巴斯克維爾獵犬-巴斯克維爾獵犬

巴斯克維爾獵犬目錄16 巴斯克維爾獵犬 The Hound of the Baskervilles That evening Holmes and I drove across the moor until we could see the lights of the Stapletons' house in front of us.Then we got out and began to walk very quietly along the path towards the house.When we were very close,Holmes told me to stop.He took his revolver from his pocket,and I did the same.
'We shall hide behind these rocks,' he whispered.' Watson,you know the house,so I want you to go forward and look through the windows.I want to know where the Staple tons and Sir Henry are,and what they are doing.Take great care,because they must not know that somebody is watching them.'
Very carefully and quietly I moved towards the house.I looked first into the diningroom window.Statleton and Sir Henry were sitting and smoking their cigars,but there was no sign of Miss Stapleton.I moved round to the other windows,but I could not see her in any of the rooms.
I went back to the diningroom window,and as I looked in again,Stapleton left the room and came out of the house.He went to a hut beside the house,and unlocked the door.I heard a strange sound coming from the hut,but I could not think what was making the noise.Then Stapleton locked the door,and went back into the house and into the diningroom.
I went back to Holmes and told him what I had seen.He wanted to know where Miss Stapleton was,and I had to tell him twice that there was no sign of her in the house.
The moon was shining on the Great Grimpen Marsh,and a fog was rising from it Holmes watched the fog and began to look worried The fog was creeping up from the marsh towards the house.We were hidden near the path,which was on the far side of the house from the marsh.
'The fog is moving towards us,Watson,and that is very serious,'said Holmes.'It is the one thing that could make my plans go wrong.'
As we watched,the fog,which had crept as far as the house,began to flow round it.Angrily Holmes hit the rock in front of us with his open hand.
'If Sir Henry doesn't come out in the next quarter of an hour,the path will be covered by the fog.In half an hour we shall not be able to see our hands in front of our faces.We must move back to higher ground above the fog.'
We moved away from the house and out of the fog,which was creeping slowly along the ground and hiding the path from our view.
'We must not go too far,'said Holmes.'If we do,Sir Henry may be caught before he reaches us.'
Holmes went down on one knee,and put his ear to the ground.'Thank heaven,I think I hear him coming.'
Then we heard quick footsteps on the path.After a few moments,Sir Henry appeared out of the fog and walked on in the clear moonlight.He came quickly along the path,passed close to where we were hidden,and began to walk up the hill behind us.As he walked,he looked over his shoulder again and again,like a man who is worried that something is following him.
'Listen!'said Holmes sharply.'Look out!It's coming!'
I heard him make his revolver ready to fire,and I did the same.
There was a sound of quick,light footsteps from inside the curtain of fog.The thick cloud had crept to within fifty metres of where we were hidden.We tried to see into it,and wondered what horrible thing would appear.I looked at Holmes.His eyes were fixed on the place where the path disappeared into the fog.He was pale,but his eyes were bright.He looked like a man who was going to win the most important game of his life.Then suddenly his eyes nearly jumped out of his head,and his mouth opened in frightened surprise.I looked away from him to see what his eyes were fixed on.When I saw the awful shape that was coming towards us out of the fog,my blood turned cold.The revolver nearly fell from my hands,and my whole body froze with fear.
I saw a hound,an enormous black hound.It was bigger than any dog I had ever seen.But it was something else that filled us with terror.No human eye had ever seen a hound like this one.Fire came from its open mouth.Its eyes were burning.Flames covered its head and body.It was a more horrible sight than anyone could imagine—a hellhound sent by the devil.It was not a creature of the natural world.
