The Grimpen Mire
The fresh beauty of the morning does little to hide the grim atmosphere of Baskerville Hall. While Sir Henry attends to papers, you decide to walk the moor. You are soon overtaken by a stranger—a small, flaxen-haired man with a butterfly net. He introduces himself as Stapleton of Merripit House.
He leads you to a view of the great Grimpen Mire, a bright green expanse of bog. "A false step yonder means death to man or beast," Stapleton says cheerfully. Suddenly, a pony wanders into the mire; it screams in agony as it is sucked under the mud. As the sound dies away, a low, melancholy moan sweeps over the moor—the cry of the legendary Hound.
"Queer place, the moor," Stapleton remarks, chasing a rare moth toward the deadly bog. You see a woman approaching on the path.