Dr Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville arrived at exactly ten o'clock the following morning.Sir Henry was a small,healthy,wellbuilt man.His face showed that he had a strong character.He wore a country suit of thick,redbrown material,and his skin showed that he spent most of his time in the open air.

'I am glad this meeting was already arranged,'Sir Henry said,after we had shaken hands with our visitors.'I need your help,Mr Holmes.A strange thing happened to me this morning.Look at this letter.'

He put a piece of paper on the table.On it were the words: 'Do not go on to the moor.If you do,your life will be in danger.'The words 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.

'This is very interesting,'said Holmes.'Look how badly it has been done.I think the writer was in a hurry.Why?Perhaps because he did not want somebody to see him.I think the address was written in a hotel.The pen and the ink have both given the writer trouble.The pen has run 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.Hullo,what's this?'

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

'Well?'I ashed.

'Nothing,'he said,and threw the letter down.'Now,Sir Henry,have you anything else to tell us?'

'No,'said Sir Henry.'Except that I have lost one of my shoes.I put a pair outside my door last night.I wanted the ho tel to clean them,but when I went to get them this morning,one had gone.I only bought them yesterday,and I have never worn them.But I wanted a good shine on them.'

'One shoe seems a useless 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.Holmes then told him about the death of Sir Charles.

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

'Yes,'said Holmes.'And we have to decide if it is sensible for you to go to Baskerville Hall.There seems to be danger there for you.'

'There is no man or devil who will stop me from going to the home of my family,'said Sir Henry angrily.'I want some time to think about what you have told me.Will you and Dr Watson join me for lunch at my hotel in two hours'time?By then,I'll be able to tell you what I think.'

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

As soon as our visitors had gone,Holmes changed from the talker to the man of action.

'Quick,Watson.Your coat and hat.We must follow them.'We got ready quickly and went into the street.Our friends were not far ahead of us and we followed.We stayed about a hundred metres behind them.

Suddenly Holmes gave a cry.I saw a taxi driving along very slowly on the other side of the road from our friends.

'That's our man,Watson!Come along!We'll have a good look at him.'

I saw a man with a large black beard looking out of the taxi window.He had been following and watching our friends.But when he saw us running towards him,he shouted something to the driver,and the taxi drove off quickly down the road.Holmes looked round for another taxi,but could not see one.He began to run after the first taxi,but it was soon out of sight.

'Well,I got the number of the taxi,'said Holmes.'So I can find the driver.He may be able to tell us something about his passenger.Would you recognize the man if you saw him again?'

'Only his beard,'I said.

'He wanted us to recognize the beard,'said Holmes.'I think it was a false one.'

摩梯末医生和亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士于次日早上10点钟准时到达。亨利爵士长得短小精悍，身体健康，体态结实。他的面相表明他性格刚强。他穿着一件厚厚的、棕红色布料制成的外衣，他的皮肤还表明他大多数时间是在户外度过的。

“我为事先预约好了这次会面而感到高兴，”亨利爵士在我们与他们握手致意之后说道。“我需要您的帮助，福尔摩斯先生。我今天早上遇到了一桩奇怪的事情。看看这封信吧。”

他把一张纸放到了桌上。上面写着：“别前往沼地，不然您将有生命危险。”这些字是从报纸上剪下来的。

“福尔摩斯先生，您能告诉我这究竟是什么意思，还有究竟是谁对我这么感兴趣吗？”亨利爵士问道。

“这很有趣，”福尔摩斯说道。“看看这项工作是干得多么拙劣吧。我认为写信人很慌张。为什么呢？也许他是不想让人看见。我想地址是在一个旅馆里写就的。钢笔和墨水都给这人添了麻烦。在写这么短的地址之时，笔尖上的墨水就干了三次。可能是瓶中的墨水很少。私人的钢笔和墨水是决不会被弄到这个地步的。哎呀，这是什么啊？”

他把信拿到离眼睛只有几厘米远的地方。

“怎么啦？”我问道。

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