The huge,black,burning hound ran quickly and silently after Sir Henry.Far away along the path we saw him turn and look back at the hound.His face was white in the moonlight and his hands were lifted in horror.He watched helplessly as the terrible creature got closer to him.We were so frozen bythe ghostly and unnatural sight that we let the hound go past us,and we could not move.Our friend was near to death,and we were helpless with fear. 那個傍晚我和福爾摩斯坐著馬車駛過沼地，直到看見我們前面的斯臺普頓夫婦家的燈光才停了下來。然後，我們從馬車裏出來，開始無聲無息地沿著那條小道朝那棟房子走去。當我們靠到很近時，福爾摩斯叫我停下來。他從衣兜裏掏出了左輪****，我也這麽幹了。
“我們將藏在這些巖石後面，”他低聲說道。“華生，你了解這棟房子，所以我想讓你上前從窗戶向裏瞧瞧。我想知道斯臺普頓夫婦和亨利爵士現在在什麽地方以及他們正在幹些什麽。謹慎行事些，因為他們不該知道有人正在監視他們。”
我非常小心地、輕輕地朝房子挪去。我先從飯廳的窗戶向裏望去。斯臺普頓和亨利爵士正坐著，還抽著雪茄，可是沒有斯臺普頓小姐的跡象。我又挪向了別的窗戶，可看到她不在任何房間裏。
我又返回到飯廳的窗戶旁；當我又向裏張望時，斯臺普頓離開了房間，又走出了屋子。他去了屋子旁的一個小屋，還開了門上的鎖。我聽到了從小屋裏發出的一種奇怪的響聲，可是我想不出來是什麽東西發出了這種響聲。接著，斯臺普頓鎖好了房門，又回到屋裏去了，還返回了飯廳。
我回到福爾摩斯那兒，告訴了他我所見到的一切。他想要知道斯臺普頓小姐在哪裏，我不得不對他說了兩遍，說屋內沒有她的跡象。
月光正照在格林盆大泥潭上，白霧正從那兒冉冉飄起。福爾摩斯望著白霧，開始露出擔憂的神情。霧正從泥潭緩緩地沿著地面飄向這棟房子。我們藏在小路旁，那條小路正坐落在這棟房子離泥潭較遠的那一邊。
“霧正向我們移來，華生，形勢很嚴峻，”福爾摩斯說道。“這正是會打亂我的計劃的那件事。”
在我們註視時，已經飄到了房子旁邊的霧開始圍著整個房屋飛旋著。福爾摩斯用張開的手掌生氣地打了一下我們前面的巖石。
“如果他在一刻鐘之內再不出來，這條小路就要被大霧遮住了。再過半小時，咱們都要看不見伸到前面的手了。我們必須後退到高出大霧的一處地方去。”
我們從房子旁退開，也就從那片大霧之中撤出身來。大霧正在慢慢地沿著地面飄移著，還把那條小路遮擋在我們的視野之外。
“我們不該走得太遠了，”福爾摩斯說道。“那樣的話，亨利爵士就可能在到達我們這兒之前給斯臺普頓逮著了。”
福爾摩斯單膝跪著，把耳朵貼在地面上。“感謝上帝，我想我已聽到他走來了。”
然後，我們聽到了小路上傳來的急促的腳步聲。過了一小會兒，亨利爵士走出了濃霧，在清朗的月色中繼續走著。他沿著那條小路快速走來了，經過了離我們的隱藏之處很近的地方，又開始走上我們背後的山坡。他一邊走，一邊不時地轉過頭來向後張望，就像一個為有什麽東西跟著他而擔憂的人。
“聽！”福爾摩斯突然尖聲說道。“當心！它來了！”
我聽到他將左輪****做好開火的準備，我也這麽做了。
從濃霧裏傳來了急促而又輕巧的腳步聲。那雲狀的濃霧已經飄到了距我們藏匿的地方不到50米之處。我們努力向霧裏張望著，不知道那裏將出現什麽可怕的東西。我看了看福爾摩斯。他的雙眼直勾勾地盯著這條小路被大霧遮沒之處。他面色蒼白，可是雙眼閃閃發光。他看上去像一位即將贏得一生中最重要的比賽的人。接著，他的雙眼突然之間幾乎要從眼眶裏迸出來了，嘴巴因驚嚇而大張著。我從他的身上移開視線去看他註視的地方。當我看到從霧中竄出、向我們直面撲來的那個形狀可怕的怪物時，我便嚇得魂飛魄散了。左輪****幾乎要從手中跌落了，而我的整個身體也因害怕而發僵了。
我看到了一只獵犬，一只大的、黑色的獵犬。它比我所見過的任何狗都要大。可是，是別的原因才使我們充滿恐懼之情的。任何人都未見過與此類似的獵犬。火從它那張著的嘴巴裏噴了出來。它的眼睛亮得像冒火一樣。頭和軀體都由火焰籠罩著。這是一幅比任何人的想像所及還要恐怖的景象——一只由從惡魔派來的地獄看門犬。它不是自然界的一個生靈。
那只發光的大黑獵犬快速地、悄無聲息地在亨利爵士後面跑著。我們從這條小路的遠處看到，亨利爵士轉身向後看到了那只獵犬。他的臉色在月光下慘白，雙手恐懼地舉了起來。那個可怕的家夥逼近他時他絕望地瞪著眼睛。我們被這個幽靈鬼怪似的景象驚得竟發呆到了那種程度，以至於聽任它從我們身旁跑過，我們自己還絲毫動彈不得。我們的朋友正瀕於死亡的邊緣，而我們則因恐怖而無能為力。