Orakel Classics
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, prepared as a public-domain Orakel edition with 15 chapter-aware companion links.
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Chapter 1.: Mr. Sherlock Holmes
Chapter 1.: Mr. Sherlock Holmes from The Hound of the Baskervilles. 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
Open2Chapter 2.: The Curse of the Baskervilles
Chapter 2.: The Curse of the Baskervilles from The Hound of the Baskervilles. “You have presented an inch or two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking. It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that at
Open3Chapter 3.: The Problem
Chapter 3.: The Problem from The Hound of the Baskervilles. I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly
Open4Chapter 4.: Sir Henry Baskerville
Chapter 4.: Sir Henry Baskerville from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Our breakfast table was cleared early, and Holmes waited in his dressing-gown for the promised interview. Our clients were punctual to their appointment, for the clock had just struck ten when Dr. Mortimer was shown up, followed by the young baronet. The latter was a small, alert, dark-eyed man about thirty years of age, very sturdily built, with thick black eyebrows and a strong, pugnacious face. He wore a
Open5Chapter 5.: Three Broken Threads
Chapter 5.: Three Broken Threads from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will. For two hours the strange business in which we had been involved appeared to be forgotten, and he was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters. He would talk of nothing but art, of which he had the crudest ideas, from our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at the Northumberland
Open6Chapter 6.: Baskerville Hall
Chapter 6.: Baskerville Hall from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr. Mortimer were ready upon the appointed day, and we started as arranged for Devonshire. Mr. Sherlock Holmes drove with me to the station and gave me his last parting injunctions and
Open7Chapter 7.: The Stapletons of Merripit House
Chapter 7.: The Stapletons of Merripit House from The Hound of the Baskervilles. The fresh beauty of the following morning did something to efface from our minds the grim and grey impression which had been left upon both of us by our first experience of Baskerville Hall. As Sir Henry and I sat at breakfast the sunlight flooded in through the high mullioned windows, throwing watery patches of colour from the coats of arms which covered them. The dark panelling glowed like bronze in the golden
Open8Chapter 8.: First Report of Dr. Watson
Chapter 8.: First Report of Dr. Watson from The Hound of the Baskervilles. From this point onward I will follow the course of events by transcribing my own letters to Mr. Sherlock Holmes which lie before me on the table. One page is missing, but otherwise they are exactly as written and show my feelings and suspicions of the moment more accurately than my memory, clear as it is upon these tragic events, can possibly
Open9Chapter 9.: The Light upon the Moor [Second Report of Dr. Watson
Chapter 9.: The Light upon the Moor [Second Report of Dr. Watson from The Hound of the Baskervilles. If I was compelled to leave you without much news during the early days of my mission you must acknowledge that I am making up for lost time, and that events are now crowding thick and fast upon us. In my last report I ended upon my top note with Barrymore at the window, and now I have quite a budget already which will, unless I am much mistaken, considerably surprise you. Things have taken a turn which I could not
Open10Chapter 10.: Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson
Chapter 10.: Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson from The Hound of the Baskervilles. So far I have been able to quote from the reports which I have forwarded during these early days to Sherlock Holmes. Now, however, I have arrived at a point in my narrative where I am compelled to abandon this method and to trust once more to my recollections, aided by the diary which I kept at the time. A few extracts from the latter will carry me on to those scenes which are indelibly fixed in every detail upon my
Open11Chapter 11.: The Man on the Tor
Chapter 11.: The Man on the Tor from The Hound of the Baskervilles. The extract from my private diary which forms the last chapter has brought my narrative up to the eighteenth of October, a time when these strange events began to move swiftly towards their terrible conclusion. The incidents of the next few days are indelibly graven upon my recollection, and I can tell them without reference to the notes made at the time. I start them from the day which succeeded that upon which I
Open12Chapter 12.: Death on the Moor
Chapter 12.: Death on the Moor from The Hound of the Baskervilles. For a moment or two I sat breathless, hardly able to believe my ears. Then my senses and my voice came back to me, while a crushing weight of responsibility seemed in an instant to be lifted from my soul. That cold, incisive, ironical voice could belong to but one man in all the
Open13Chapter 13.: Fixing the Nets
Chapter 13.: Fixing the Nets from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Henry was more pleased than surprised to see Sherlock Holmes, for he had for some days been expecting that recent events would bring him down from London. He did raise his eyebrows, however, when he found that my friend had neither any luggage nor any explanations for its absence. Between us we soon supplied his wants, and then over a belated supper we explained to the baronet as much of our experience as it
Open14Chapter 14.: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Chapter 14.: The Hound of the Baskervilles from The Hound of the Baskervilles. One of Sherlock Holmes’s defects—if, indeed, one may call it a defect—was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment. Partly it came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result, however,
Open15Chapter 15.: A Retrospection
Chapter 15.: A Retrospection from The Hound of the Baskervilles. It was the end of November, and Holmes and I sat, upon a raw and foggy night, on either side of a blazing fire in our sitting-room in Baker Street. Since the tragic upshot of our visit to Devonshire he had been engaged in two affairs of the utmost importance, in the first of which he had exposed the atrocious conduct of Colonel Upwood in connection with the famous card scandal of the Nonpareil Club, while in the
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