A visitor leaves a walking stick behind. Before its owner returns, Watson has already worked out what sort of man must carry it. Holmes lets him talk. The pleasure of the first chapter of The Hound of the Baskervilles is that you get to inspect the evidence before either man has the last word. What can a worn stick actually tell you? Which details has Watson supplied himself?
Get the complete English EPUB from Project Gutenberg or download the Standard Ebooks edition. Both are the standalone Arthur Conan Doyle novel, from “Mr. Sherlock Holmes” to “A Retrospection.” You do not need to start a Sherlock Holmes collection or know the solution to an earlier case.
Try the walking-stick test before the moor
Take the inscription, the wear on the stick and the marks nearer its middle as three separate clues. For each one, say what you can see before you repeat what Watson thinks it means. When Dr. Mortimer turns up, the guesses suddenly have a person to answer to. This is a useful rehearsal for the much harder evidence he brings with him.
In chapter II Mortimer reads an old family manuscript. He also brings a more recent account of Sir Charles’s death. A written legend can tell you what generations of Baskervilles have been taught to fear; it cannot tell you what a man saw on his last walk. The question to carry onto the moor is who could have seen a particular thing, and from where. You can keep that question open even if you have already guessed the culprit.
Three documents to bookmark in the middle of the case
Watson stays with Sir Henry while Holmes is away. The novel lets us read the material Watson produces on the spot. These are good places to resume after a break, because the recipient changes what Watson bothers to explain.
| Chapter | What you are reading | A question to take into it |
|---|---|---|
| VIII | Watson’s first report to Holmes | Which local details does Holmes need because he isn’t standing beside Watson? |
| IX | A second report from Baskerville Hall | When Watson sees a light, what does he know about the signal, and what does he still have to find out? |
| X | An extract from Watson’s private diary | Which uncertainties does he leave on the page when he isn’t writing to a colleague? |
If your bookmarks disagree, use the chapter number. The Gutenberg edition lists IX as “The Light upon the Moor” with “Second Report of Dr. Watson” underneath. Standard Ebooks lists the second report as its chapter heading. Both place the diary immediately after it. Nothing is missing. At the beginning of XI, Watson explicitly tells you that the diary has brought his story up to date.
One recent reader guessed the villain early and still enjoyed the atmosphere and the unfolding explanation. Another reader’s chapter notes describe finding the idea of the hound less frightening than expected. If the legend does little for you, try following Watson’s correspondence instead: identify one detail in each report that Holmes would otherwise lack. The mystery still has something to do after you have a suspect.
Listen for the change of address
In a compatible reader, open either downloaded file and choose chapter IX from its contents. If you use CastReader’s EPUB workspace, listen from the dateline and salutation, then open chapter X and compare its first paragraph. The contrast is easier to hear in those two short stretches than across an uninterrupted hour of narration. A device voice reads without a CastReader sign-in; cloud AI voices require an account and have plan limits. Neither voice is the performance of a commercial audiobook actor.
Both downloads are free, unencrypted English editions offered on a US public-domain basis; check local copyright rules elsewhere. We checked the contents, opening and ending of both EPUBs on November 11, 2026. We did not import or play the full novel.
