When the guests realized what was happening, thirteen of them rode off on their horses to stop Hugo and the hounds. Before they reach him, a frightened
shepherd tells them he saw the chase, but that there was also “a hound of hell” close behind Hugo. His horse soon passes them, riderless and on its way back.
Even the hounds that were in pursuit of the maiden are now just whimpering about. Three of the riders continue on, down into a clearing where they find the
girl dead and a giant black hound tearing out the throat of Hugo Baskerville. Holmes leaned back in his chair, placed his finger-tips together, and
closed his eyes, with an air of resignation. Dr. Mortimer turned the manuscript to the light and read in a high, cracking voice the following
curious, old-world narrative.
3.2 The Analysis of Rising Action
Rising action is the issues and events that sparked the conflict began to appear. So this stage is the initial stage of conflict, and the conflict itself will
evolve and developed into conflicts at the next stage. In literature, the rising action comprises all the decisions, background circumstances, and character flaws
that combine to create twists and turns toward a climax. Conflict that arise at the beginning of the novel The Hound of the
Baskervilles when Holmes questions Dr. Mortimer in greater detail about the setting. The alley is eight feet wide with grass extending an additional six feet on
either side. The footprints of the hound had been found on the path, not the grass, and on the same side as the moor, but had not approached the body. Dense yew
hedge twelve feet high encloses the alley so that there are only three possible entrances to it, including from the house. There is a four foot high padlocked
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wicket-gate which leads to the moor and where Sir Charles had, from the evidence of the cigar ashes, stopped for 5 to 10 minutes. Also, at the end of the alley is a
summerhouse. The body had been found about 50 yards from it. “You saw this?
As clearly as I see you. And you said nothing?
What was the use? How was it that no one else saw it?
The marks were some twenty yards from the body and no one gave them a thought. I dont suppose I should have done so had I not
known this legend.
Though Holmes is pleased with Mortimer’s deduction from the ash, he is still slightly upset that he was not called in earlier, despite the reasons. Holmes’s
rational mind is further irritated by the doctor’s apparent belief that the hound is supernatural, mentioning sightings by others on the moor. However, Mortimer is
only there for advice on what to do with the heir Henry Baskerville, who has arrived in England from Canada where he was farming.
It is not believed there are any other heirs; of the three brothers, Sir Charles died childless and one is the deceased father of Henry. The third, Rodger
who looked very similar to the legend’s Hugo, went to Central America, where he also died, supposedly childless.
Holmes tells Mortimer to return tomorrow morning at 10:00 with Henry Baskerville and he will advise on how they should proceed. After the visitor
departs, Watson does as well, to give Holmes time to think over the case. When Watson returns, having spent the day at his club, Holmes has filled
the apartment with tobacco smoke from his clay pipe while he was looking over a
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large map of Devonshire. He says there are two questions to be answered-was there a crime committed, and, if so, what was it and how was it done? He has
already come to the conclusion that Sir Charles was waiting for someone at the gate when he saw something so frightening across the moor that it drove him to
run in panic away from the house until his heart gave out. The devils agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not? There
are two questions waiting for us at the outset. The one is whether any crime has been committed at all; the second is, what is the crime and
how was it committed? Of course, if Dr. Mortimers surmise should be correct, and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws
of Nature, there is an end of our investigation. But we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling back upon this one. I think
well shut that window again, if you dont mind. It is a singular thing, but I find that a concentrated atmosphere helps a concentration of
thought. I have not pushed it to the length of getting into a box to think, but that is the logical outcome of my convictions. Have you
turned the case over in your mind?
Dr. Mortimer arrives right on time with Sir Henry, a man who, while with the sturdy build and appearance that one would expect of a farmer also has
something of the air of a gentleman about him. The baronet, even before hearing of the legend, is already feeling disturbed, by the arrival at his hotel where no one
had known he would be staying of a note warning him not to go to the moor. Holmes is easily able to identify the cut out words as being from the
previous day’s Times newspaper. He also deduces from the message that it is an educated person in a hurry in order to avoid an interruption. The written portion-
the address and the word “moor”, being difficult to find in print-indicate by the quality that the person is attempting to disguise their handwriting since it is or will
be familiar and that the message was composed in a hotel.
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Sir Henry also reports on the disappearance of one of his tan boots, which he set outside his room to be varnished and has yet to wear. He then demands to
be told what is going on, and Dr. Mortimer tells him all that he has told Holmes and Watson. Sir Henry was familiar with the legend but until hearing of his
uncle’s mysterious death, had always dismissed it. Regardless, he is insistent on going to the Hall. He does however request another meeting at his hotel at 2:00
that afternoon. I dont know much of British life yet, for I have spent nearly all my
time in the States and in Canada. But I hope that to lose one of your boots is not part of the ordinary routine of life over here.
You have lost one of your boots? My dear sir, cried Dr. Mortimer, it is only mislaid. You will find it
when you return to the hotel. What is the use of troubling Mr. Holmes with trifles of this kind?
Well, he asked me for anything outside the ordinary routine. Exactly, said Holmes, however foolish the incident may seem.
You have lost one of your boots, you say? Well, mislaid it, anyhow. I put them both outside my door last night,
and there was only one in the morning. I could get no sense out of the chap who cleans them. The worst of it is that I only bought the pair
last night in the Strand, and I have never had them on.
As soon as the doctor and the baronet leave for the hotel on foot, Holmes and Watson begin trailing them. They quickly notice that a cab is following the
pair but unfortunately the passenger, a man with a black beard a fake, notices them at the same time and the cab takes off. Unable to pursue it and regretting his
enthusiasm that tipped the man off, the detective did at least get the number-2704.
At that instant I was aware of a bushy black beard and a pair of piercing eyes turned upon us through the side window of the cab.
Instantly the trapdoor at the top flew up, something was screamed to the driver, and the cab flew madly off down Regent Street. Holmes
looked eagerly round for another, but no-empty one was in sight.
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Then he dashed in wild pursuit amid the stream of the traffic, but the start was too great, and already the cab was out of sight.
Holmes and Watson go into a nearby messenger office and employ Cartwright, a young boy who works there, to go about to the twenty-three hotels
in the area and bribe the employees so he can look through the wastepaper, looking for a cut up copy of the Times.
3.3 The Analysis of Climax
