was born at approximately 4. 55 a.m. on the 22 of May, 1859, at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. In later years, he would combine his mother’s maiden name with his own surname, thereby becoming known for the rest of his life as Arthur Conan Doyle. At the age of seventeen, he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, where he studied medicine for the next five years, making the acquaintance of Dr Joseph Bell, descendent of a family of distinguished Edinburgh surgeons.
In 1881, Conan Doyle moved to Portsmouth, England, opening a general medical practice at 1 Bush Villas, situated between a local church and a tavern. Whilst practicing at 1 Bush Villas, and in order to support himself, his wife and daughter, he turned to his first passion in life, writing. In March of 1886, he began to pen his first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, which would eventually secure him international fame.
Published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in November of the next year, A Study in Scarlet proved an instant success, resulting in Beeton’s Christmas Annual being sold out within two weeks. Partly based on his former mentor, Dr Joseph Bell, whom Conan Doyle had greatly admired for his intellectual prowess, Sherlock Holmes would feature in another fifty-nine stories and would be universally acclaimed as the definitive fictional detective, captivating millions of readers with his powers of observation and deduction. All but four of the Sherlock Holmes stories were written in the first person, as recounted through the eyes of Dr John H. Watson. Therefore, it is safe to assume that Watson, although a fictitious character, was, in all probability, based on Ar
thur Conan Doyle himself.
The following year, in 1888, nine months after A Study in Scarlet had been published, the Whitechapel murders, perpetrated by an unknown assassin, had thrown the East End of London into a state of riotous panic. Why the murderer, known by the sobriquet of Jack the Ripper, had slaughtered and mutilated his victims in such a hideous manner, and who he might have been, remains an utter mystery today, as it had been then.
Notes
Circa 1888
* * *
[1]Chapter 1: The Final Confrontation
Liechtenstein = principality bordered by Switzerland and Austria
[2] Zurich = capital city of Switzerland
[3] Scotland Yard = headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police
[4] You have cut me to the quick = normally said when a person responds to a hurtful remark or action, in this case, delivered jokingly
[5] Cambridge University = one of the oldest universities in the world. Located in the city of Cambridge
[6] Chair = professorship
[7] Blighter = person who is regarded with comtempt, irritation or pity
[8] Buckram Top Hat = headwear made of stiifened, coarse cotton material
[9] Frock-coat = double-breasted, long-skirted gentleman’s coat
[10] Ceylon = island located some nineteen miles off the southern coast of India
[11] Muffin = flat, curcular doughy bread roll which is toasted and buttered before eating
[12] Hansom Cab = named after its inventor, Joseph A Hansom, an English architect from the city of York
[13] Shag tobacco = coarse cut tobacco
[14] Bali = Indonesian island, lying between Java to the west and Lombox to the east
[15] Derby hat = type of bowler, derives its name from the Epsom Derby
[16] Beethoven, Ludwig van = German composer who ultimately went deaf
[17] Meddler = interfering person
[18] Breastplate = armour covering the chest
[19] Bough = main branch of a tree
[20] Auf Wiederschen = German for goodbye
[21] Cleft = fissure or split in rock
Chapter 2: The Reign of Terror Begins
[22] Bondage = enslaved
[23] Urchins = deprived child, raggedly dressed
[24] Womanhood = Vagina
[25] Perineum = area between the vulva and anus
[26] Peritonitis = bacterial infection after the rupture of an abdominal organ
[27] Storm in a teacup = irrational outrage over a trivial issue
[28] Bank Holiday = particular day when banks were officially closed, now kept as a public holiday
[29] Gout = disease by which uric acid causes arthritis, especially in the bones of the feet
[30] Dyspepsia = severe indigestion
[31] Tavern = also public house or pub
[32] ’old yer ’orses = wait a moment
[33] Ale = dark coloured beer
[34] Be no lead in ’is pencil t’night = unable to achieve an erection
[35] A knee-trembler = sexual intercourse in a public place, standing
[36] Tanner = six pennies
[37] Four pence = four pennies
[38] Tu’pence = two pennies
[39] Sling yer hook = be on your way
[40] Crown Jewels = jewellery worn by Her Majesty Queen Victoria on state occasions and housed in the Tower of London
[41] Innit? = isn’t
[42] John Thomas = penis
[43] Black ’Ole o’ Calcutta = the guard room in Fort William, Calcutta, India, where British prisoners were herded together after the capture of the fort in 1756
[44] Copper = police constable
[45] Swing = hanged for murder
[46] Wot’s yer game, then? = suspicious of someone
[47] Gawd! = God!
