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22 May 1859, Edinburgh M.D., Kt, D.L., LL.D., Sportsman, Writer, Poet, Politician, Justicer, Spiritualist Crowborough, 7 July 1930

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The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge

 

1 1 THE SINGULAR EXPERIENCE OF MR JOHN SCOTT ECCLES

2 I find it recorded in my notebook that it was a bleak and windy day towards the end of March in the year 1892. 3 Holmes had received a telegram whilst we sat at our lunch, and he had scribbled a reply. 4 He made no remark, but the matter remained in his thoughts, for he stood in front of the fire afterwards with a thoughtful face, smoking his pipe, and casting an occasional glance at the message. 5 Suddenly he turned upon me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
6 'I suppose, Watson, we must look upon you as a man of letters,' said he. 7 'How do you define the word "grotesque"?'
8 'Strange - remarkable,' I suggested.
9 He shook his head at my definition.
10 'There is surely something more than that,' said he, 'some underlying suggestion of the tragic and the terrible. 11 If you cast your mind back to some of those narratives with which you have afflicted a long-suffering public, you will recognize how often the grotesque has deepened into the criminal. 12 Think of that little affair of the red-headed men. 13 That was grotesque enough in the outset, and yet it ended in a desperate attempt at robbery. 14 Or, again, there was that most grotesque affair of the five orange pips, which led straight to a murderous conspiracy. 15 The word puts me on the alert.'
16 'Have you it there?' I asked.
17 He read the telegram aloud.
18 '"Have just had most incredible and grotesque experience. 19 May I consult you? - Scott Eccles, Post Office, Charing Cross."'
20 'Man or woman?' I asked.
21 'Oh, man, of course. 22 No woman would ever send a reply-paid telegram. 23 She would have come.'
24 'Will you see him?'
25 'My dear Watson, you know how bored I have been since we locked up Colonel Carruthers. 26 My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built. 27 Life is commonplace, the papers are sterile, audacity and romance seem to have passed for ever from the criminal world. 28 Can you ask me, then, whether I am ready to look into any new problem, however trivial it may prove? 29 But here, unless I am mistaken, is our client.'
30 A measured step was heard upon the stairs, and a moment later a stout, tall, grey-whiskered and solemnly respectable person was ushered into the room. 31 His life history was written in his heavy features and pompous manner. 32 From his spats to his gold-rimmed spectacles he was a Conservative, a Churchman, a good citizen, orthodox and conventional to the last degree. 33 But some amazing experience had disturbed his native composure and left its traces in his bristling hair, his flushed, angry cheeks, and his flurried, excited manner. 34 He plunged instantly into his business.
35 'I have had a most singular and unpleasant experience, Mr Holmes,' said he. 36 'Never in my life have I been placed in such a situation. 37 It is most improper - most outrageous. 38 I must insist upon some explanation.' 39 He swelled and puffed in his anger.
40 'Pray sit down, Mr Scott Eccles,' said Holmes, in a soothing voice. 41 'May I ask, in the first place, why you came to me at all?'
42 'Well, sir, it did not appear to be a matter which concerned the police, and yet, when you have heard the facts, you must admit that I could not leave it where it was. 43 Private detectives are a class with whom I have absolutely no sympathy, but none the less, having heard your name-'
44 'Quite so. 45 But, in the second place, why did you not come at once?'
46 'What do you mean?'
47 Holmes glanced at his watch.
48 'It is a quarter past two,' he said. 49 'Your telegram was dispatched about one. 50 But no one can glance at your toilet and attire without seeing that your disturbance dates from the moment of your waking.'
51 Our client smoothed down his unbrushed hair and felt his unshaven chin.
52 'You are right, Mr Holmes. 53 I never gave a thought to my toilet. 54 I was only too glad to get out of such a house. 55 But I have been running round making inquiries before I came to you. 56 I went to the house agents, you know, and they said Mr Garcia's rent was paid up all tight, and that everything was in order at Wisteria Lodge.'
57 'Come, come, sir,' said Holmes, laughing. 58 'You are like my friend Dr Watson, who has a bad habit of telling his stories wrong end foremost. 59 Please arrange your thoughts and let me know, in their due sequence, exactly what those events are which have sent you out unbrushed and unkempt, with dress boots and waistcoat buttoned awry, in search of advice and assistance.'
60 Our client looked down with a rueful face at his own unconventional appearance.
