巴斯克维尔猎犬-第11节
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The creature that lay before us was as large as a small lion．Its mouth and teeth were huge．They shone with blue flames．There were rings of blue fire round its cruel eyes，too．I touched the hound's burning coat．When I held up my hand，it，too，seemed to be on fire．
‘Phosphorus，’I said，‘That is why the hound appears to burn in the dark．Stapleton put phosphorous paint on the hound in the hut beside the house．’
But Holmes was thinking more about Sir Henry than about Stapleton's cleverness．
‘I must apologize to you，Sir Henry，’he said．‘I put your life in danger．I expected to see a huge hound，but not a crea… ture like this．The fog gave us a very short time to control our fear，and for moments we could not move．’
‘Never mind，’said Sir Henry．‘You saved my life，and I thank you．Please help me stand up．What are you going to do now？’
Sir Henry's legs were shaking so much from his terrible ex… perience that he could not stand．We helped him to a rock．He sat there and held his head in his hands．
‘We must leave you here，Sir Henry，and try to catch Staple… ton．We shall come back as quickly as possible and take you to the Hall．Our case is complete，but we must now catch our man．’
I followed Holmes along the path back to the house．
‘We must search the house，’said Holmes，‘but almost cer… tainly he won't be there．He probably heard the noise of our guns，so he knows his evil game is finished．’
The front door of the house was open．We went in and looked from room to room．All the rooms downstairs were empty，so we went upstairs and looked in all the rooms except one，which was locked．
‘There's someone in there，’I said．‘I heard someone move．Help me break open this door．’
We threw ourselves against the door，and as the lock broke we went in．We held our revolvers ready to fire．
In the middle of the room was a figure tied to a post．We could not see whether it was a man or a woman，as it was com… pletely covered with sheets．Only the eyes and nose were free．
We pulled off the sheets and untied the prisoner from the post．It was Miss Stapleton．As we untied her，we could see long red bruises across her neck．
‘That cruel devil Stapleton has beaten her，’Holmes said．‘Put her into a chair．’Miss Stapleton had fainted from the beating and exhaustion．As we put her into the chair，she opened her eyes．
‘Is he safe？’she asked．‘Has he escaped？’
‘He cannot escape us，Miss Stapleton，’Holmes said．
‘No，no，I don't mean my husband．I mean Sir Henry．Is he safe？’
‘Yes，’I said，‘and the hound is dead．’
‘Thank God，’she said．‘Thank God．Oh，the cruel devil．Look what he has done to me．’She showed us her arms，and we saw with horror that her skin was black and blue where she had been beaten．‘But he has hurt me more in other ways．While I thought he loved me，I accepted many things．But he doesn't love me．He has used me．’
‘Then help us now，’said Holmes．‘Tell us where he has gone．’
‘There is an old house on an island in the middle of the marsh，’she said．‘He kept his hound there．He also had the house ready in case he needed to escape．He will be there，I'm sure．’
‘Nobody could find his way into the Grimpen Marsh in this fog tonight，’said Holmes，looking out of the window．
The fog lay like white wool against the glass，and we knew we could not try to follow him until it cleared．We decided to take Sir Henry back to Baskerville Hall．We had to tell him everything about the Stapletons，and he was deeply hurt when he heard the truth about the woman he loved．The news that she was married，and the awful fear he had experienced，brought on a fever．We sent for Dr Mortimer，who came and sat with Sir Henry throughout the night．
On the following morning Miss Stapleton took us to the path through the marsh．The fog had lifted，and she showed us the sticks which she and her husband had put in to mark the way．We followed them through the marsh，which smelled of dying plants．The wet ground pulled at our feet as we walked．From time to time one of us stepped from the path and sank up to his waist in the marsh．One man on his own could not hope to escape the pull of the marsh；without help he would sink to his death．
But we did not find any sign of Stapleton．We searched andsearched without success．There is no doubt that he lost hisway in the fog，and sank in the marsh Somewhere，deep down，his body lies to this day．
We reached the island Miss Stapleton had described，and searched the old house．
