Dr. Watson

Dr. Watson is the investigating companion whose account carries much of The Hound of the Baskervilles’ action in Devon. In Christopher’s retelling, Watson’s attempts to understand Sir Charles Baskerville’s death unfold alongside Sherlock Holmes’s concealed inquiries, making Watson both a participant in the mystery and a model for how separate clues can be assembled into an explanation.

Identity and Role in the Investigation

After James Mortimer fears that Sir Henry Baskerville may be in danger when he goes to Baskerville Hall, Sherlock Holmes sends Dr. Watson to Devon with Sir Henry and Mortimer. Holmes says he will remain in London, but travels to Devon secretly to investigate on his own. The arrangement divides the detective work: Watson accompanies the people at risk and observes events in Devon, while Holmes works without openly joining the party.

Watson’s narrative role is therefore distinct from Holmes’s. Christopher describes Watson as the investigator who tries to work out who killed Sir Charles, while Holmes ultimately finds the answer. Watson is neither merely a bystander nor the solver of the whole case; his presence gives the investigation a continuing observer in the setting where its clues and dangers appear.

Clues, Warnings, and Red Herrings

Christopher emphasizes how the clues shape Watson’s reading of events. Two of Sir Henry’s boots disappear while he is staying at a London hotel; Christopher reasons that someone wants the Hound to follow Sir Henry’s scent, a detail that points toward a real dog rather than a supernatural creature. Stapleton’s knowledge of how to cross the Grimpen Mire, coupled with his warning that Watson stay away from it, suggests that he is concealing something there.

A warning from Mrs. Stapleton also reaches Watson, though its meaning depends on mistaken identity: she tells him to go straight back to London because she believes he is Sir Henry and knows her husband intends to kill him. The warning is thus a genuine clue about the danger, but Watson receives it under a false assumption about who he is.

Christopher sets these clues against three red herrings. A black-bearded man following Holmes and Watson in London appears to be Barrymore, the caretaker at Baskerville Hall, but is actually Stapleton in disguise. Selden, an escaped prisoner being hunted on the moors, seems relevant because he is a criminal but has no connection to the case. The unidentified Man on the Tor appears to Watson to be the murderer, but is Holmes, who has arrived secretly in Devon. These reversals show how Watson’s incomplete view can produce plausible suspicions before the facts are joined together.

Holmes, Observation, and the Solution

Holmes’s secret presence means Watson is not aware of every investigator’s movements. Christopher explains that the apparently mysterious figure on the moor is Holmes himself, observing the case from outside Watson’s immediate understanding. The contrast allows Watson to remain the reader-facing witness while Holmes gathers information independently.

The solution Christopher recounts identifies Stapleton as Sir Charles’s killer and as a distant relation of the Baskervilles. Poor and seeking to inherit Baskerville Hall, Stapleton intends to kill Sir Henry as well. He has brought a large dog from London and covered it with phosphorus so that it glows in the dark; the animal’s appearance frightens Sir Charles to death. Holmes and Watson, joined by Lestrade from Scotland Yard, catch Stapleton. Holmes and Watson shoot the dog, while Stapleton escapes into the Grimpen Mire and dies there. The conclusion resolves the apparent supernatural threat through human planning and a real animal, while Watson remains among the investigators present at the capture.

Christopher’s Reading of Watson

Christopher is drawn to the story because it offers clues and red herrings that can be examined systematically. Watson’s account supplies examples of apparently disconnected details becoming intelligible when fitted into a broader scheme. Christopher connects this method to his own effort to write a book: he wants, like Holmes, to arrange strange episodes into an explanation rather than leave them isolated.

Christopher also compares himself with Holmes’s power to detach his mind and concentrate. When absorbed in mathematics, books about the Apollo missions or great white sharks, he may not notice other things, even when Father calls him to supper. He relates the same focused attention to playing chess, where an opponent may lose concentration and make a mistake. Watson’s description of Holmes’s mind trying to fit disconnected episodes into a scheme gives Christopher a language for the investigative process he hopes to practice himself.