Selden's fugitive concealment on the moor

Selden’s fugitive concealment on the moor is a precarious, privately sustained refuge: Barrymore and his wife secretly supply the escaped convict, while the surrounding terrain hides both the fugitive and a second, unknown occupant of the moor. The arrangement draws Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr. Watson into a choice between law and compassion, and ends when Selden is found dead in Sir Henry’s discarded clothes, apparently tracked by the hound through an item bearing the baronet’s scent.

Identity and Conditions of Concealment

Selden is an escaped convict hiding on the moor, where his survival depends on remaining undiscovered and receiving provisions in secret. Barrymore does not know whether Selden has finally left; he hopes so, saying he has not heard from him since leaving food three days earlier. That uncertainty is integral to the arrangement: the fugitive’s location and movements are not under the household’s control, and the last supply of food offers no confirmation that he is safe or gone.

The landscape makes concealment possible but also perilous. Sherlock Holmes’s map places Baskerville Hall amid a sparse district: within five miles are only a few scattered dwellings, including Grimpen village and Lafter Hall, with the open, desolate moor extending between them. Its apparent openness is deceptive. Stapleton points out bright-green patches that look fertile but have cost lives, and warns that crossing safely depends on remembering complex landmarks. The terrain offers secluded places to hide, but not a dependable route out.

Aid, Signal, and the Choice Not to Report Him

Barrymore and his wife assist Selden while he remains at large. The secret arrangement includes leaving food for him and passing on Sir Henry Baskerville’s old clothes. During a night pursuit, Dr. Watson and Sir Henry see a candle burning in a cleft among rocks: its position shields it from the wind and keeps it hidden except from the direction of Baskerville Hall. The two men approach under cover of a boulder and watch the signal. In the wider pattern of Selden’s concealment, the carefully placed light shows how the moor’s darkness and distance can be used to communicate without revealing a hiding place openly.

When confronted with the possibility of reporting Selden, Barrymore pleads that the convict will not break into a house and will soon be sent to South America. He says that Selden has been given what he needs and would risk discovery by committing another crime. Sir Henry recognizes that withholding the information may amount to aiding a felony, but decides not to give Selden up after hearing what arrest would mean to Eliza Barrymore. His decision is not a claim that Selden is harmless in every circumstance; it rests on Barrymore’s assurances and on compassion for the household. In return, Barrymore offers information he has kept since after the inquest into Sir Charles Baskerville’s death, making the act of mercy a turning point in the investigation as well as in the household’s dealings with the fugitive.

A Fugitive and a Second Hidden Man

Selden’s refuge is not the only secret on the moor. Barrymore reports that Selden had encountered another man, apparently a gentleman, who was also hiding there but was not, as far as Barrymore could tell, a convict. This stranger lived among the old stone huts on a hillside and had a boy bring him provisions, reportedly from Coombe Tracey. Barrymore has never seen him himself; his knowledge comes from Selden, and he is unsettled by the stranger’s presence and apparent purpose.

That distinction redirects Dr. Watson’s search. Frankland, watching through a telescope from his roof, has seen a child carry food along the same path each day and assumes the recipient must be the convict. Watson realizes that the boy’s route instead matches Barrymore’s account of the unknown man. He follows the clue across the moor to a cleft in the hills, where a circle of old stone huts includes one with enough roof to shelter an occupant. At sunset, the barren slopes and distant tors make the hiding place seem isolated; when Watson cautiously enters, however, the hut is empty. The pursuit reveals a real refuge but not its occupant, preserving the separation between Selden’s known support network and the more consequential mystery of the stranger.

Discovery and Death

Selden’s concealment ends when the body found on the moor proves not to be Sir Henry Baskerville. The beard identifies the dead man as Selden, the fugitive whom Dr. Watson had previously seen by candlelight. Watson then recalls that Sir Henry had given his old wardrobe to Barrymore, who passed the clothes to Selden to help him escape. Boots, shirt, and cap had all belonged to the baronet. The clothing that made the fugitive appear to be another man has instead linked him to the hound’s pursuit.

Sherlock Holmes reasons that the hound was set on the trail by an article belonging to Sir Henry, probably the boot that had been taken from the hotel. On that account, the animal followed the scent associated with the baronet but caught Selden, who was wearing Sir Henry’s clothes. The identification resolves the apparent contradiction between the intended target and the dead fugitive: Selden’s disguise brought him into the path of a pursuit directed by scent toward someone else. The evidence also leaves Holmes asking how Selden knew the hound was following him; the discovery establishes the mechanism that led the animal to him, but not what made the fugitive recognize the danger.

Narrative Role and Consequences

Selden’s concealment places a human, immediate crisis alongside the larger mystery of the moor. His need for food draws Barrymore and Eliza Barrymore into a secret that they protect even when it risks suspicion, while Sir Henry’s refusal to inform the police shows how personal mercy can interrupt the ordinary demand for capture. The episode also supplies Watson with a contrast between two kinds of hidden presence: a known convict sustained by the household and an unidentified man whose isolation and provisions point toward a different investigation.

The moor is not merely a backdrop to this state of hiding. Distance obscures the signal candle; scattered dwellings leave broad stretches without nearby witnesses; hazardous ground and landmarks govern where a person can travel; and the old huts provide shelter without guaranteeing that their occupant will be found. Later, a dense fog banks over Grimpen Mire, continuing the pattern in which weather and terrain limit visibility and movement. Selden’s flight thus depends on concealment that the landscape makes possible, but his borrowed clothes turn that same concealment into a fatal misdirection. His death closes the immediate question of where the convict is while sharpening the central danger: the hound’s target can be betrayed by a trace that reaches beyond the person it actually follows.