巴斯克維爾家族的手稿-巴斯克維爾獵犬

巴斯克維爾獵犬目錄 2 巴斯克維爾家族的手稿 The Baskerville Papers 'These papers were given to me by Sir Charles Baskerville,'said Dr Mortimer.'He asked me to take good care of them.You may remember that Sir Charles died suddenly three months ago.His death caused much excite ment in Devonshire,the county where Baskerville Hall is.Sir Charles was a sensible man,but he believed the story which is told in these papers.'
Dr Mortimer went on:'The story is about the Baskerville family.I have come to see you because I need your help.I think that something terrible is going to happen in the next twenty four hours.But you can't help me unless you know the story in these papers.May I read them to you?'
'Please continue,Dr Mortimer,'said Holmes,and sat back in his chair with his eyes shut.
Mortimer began to read in his high,rather strange,voice:
I,William Baskerville,write this for my sons in the year 1742.My father told me about the Hound of the Baskervilles.He told me when it was first seen,and I be lieve his story was true.I want you,my sons,to read this story carefully.I want you to know that God punishes those who do evil.But never forget that He will forgive those who are sorry for any evil they have done.
Over a hundred years ago,in 1640,the head of the Baskerville family was Sir Hugo Baskerville.He was a wild and evil man.He was cruel and enjoyed hurting peo ple.Sir Hugo fell in love with the daughter of a farmer who was a neighbour of his.The young woman was afraid of the evil Hugo,and avoided him.One day,Hugo heard that her father and brothers were away.He knew that she would be alone.So he rode to the farm with five or six of his evil friends.They made the girl go back to Baskerville Hall with them,and locked her in a room upstairs.Then they sat down in the great dining hall to drink.As usual,they drank bottle after bottle and soon they began to sing and laugh and shout evil words.
The girl upstairs,who was already very frightened,felt desperate when she heard the terrible things they were shouting.So she did a very brave thing.She opened the window,climbed out of the room and down the ivy on the wall.Then she started to run across the moor towards her home.
A little while later,Hugo left his friends and went up stairs to the room to take her some food and drink.When he found an open window and an empty room,he behaved like a man who was mad.He ran down the stairs.He screamed that he would give himself to the Devil if he caught the girl before she reached home.Some of Hugo's drunken friends told him to let the hounds chase her,and so he ran from the house and unlocked the dogs.Then he jumped onto his black horse,and rode off over the moor with the hounds running and crying around him.
Hugo's friends fetched their horses and followed him.There were thirteen of them.After a mile or two they passed an old farmer and asked him if he had seen Sir Hugo and the hounds.The man looked half mad with fear and spoke with difficulty.He said that he had seen the girl and the hounds running close behind her.Sir Hugo had been riding just behind the hounds.'But I have seen more than that,'the old man said.'Behind Sir Hugo I saw a huge and terrible hound running silently.May God keep me safe from that hound of hell.'
The thirteen men laughed at the old man and rode on.But their laughter soon stopped when they saw Sir Hugo's horse running wildly towards them without a rider.
The thirteen men moved closer together as they rode on.They were suddenly afraid.Over the moor they went until,at last,they caught up with the hounds.
Everyone in the county knew that the Baskerville hounds were brave and strong.But now they were stand ing at the head of a deep valley in the moor with their ears and tails down.They were very frightened.Hugo's friends stopped.Most of them would not go on,but three were brave enough to go down into the valley.
The valley had a wide flat floor.In the middle of the flat ground stood two great stones.They had stood there for thousands of years.The moon was shining brightly on the great stones,and between them,on the flat ground,lay the girl.She had fallen there,dead of fear and exhaus tion.Sir Hugo's body was lying near her.But it was not the sight of Sir Hugo or the girl that filled the men with fear.It was the sight of the huge animal that was standing over Sir Hugo.Its teeth were at his throat.It was a great black creature that looked like a hound.But it was larger than any hound they had ever seen.
As they watched,it tore out Hugo Baskerville's throat.Then it turned towards them.Its eyes were burning brightly.Its body shone with a strange light.Blood ran from its mouth.The men screamed and kicked their horses.They rode back up the valley as fast as they could go.Later that night one died from the horror he had seen.The other two were mad 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.Be cause of this I warn you not to cross the moors at night.The Devil finds it easy to do his work when the world is dark.
