CHAPTER FIVE

Sir Henry Baskerville

At ten o'clock the next morning, Dr Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville arrived at the house. Sir Henry was a healthy, strong looking man. His face showed that he had a strong character. He also looked like a kind man, like his relative Sir Charles had been. He wore a country suit of thick, red-brown fabric, and his skin showed that he spent most of his time in the fresh air.

"I am very glad to have this meeting with you, Mr Holmes," Sir Henry said, after we had shaken hands with our visitors. "I need your help. I received a very strange letter this morning."

He put a piece of paper on the table. On it were the words: "Do not go to Baskerville Hall. But if you do, do not go on to the moor, I beg you. If you do, your life will be in danger." There was no handwriting. Instead, the words of the letter had been cut out of a newspaper.

"Can you tell me, Mr Holmes, what this means, and who is so interested in me?" Sir Henry asked.

Holmes looked at the letter closely. "This is very interesting," said Holmes. "Look how badly the letter has been made. I think the writer was in a hurry. Why? Perhaps because he did not want anyone to know what he was doing. When he wrote the address on the letter, the pen and the ink he used gave the writer some problems. You see, the pen has gotten dry three times, in writing a short address. There was probably very little ink in the bottle. A private pen and bottle of ink are never allowed to get into that condition. So, I think this letter must have been written in a hotel, or some public area. Hello, what's this?"

He was holding the letter only a few centimeters from his eyes.

"Well?" I asked.

"It's nothing," he said, and put the letter down. "Now, Sir Henry, do you have anything else to tell us?"

"No," said Sir Henry. "Except that I have lost one of my shoes. Last night I put a pair of shoes outside my door. I wanted the hotel to clean them, but when I went to get them this morning, one of them was gone.

I only bought the shoes yesterday, and I have never worn them. Isn't that strange, Mr Holmes?

"One shoe is a silly thing to steal," said Holmes. "I am sure the shoe will be found in the hotel and returned to you. But now we must tell you some things about the Baskerville family."

Dr Mortimer took out the old Baskerville papers and read them to Sir Henry. Then, Holmes told him everything we knew about the death of Sir Charles.

"So this letter is from someone who is trying to warn me, or frighten me away from Baskerville Hall," said Sir Henry.

"Yes," said Holmes. "And we must decide if you can go to Baskerville Hall. There seems to be danger there for you."

"Nothing will stop me from going to the home of my family," said Sir Henry firmly. "I want some time to think about everything. Will you and Dr Watson join me for lunch at my hotel, in two hours' time? Then I'll tell you my decision."

Dr Mortimer and Sir Henry said goodbye to us, and decided to walk back to their hotel.

As soon as our visitors had gone, Holmes jumped up from his chair.

"Quick, Watson. Put on your coat and hat. We must follow them!" I did not ask any questions.

Quickly we got ready and went into the street. Sir Henry and Dr Mortimer were not far ahead of us, so we followed them easily.

Suddenly Holmes stopped walking. On the other side of the road from our friends, I saw a taxi driving along very slowly.

"There's our man, Watson!" Holmes said, pointing at the taxi. "Come along! We'll have a good look at him."

I saw a man with a large black beard looking out of the taxi's window. He had been following and watching our friends. But when he saw us coming towards him, he said something to the driver, and the taxi quickly drove down the road. Holmes looked around for another taxi, but he could not find one. He began to run after the first taxi, but it was soon out of sight. When he came back, he looked pleased.

"Well, Watson, I got the number of the taxi," said Holmes. "Now I can find its driver. He may be able to tell us something about his passenger. If you saw that man again, would you know him?"

"I don't know—but his beard was very strange," I said.

"Yes, that beard was easily noticed, don't you think?" said Holmes. "I am sure it was a false one."

(end of section)