阿瑟•柯南•道尔（Arthur Conan Doyle，1859—1930），英国杰出的侦探小说家、剧作家，堪称侦探悬疑小说的鼻祖，被誉为“英国侦探小说之父”。他因成功塑造了侦探人物――夏洛克•福尔摩斯而成为侦探小说历史上重要的小说家之一。代表作品有“福尔摩斯探案全集系列”等。

Chapter I

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a “Penang lawyer.” Just under the head was a broad silver band, nearly an inch across. “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,” was engraved upon it, with the date “1884.” It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring.

“Well, Watson, what do you make of it?”

Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.

“How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head.”

“I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me,” said he. “But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor’s stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it.”

CONTENTS

DEDICATION...………………………………………………… 001

Chapter I Mr. Sherlock Holmes...………………………………… 003

Chapter II The Curse of the Baskervilles.………………………… 012

Chapter III The Problem...………………………..……………… 025

Chapter IV Sir Henry Baskerville...…………..…………………… 037

Chapter V Three Broken Threads.....……………………………… 052

Chapter VI Baskerville Hall...……………………………………… 065

Chapter VII The Stapletons of Merripit House..…………………… 077

Chapter VIII First Report of Dr. Watson………………..………… 094

Chapter IX Second Report of Dr. Watson………………………… 103

Chapter X Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson………….……… 124

Chapter XI The Man on the Tor....………………………………… 136

Chapter XII Death on the Moor.…………………………………… 152

Chapter XIII Fixing the Nets....…………………..………………… 167

Chapter XIV The Hound of the Baskervilles...……..…..…………… 182

Chapter XV A Retrospection..……………………………………… 196