巴斯克维尔猎犬 2.The Strange Letter

巴斯克维尔猎犬

The hound of the baskervilles

美国作家改编

原著 Conan Doyle

【英】柯南.道尔

改编 Robert Ellis

故事梗概

九月一个美丽的早晨，神探歌洛克.福尔摩斯收到一封来自一位名叫詹姆斯.摩梯末的医生的拜访信。上午十点半摩梯末医生如约而至，他随身带来了一扎神秘的手稿，这扎手稿来自已故的查尔斯.巴斯克雄尔爵士。信中讲述了一百多年前巴斯克维尔家庭的祖先雨果.巴斯克维尔是如何为非作歹，最终招致自己丧命在传说中凶悍无比的巴斯克维尔猎犬的利齿之下的故事。自此之后，巴斯克维尔家族就笼罩在祖先所犯下罪行的阴影之中，家族族长的继承人们都相继以蹊跷而恐怖的方式死去。

起初福尔摩斯并不为摩梯末医生的故事所吸引，认为这只是个有趣的传说。但随着摩梯末医生逐步向福尔摩斯讲述了查尔斯.巴斯克维尔爵士死因的疑点时，福尔摩斯决定插手此案，因为他意识到这不仅关系到已故伯爵查尔斯的真正死因，还关系到巴斯克维尔庄园的下一个继承人亨利.巴斯克维尔的生命安全。在福尔摩斯的巧妙安排之下。他的忠实搭档华生医生陪伴亨利爵士回到巴斯克维尔庄园。

在巴斯克维尔庄园期间，华生医生接二连三地遇到了种种怪异之事，如半夜时分女人凄惨的哭声，管家白瑞摩夜间可疑的举动，还有他后来发现的一封查尔斯爵士死前未被完全烧毁的信件的碎片，等等。这诸多的疑团使他坠入云雾之中。正当他决定开始深入虎穴探听虚实之时，他却出乎意料地遇到了从天而降的福尔摩斯。原来福尔摩斯为了弄清传说中那只可怕猎犬的秘密及发生在巴斯克维尔庄园的惨案，故意避人耳目，独自躲在人迹罕至的沼泽地，忍受暴风雨以及孤独和寒冷的袭击。而此时狡猾的罪犯也开始按捺不住，逐渐浮出水面，他迫不及待地误杀了穿着亨利爵士衣服的逃犯塞尔多。这使福尔摩斯更加确信自己的推断无误。于是，福尔摩斯果断地用亨利引出了真正的凶手——斯台普顿。原来两年前刚刚搬到德文郡的斯台普顿就是罗杰.巴斯克维尔，即查尔斯爵士最小弟弟的儿子。多年前人们误以为身为逃犯的罗杰死于南美洲，但实际上，他并没有死，而且还有了一个儿子也叫罗杰，他就是斯台普顿。斯台普顿知道如果查尔斯和亨利都死了，那么他将能得到巴斯克维尔家族的巨额财产，因此他便利用巴斯克维尔猎犬的传说不择手段地杀害了自己的亲人。他先是用怒犬吓死了年老体衰的查尔斯爵士，随后又妄图让恶犬咬死亨利爵士，但福尔摩斯最终识破了他的诡计，在华生和警探的配合下杀死了那只可怕的猎犬，而斯台普顿也在深夜仓皇出逃时生死不明……

感谢大耳朵网友“Alice-nemo”提供听力原文

CHAPTER TWO

The Strange Letter

A man named Sir Charles Baskerville gave me these papers," said Dr. Mortimer. "He told me they were extremely important. Sadly, Sir Charles died suddenly three months ago. His death caused much sadness and excitement in Devonshire, where I am from. Sir Charles' family has a great house there, Baskerville Hall. Before I read this paper to you, I will first tell Sir Charles was a reasonable man, but he believed the strange story that is told in these papers. "

Dr. Mortimer went on: "The story is about the Baskerville family. 1 have come to see you, Mr. Holmes, because I think you may be able to help. I think that something terrible is going to happen in the next twenty-four hours. But of course, you can't help me unless you know the story of the Baskerville family. May I read it to you?"

"Certainly, Dr. Mortimer," said Holmes. Then he lit his pipe and sat back in his chair with his eyes shut.

