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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.
那个傍晚我和福尔摩斯坐着马车驶过沼地，直到看见我们前面的斯台普顿夫妇家的灯光才停了下来。然后，我们从马车里出来，开始无声无息地沿着那条小道朝那栋房子走去。当我们靠到很近时，福尔摩斯叫我停下来。他从衣兜里掏出了左轮手枪，我也这么干了。
“我们将藏在这些岩石后面，”他低声说道。“华生，你了解这栋房子，所以我想让你上前从窗户向里瞧瞧。我想知道斯台普顿夫妇和亨利爵士现在在什么地方以及他们正在干些什么。谨慎行事些，因为他们不该知道有人正在监视他们。”
我非常小心地、轻轻地朝房子挪去。我先从饭厅的窗户向里望去。斯台普顿和亨利爵士正坐着，还抽着雪茄，可是没有斯台普顿小姐的迹象。我又挪向了别的窗户，可看到她不在任何房间里。
我又返回到饭厅的窗户旁；当我又向里张望时，斯台普顿离开了房间，又走出了屋子。他去了屋子旁的一个小屋，还开了门上的锁。我听到了从小屋里发出的一种奇怪的响声，可是我想不出来是什么东西发出了这种响声。接着，斯台普顿锁好了房门，又回到屋里去了，还返回了饭厅。
我回到福尔摩斯那儿，告诉了他我所见到的一切。他想要知道斯台普顿小姐在哪里，我不得不对他说了两遍，说屋内没有她的迹象。
月光正照在格林盆大泥潭上，白雾正从那儿冉冉飘起。福尔摩斯望着白雾，开始露出担忧的神情。雾正从泥潭缓缓地沿着地面飘向这栋房子。我们藏在小路旁，那条小路正坐落在这栋房子离泥潭较远的那一边。
“雾正向我们移来，华生，形势很严峻，”福尔摩斯说道。“这正是会打乱我的计划的那件事。”
在我们注视时，已经飘到了房子旁边的雾开始围着整个房屋飞旋着。福尔摩斯用张开的手掌生气地打了一下我们前面的岩石。
“如果他在一刻钟之内再不出来，这条小路就要被大雾遮住了。再过半小时，咱们都要看不见伸到前面的手了。我们必须后退到高出大雾的一处地方去。”
我们从房子旁退开，也就从那片大雾之中撤出身来。大雾正在慢慢地沿着地面飘移着，还把那条小路遮挡在我们的视野之外。
“我们不该走得太远了，”福尔摩斯说道。“那样的话，亨利爵士就可能在到达我们这儿之前给斯台普顿逮着了。”
福尔摩斯单膝跪着，把耳朵贴在地面上。“感谢上帝，我想我已听到他走来了。”
然后，我们听到了小路上传来的急促的脚步声。过了一小会儿，亨利爵士走出了浓雾，在清朗的月色中继续走着。他沿着那条小路快速走来了，经过了离我们的隐藏之处很近的地方，又开始走上我们背后的山坡。他一边走，一边不时地转过头来向后张望，就像一个为有什么东西跟着他而担忧的人。
“听！”福尔摩斯突然尖声说道。“当心！它来了！”
我听到他将左轮手枪做好开火的准备，我也这么做了。
从浓雾里传来了急促而又轻巧的脚步声。那云状的浓雾已经飘到了距我们藏匿的地方不到50米之处。我们努力向雾里张望着，不知道那里将出现什么可怕的东西。我看了看福尔摩斯。他的双眼直勾勾地盯着这条小路被大雾遮没之处。他面色苍白，可是双眼闪闪发光。他看上去像一位即将赢得一生中最重要的比赛的人。接着，他的双眼突然之间几乎要从眼眶里迸出来了，嘴巴因惊吓而大张着。我从他的身上移开视线去看他注视的地方。当我看到从雾中窜出、向我们直面扑来的那个形状可怕的怪物时，我便吓得魂飞魄散了。左轮手枪几乎要从手中跌落了，而我的整个身体也因害怕而发僵了。
我看到了一只猎犬，一只大的、黑色的猎犬。它比我所见过的任何狗都要大。可是，是别的原因才使我们充满恐惧之情的。任何人都未见过与此类似的猎犬。火从它那张着的嘴巴里喷了出来。它的眼睛亮得像冒火一样。头和躯体都由火焰笼罩着。这是一幅比任何人的想像所及还要恐怖的景象——一只由从恶魔派来的地狱看门犬。它不是自然界的一个生灵。
那只发光的大黑猎犬快速地、悄无声息地在亨利爵士后面跑着。我们从这条小路的远处看到，亨利爵士转身向后看到了那只猎犬。他的脸色在月光下惨白，双手恐惧地举了起来。那个可怕的家伙逼近他时他绝望地瞪着眼睛。我们被这个幽灵鬼怪似的景象惊得竟发呆到了那种程度，以至于听任它从我们身旁跑过，我们自己还丝毫动弹不得。我们的朋友正濒于死亡的边缘，而我们则因恐怖而无能为力。