[48] Rotten kipper = rancid herring fish
[49] Tot o’ gin = small amount of a clear alchoholic drink
[50] Penny-dreadful = cheap, lurid comic
[51] Continent = Europe
[52] Parisian brothel = Paris bordello
[53] Beeton’s Christmas Annual = book containing fictional stories
[54] Old Nichol gang = Whitechapel gang of men who extort money from prostitutes
[55] Nipper = child
[56] Ol’ pipes = lungs
[57] Dozen bags in all = 12 bags
[58] Shillin’ = 12 pennies
[59] Bleedin’ peach = extremely charitable person
[60] Chaise longue = reclinging sofa with a backrest at only one end
[61] 6, River Terrace = situated along the Old Woolwich Road, East Greenwich. A district in south-east London on the south bank of the River Thames
[62] Wagner, Wilhelm = German composer
[63] Mendlessohn’s Lieder = Felix Mendlessohn was a German composer, whose works included Lieder ohne worte (song without words)
[64] Richard III = King of England from 1483 until his death two years later at the Battle of Bosworth Field
[65] Union Jack = Union Flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which is comprised of the crosses of St Andrew, St Patrick and St George
[66] Colour Sergeant = non-commissioned officer who is responsible for the safekeeping of the 'Colours' of a regiment during battle
[67] Hobnailed boots = laced ankle boots with hobnails protruding from leather soles
[68] Atlantic = North Atlantic Ocean
[69] Fleet Street = located in the City of London, where the majority of the national newspapers of the country have their offices.
[70] Tower = Tower of London
[71] Wellington, Duke of, Arthur Wellesley = commanded the allied forces which defeated the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815
[72] Ring a bell, does it? = asked to jolt a person’s memory
[73] Kingston-upon-Thames = ten miles south-west of London
[74] ’Ung, drawn an’ quartered = hanged almost to the point of death and whilst barely alived, disembowelled and dismembered
[75] Cocked it up, didn’t I? = ruin something by being incompetent or inefficient
[76] Chopin, Frederic = Polish composer
[77] Adelphi = theatre
Chapter Three: Mr Holmes Investigates
[78] Cor Blimey = expressing surprise
[79] Adam an’ Eve = believe
[80] Shiner = black eye
[81] Swiped = stole
[82] Bun Penny = issued in 1860, this coin depicts the young face of Queen Victoria
[83] Ulster overcoat = man’s overcoat with half cape covering the sleeves
[84] Fat lot o’ good = not helpful or useful
[85] Yid = offensive for Jew
[86] Rats from the ’old = implying that some human beings are no better than vermin
[87] Syphilis = chronic bacterial disease which attacks the central nervous system of the human body, eventually causing madness
[88] Oh, my gawd = Oh, my God
[89] Carmen = drivers of horse-drawn vehicles
[90] Cape = half cape worn by a police constable, covering the shoulders and the arms
[91] Hand-cart = two wheeled ambulance, pushed by hand
[92] Billycock hat = toughened felt bowler
[93] Costermonger’s barrow = two wheeled hand barrow from which fruit and vegetables are sold in the street, by men known as costermongers
[94] Mother Nature = controlling force which affects humans and the world
[95] Clairvoyant = ability to perceive events beyond the normal realm of sensory contact
[96] Wicket door = small acces door built into a larger gate
[97] Butchers = look
[98] Harley Street = renowned for its London medical practitioners
[99] Stitch you lip = shut up
[100] Mite = small child
[101] Cat’s got yer bleedin’ tongue, ain’t it = put to a person who is oddly silent, or had been rendered speechless momentarily
&nb
sp; [102] Entomologist = biological specialist, knowledgeable about insects
[103] Fleas = wingless insects which feed on the blood of mammals and birds
Chapter 4: Unfortunates
[104] Scrounger = persistently borrows food or money from people
[105] Tomfoolery = foolish or silly behaviour
[106] Graft = work
[107] Charwomen = office or house cleaners
[108] Consumption = pulmonary tuberculosis
[109] Bronchitis = infection of the bronchial mucous membrane which causes severe coughing
[110] Bruiser = aggressive man spoiling for a fight
[111] Tan yer ’ide = beat a person repeatedly as a punishment
[112] Blokes = men
[113] Dose o’ the pox = bout of syphilis
[114] Ol’ Father Thames – River Thames
[115] Cat’s meat = portions of horse meat sold as food for pet cats
[116] Blimey = used to express surprise or alarm
[117] Summut = something
[118] Mother o’ Mercy = predominantly an Irish exclamation of alarm
[119] Blockhead = stupid
[120] Guts = courage, toughness of character
[121] Cardiff = capital of Wales
[122] Knightsbridge = affluent west London district
[123] Stepney = neighbourhood north of Spitalfields
[124] Billingsgate Market = wholesale fish market in the City of London
[125] Half-crown = 2 shillings 6 pennies
[126] Ears firmly t’ the ground = alert as to what people may say or do
[127] Whiter than white = faultless
[128] Butcher = disembowel
[129] Innards = entrails
[130] Carbolic soap = disinfectant soap
[131] Trap = mouth
[132] Old woman = reference to a permanent female companion or wife
[133] Bloke = man
[134] Black an’ blue = badly beaten and bruised
[135] Shakin’ like a bleedin’ leaf = petrified
[136] Nark = inform on a person or persons to the police
Chapter 5: Femme Fatale
[137]
[138] Earl of Rosebury, Archibald Philip Primrose = former Foreign Secretary
Sherlock Holmes Murder Most Foul Page 44