“這些手稿是查爾斯·巴斯克維爾爵士托付給我的，”摩梯末醫生道。“他要我保管好這些手稿。您可能還記得，查爾斯爵士於三個月前突然逝去。他的去世在德文郡引起了很大的關註，德文郡就是巴斯克維爾莊園的所在地。查爾斯爵士是位明智人士，但是他相信這些手稿中所講述的故事。”
摩梯末醫生繼續講道：“這個故事與巴斯克維爾家族有關。因為我需要您的幫助，所以我便來見您。我認為在即將到來的24小時之內將會發生一樁可怕的事情。但是，如果您不了解手稿中所講述的故事的話，那麽您就不可能幫得了我。我可以將它讀給您聽嗎？”
“請講下去吧，摩梯末醫生，”福爾摩斯說道，他還閉著眼睛向後坐了坐。
摩梯末開始以他那高亢、奇特的嗓音讀道：本人，威廉·巴斯克維爾，於1742年為後代寫下了這些。我的父親告訴了我有關巴斯克維爾獵犬的事情。他告訴了我它第一次被人看見的經過，我認為他講的故事是真實的。我希望你們，我的孩子們，認真看一看這個故事。我想讓你們知道：上帝一貫懲罰那些為非作歹的人們。但是，永遠不要忘記：上帝將寬恕那些悔過的人們。
一百多年前，在1640年，巴斯克維爾家族的頭面人物是雨果·巴斯克維爾爵士。他既放蕩又邪惡。他殘忍，以傷害別人為樂。雨果爵士愛上了與他毗鄰的一位農夫的女兒。這位少女害怕這個邪惡的人，而且還躲著他。一天，雨果聽說她的父兄幾人都出門去了。他知道她將獨自一人在家了。因此，他與五六個下流的狐朋狗友策馬去了這個農場。他們把她弄回了巴斯克維爾莊園，還把她關在樓上的一個房間裏。然後他們便在樓下的大飯廳裏坐下痛飲了起來。同往常一樣，他們飲了一瓶又一瓶的酒，不久便開始狂歌亂笑並吐起臟話來。
樓上的這位姑娘，這時已是驚恐萬分了，聽到他們所講的那些不堪入耳的臟話時便感到十分絕望。因此，在此情形之下她竟幹出一件勇敢的事來。她打開窗戶，從房間裏爬出來，順著墻上的常春藤一直爬了下來。然後她就穿過沼地徑直往家中跑去了。
過了不多一會兒，雨果離開了他的那幫朋友，到樓上的那個房間給她送食物和酒去了。當他發現窗戶大開、室內空空時，他就像中了魔一般。他沖下樓，大叫大嚷著說，只要他能在這個女孩趕回家之前追上她，他就願把自己獻給魔王任其擺布。雨果的那些已經喝得酩酊大醉的朋友們讓他把****放出去追她，因此他就從屋裏跑出去把狗放了出來。接著，他跳在了那匹黑馬的背上，由那群狂奔亂吼的狗簇擁著在沼地上策馬而去。
雨果的朋友們找到了自己的馬匹，跟著他追去了。他們一共是13個人。在他們跑了一兩英裏路之後，遇到了一位老農夫，便問他看到了雨果爵士與他的那群****沒有。這個人看上去被嚇得有些發瘋，幾乎都說不出話來。他說他曾看到過那位少女以及一群緊追她不放的獵犬。雨果爵士就騎著馬跟在這些獵犬後面。“但是我看到的還不止這些，”這位老人說道。“我看到一條碩大而可怕的獵犬正一聲不吭地跟在他的後面。但願上帝別讓這條地獄之犬傷害我！”
這13個人對這位老人嘲笑了一番，接著又策馬前往。但是當他們不久看到雨果爵士的那匹馬身上無人並獨自朝他們狂奔而來時就笑不出聲來了。
這13個人向前騎著馬，同時一致向緊靠了靠。他們突然間感到很害怕。他們在這片沼地上一直朝前騎著，直到最終趕上了那群****。
巴斯克維爾家的獵犬驍勇而又強壯，在郡裏是家喻戶曉的。但它們這時卻耷拉著雙耳和尾巴站在沼地裏的一條深谷的盡頭。它們十分驚恐。雨果的這幫朋友們停了下來。他們大多數人都不願意再往前騎了，但有三人膽大到朝山谷裏走了過去的地步。
這個山谷的底部是一片寬闊的平地。在平地的中央立著兩根大石柱。它們已經在那兒豎立了幾千年之久。月光明朗地照在這兩根大石柱上，而那位少女就躺在它們之間的平地上。她已因驚恐和疲憊倒地而死。雨果爵士的屍體躺在她旁邊。但是，使這些人毛骨悚然的不是那位少女或雨果爵士的那幅景象，而是站在雨果爵士身旁的一只形體碩大的畜生。它的牙齒撕扯著他的喉嚨。它是一個樣子像****的又大又黑的畜生。可是他們誰也沒見過這麽大的獵犬。
在他們註視的時侯，它撕扯斷了雨果·巴斯克維爾的喉嚨。然後，它轉過身來面朝著他們。它的眼睛冒著火。身體也閃爍著一種奇特的光芒。鮮血從它的嘴裏淌了出來。這幾個人大叫起來並且踢起馬來。他們調轉馬頭以最快的速度跑出了山谷。在這之後，其中的一個人就在當天夜裏因自己所看到的恐怖景象而嚇死了，另外兩個則終身精神失常。
那就是那只獵犬初次露面的經過，我的孩子們。從那以後，人們曾多次目睹過它的蹤跡，而且巴斯克維爾家族裏有許多人都以蹊蹺和恐怖的方式死去。因此，我警告你們不要在黑夜裏走過沼地。魔鬼發現黑夜時正易於它囂張一番。