Mortimer began to read the papers in his high,rather strange, voice:

It is the year 1742. I, William Baskerville, am writing this paper for my sons. It was my father who first told me about the Hound of the Baskerville. This hound is a very large and terrible dog. I want you, mysons, to read this story and never forget it. I want you to know that God punishes those who do evil. But God forgives people who are sorry for the wrong things they have done.

Over a hundred years ago, in 1640, the head of the Baskerville family was Sir Hugo Baskerviile. He was a strange and evil man. He had a cruel heart, and enjoyed hurting other people. One day Sir Hugo saw a young woman, the daughter of a farmer who lived close by. He decided he wanted her for his son.This girl was very afraid of the evil Sit Hugo, and tried to hide from him. One day, Hugo heard that this girl's father and brothers were away. He knew that she would be alone in the house. So he rode to the farm with five or six of his friends, who were just as terrible as he was. They made the girl return to Baskerville Hall with them, and locked her in a room upstairs. Then they sat down in another room to drink. As usual, they drank many bottles of wine they began to sing loud and became very drunk. Then they began to sing loud songs.

The young girl was alone upstairs. When she heard the terrible songs Sir Hugo and his men were singing, she knew she had to escape, or she would die. So she opened the window, and used the vines on the wall to climb down to the ground. Then she started to run across the moor, a large field full of hills and stones, to her home.

Some time later, Sir Hugo left his friends sitting downstairs and went up to see the girl. When he saw that she was gone, he was extremely angry. He ran down the stairs. He yelled, "If I catch that girl before she gets home, I'll give my soul to the devil!," I think Sir Hugo really would have done this, and he was so evil.

Hugo's friends laughed and told him to send his dogs to chase the girl. After he let the dogs go, he jumped onto his black horse and rode off after the dogs, which were harking loudly.

After they had drunk even more wine, Hugo's friends thought it would be fun to help Sir Hugo find the girl, so they got on their horses and followed him.

There were thirteen of them on the mad. After a mile or two they passed an old farmer, and asked him if he had seen Sir Hugo and his dogs. The man was pale and shaking with fear, and could hardly speak. He said, "Yes... I have seen that poor girl, with the terrible hounds running close behind her. Sir Hugo was with the hounds, screaming terrible things at the young lady. But I have seen more than that," the old man cried. "Behind Sir Hugo I saw another hound, a hound like no other in the world!It was black and terrible, and almost as large as a horse. It was running silently, and its eyes were red and hungry looking. God protected me from that hound of Hell!" Sir Hugo's friends just laughed at the old man and called him a stupid fool. Then they rode away. But then they saw Sir Hugo's horse running towards them. Sir Hugo was not riding it.

The men said m each other, "Maybe he's fallen off the horse!" They laughed, but they were suddenly afraid, so they kept their horses close together. They rode their horses over the moor until they found the hounds.

Everyone in this part of England knew about the famous Baskerville Hounds. They were the bravest, strongest and the best at hunting in Devonshire. But when Sir Hugo's friends found them, the hounds were standing at the edge of a deep valley. They seemed very frightened of something, and would not move. Most of Sir Hugo's friends were too scared to go down into this valley, but at last three men agreed to go.

The valley bad a wide, flat floor. In the middle of the flat ground two large stones stool. Thousands of years ago, some people had put them there. The moon was shining brightly on the large stones, and between them, on the ground, lay the girl. She was dead, but there were no marks on her body. Sir Hugo's body lay next to her. But it was not the sight of these two dead people that made the men afraid. It was the sight of the huge aninml that was standing over Sir Hrgo! It was a great black animal that looked like a hound. But it was larger than any hound they had ever seen.

As the three men stared in horror, the bound ton out Hugo Baskerville's throat. Then it turned towards them. Its eyes were burning brightly. The hound's body shone with a strange light. Blood ran from its mouth, and it licked its teeth with a long tongue. The teeth were like knives, long and sharp!

The men screamed. They rode back up the valley as fast as they could go. They were almost beating their horses because they were so afraid. Later that night, one died from the horror he had seen. The other two were insane for the rest of their lives.

That was the first time the Hound appeared, my sons. It has been seen many times since then, and many of the Baskervilles have died in strange and terrible ways. I believe there is a curse on our family. Because of this, you must not travel on the moor at night. You are Baskervilles, and the Devil finds it easy to do his work when the world is dark. Surely, this Hound is one of his creatures.

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