巴斯克維爾獵犬 2.The Strange Letter

巴斯克維爾獵犬

The hound of the baskervilles

美國作家改編

原著 Conan Doyle

【英】柯南.道爾

改編 Robert Ellis

故事梗概

九月一個美麗的早晨，神探歌洛克.福爾摩斯收到一封來自一位名叫詹姆斯.摩梯末的醫(yī)生的拜訪信。上午十點(diǎn)半摩梯末醫(yī)生如約而至，他隨身帶來了一扎神秘的手稿，這扎手稿來自已故的查爾斯.巴斯克雄爾爵士。信中講述了一百多年前巴斯克維爾家庭的祖先雨果.巴斯克維爾是如何為非作歹，最終招致自己喪命在傳說中兇悍無比的巴斯克維爾獵犬的利齒之下的故事。自此之后，巴斯克維爾家族就籠罩在祖先所犯下罪行的陰影之中，家族族長的繼承人們都相繼以蹊蹺而恐怖的方式死去。

起初福爾摩斯并不為摩梯末醫(yī)生的故事所吸引，認(rèn)為這只是個有趣的傳說。但隨著摩梯末醫(yī)生逐步向福爾摩斯講述了查爾斯.巴斯克維爾爵士死因的疑點(diǎn)時，福爾摩斯決定插手此案，因?yàn)樗庾R到這不僅關(guān)系到已故伯爵查爾斯的真正死因，還關(guān)系到巴斯克維爾莊園的下一個繼承人亨利.巴斯克維爾的生命安全。在福爾摩斯的巧妙安排之下。他的忠實(shí)搭檔華生醫(yī)生陪伴亨利爵士回到巴斯克維爾莊園。

在巴斯克維爾莊園期間，華生醫(yī)生接二連三地遇到了種種怪異之事，如半夜時分女人凄慘的哭聲，管家白瑞摩夜間可疑的舉動，還有他后來發(fā)現(xiàn)的一封查爾斯爵士死前未被完全燒毀的信件的碎片，等等。這諸多的疑團(tuán)使他墜入云霧之中。正當(dāng)他決定開始深入虎穴探聽虛實(shí)之時，他卻出乎意料地遇到了從天而降的福爾摩斯。原來福爾摩斯為了弄清傳說中那只可怕獵犬的秘密及發(fā)生在巴斯克維爾莊園的慘案，故意避人耳目，獨(dú)自躲在人跡罕至的沼澤地，忍受暴風(fēng)雨以及孤獨(dú)和寒冷的襲擊。而此時狡猾的罪犯也開始按捺不住，逐漸浮出水面，他迫不及待地誤殺了穿著亨利爵士衣服的逃犯塞爾多。這使福爾摩斯更加確信自己的推斷無誤。于是，福爾摩斯果斷地用亨利引出了真正的兇手——斯臺普頓。原來兩年前剛剛搬到德文郡的斯臺普頓就是羅杰.巴斯克維爾，即查爾斯爵士最小弟弟的兒子。多年前人們誤以為身為逃犯的羅杰死于南美洲，但實(shí)際上，他并沒有死，而且還有了一個兒子也叫羅杰，他就是斯臺普頓。斯臺普頓知道如果查爾斯和亨利都死了，那么他將能得到巴斯克維爾家族的巨額財產(chǎn)，因此他便利用巴斯克維爾獵犬的傳說不擇手段地殺害了自己的親人。他先是用怒犬嚇?biāo)懒四昀象w衰的查爾斯爵士，隨后又妄圖讓惡犬咬死亨利爵士，但福爾摩斯最終識破了他的詭計，在華生和警探的配合下殺死了那只可怕的獵犬，而斯臺普頓也在深夜倉皇出逃時生死不明……

感謝大耳朵網(wǎng)友“Alice-nemo”提供聽力原文

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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