‘This place tells us nothing that we do not already know，’said Holmes．‘These bones show that he hid the hound here，but he could not keep it quiet，so people heard its cries．Here is the bottle of phosphorous paint．Stapleton used it very cleverly on the hound．After what we saw and felt last night，we cannot be surprised that Sir Charles died of fright．And now I under… stand how Selden knew that the hound was following him in the dark．It's not surprising the poor man screamed and ran as he did．The old story of the supernatural hound probably gave Stapleton the idea of using phosphorus．Very clever．I said it in London and I say it again，Watson．We have never had a more dangerous enemy than the one who is lying out there’—and he pointed to the great marsh that was all round us．
18 Looking Back
It was the end of November，more than a month after ourreturn from Baskerville Hall．Holmes and I were sitting on either side of a bright fire in our sitting room in Baker Street．Since our return，Holmes had been working hard on two other cases，and he had been too busy to discuss the Baskerville case．But now the other cases were finished，and he had been successful in both of them．I decided it was a good time to ask him the final questions about Stapleton and the hound．
‘The picture showed us that Stapleton was indeed a Baskerville，’Holmes began．‘He was the son of Roger Baskerville，who was Sir Charles’younger brotner．Roger was a criminal who escaped from prison and ran away to South America．Everyone thought he had died unmarried，but that was not true．He had one son，also called Roger，whom we knew as Stapleton．Stapleton married a beautiful South Ameri… can，and came to England，where he started a school in the north．He discovered that he would inherit the Baskerville lands and fortune if Sir Charles and Sir Henry both died．That is why he moved to Devonshire when the school closed．
‘When he met Sir Charles，he heard the story of the hell… hound．He also learned that Sir Charles believed these super… natural stories，and that he had a weak heart．
‘Stapleton had the idea of buying a huge hound，and of using the phosphorus to make it shine like the hound in the story．I have found the place where he bought the animal．He took it by train to Devonshire and walked many miles over the moors with it so that it would not be seen near Baskerville Hall．
‘He needed to get Sir Charles out of the Hall at night．This would be easy to do if his wife made Sir Charles fall in love with her．But，although he beat her，she refused to help him with his evil plan．
‘Then Stapleton met Laura Lyons．We know that he made her write a letter to bring Sir Charles to the moor gate on that sad night．The hound，which was shining with phosphorus，chased Sir Charles down the Yew Alley．Sir Charles’ terror was so great that his weak heart stopped，and he died，but the animal did not touch the dead body．
‘The hound had run on the grass，so it left no footprints，ex… cept the one found by Dr Mortimer．You see how clever Staple… ton was．Neither he nor the hound had touched Sir Charles so there was no sign of murder．The only two people who might suspect him—his wife and Mrs Lyons could not be certain about what he had done．Anyway，neither of them would in… form the police about him．
‘Next，Stapleton learned that Sir Henry had reached Eng… land，so he went to London．He hoped to murder Sir Henry there．He took his wife with him，but he wasn't sure that she would keep his secret，so he did not tell her the truth．He locked her up in their hotel．She knew that he had some evil plan，but she was too frightened to give Sir Henry a clear warning．Instead，she sent him the letter made of words cut from a newspaper．
‘Meanwhile，Stapleton was wearing a false beard and fol… lowing Sir Henry．He needed something to give the hound Sir Henry's scent，so he paid a maid at Sir Henry's hotel to steal one of his shoes The first one was a new one，and didn't have Sir Henry's scent on it．It was no use for the hound，so he put it back，and another，older，shoe was stolen．When the shoes were changed，I knew that the hound must be a natural and not a supernatural creature．
‘Next there was the letter made of words cut from a news… paper．When I looked at it，I held it close to my eyes．I noticed a smell of perfume，so I guessed that a woman had sent the let… ter．
‘By the time I went to Devonshire I knew that there was a real hound，and I knew we were looking for a man and a wom… an．I guessed that the Stapletons were the pair．I had to watch Stapleton，but I