61 'I'm sure it must look very bad, Mr Holmes, and I am not aware that in my whole life such a thing has ever happened before. 62 But I will tell you the whole queer business, and when I have done so you will admit, I am sure, that there has been enough to excuse me.'
63 But his narrative was nipped in the bud. 64 There was a bustle outside, and Mrs Hudson opened the door to usher in two robust and official-looking individuals, one of whom was well known to us as Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard, an energetic, gallant, and, within his limitations, a capable officer. 65 He shook hands with Holmes, and introduced his comrade as Inspector Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary.
66 'We are hunting together, Mr Holmes, and our trail lay in this direction.' 67 He turned his bulldog eyes upon our visitor. 68 'Are you Mr John Scott Eccles, of Popham House, Lee?'
69 'I am.'
70 'We have been following you about all the morning.'
71 'You traced him through the telegram, no doubt,' said Holmes.
72 'Exactly, Mr Holmes. 73 We picked up the scent at Charing Cross Post Office and came on here.'
74 'But why do you follow me? 75 What do you want?'
76 'We wish a statement, Mr Scott Eccles, as to the events which led up to the death last night of Mr Aloysius Garcia, of Wisteria lodge, near Esher.'
77 Our client had sat up with staring eyes and every tinge of colour struck from his astonished face.
78 'Dead? 79 Did you say he was dead?'
80 'Yes, sir, he is dead.'
81 'But how? 82 An accident?'
83 'Murder, if ever there was one upon earth.'
84 'Good God! 85 This is awful! 86 You don't mean - you don't mean that I am suspected?'
87 'A letter of yours was found in the dead man's pocket, and we know by it that you had planned to pass last night at his house.'
88 'So I did.'
89 'Oh, you did, did you?'
90 Out came the official notebook.
91 'Wait a bit, Gregson,' said Sherlock Holmes. 92 'All you desire is a plain statement, is it not?'
93 'And it is my duty to warn Mr Scott Eccles that it may be used against him.'
94 'Mr Eccles was going to tell us about it when you entered the room. 95 I think, Watson, a brandy and soda would do him no harm. 96 Now, sir, I suggest that you take no notice of this addition to your audience, and that you proceed with your narrative exactly as you would have done had you never been interrupted.'
97 Our visitor had gulped off the brandy and the colour had returned to his face. 98 With a dubious glance at the inspector's notebook, he plunged at once into his extraordinary statement.
99 'I am a bachelor,' said he, 'and, being of a sociable turn, I cultivate a large number of friends. 100 Among these are the family of a retired brewer called Melville, living at Albemarle Mansion, Kensington. 101 It was at his table that I met some weeks ago a young fellow named Garcia. 102 He was, I understood, of Spanish descent and connected in some way with the Embassy. 103 He spoke perfect English, was pleasing in his manners, and as good-looking a man as ever I saw in my life.
104 'In some way we struck up quite a friendship, this young fellow and I. 105 He seemed to take a fancy to me from the first, and within two days of our meeting he came to see me at Lee. 106 One thing led to another, and it ended in his inviting me out to spend a few days at his house, Wisteria Lodge, between Esher and Oxshott. 107 Yesterday evening I went to Esher to fulfil this engagement.
108 'He had described his household to me before I went there. 109 He lived with a faithful servant, a countryman of his own, who looked after all his needs. 110 This fellow could speak English and did his housekeeping for him. 111 Then there was a wonderful cook, he said, a half-breed whom he had picked up in his travels, who could serve an excellent dinner. 112 I remember that he remarked what a queer household it was to find in the heart of Surrey, and that I agreed with him, though it has proved a good deal queerer than I thought.
113 'I drove to the place - about two miles on the south side of Esher. 114 The house was a fair-sized one, standing back from the road, with a curving drive which was banked with high evergreen shrubs. 115 It was an old, tumbledown building in a crazy state of disrepair. 116 When the trap pulled up on the grass-grown drive in front of the blotched and weather-stained door, I had doubts as to my wisdom in visiting a man whom I knew so slightly. 117 He opened the door himself, however, and greeted me with a great show of cordiality. 118 I was handed over to the man-servant, a melancholy, swarthy individual, who led the way, my bag in his hand, to my bedroom. 119 The whole place was depressing. 120 Our dinner was tête-à-tête, and though my host did his best to be entertaining, his thoughts seemed to continually wander, and he talked so vaguely and wildly that I could hardly understand him. 121 He continually drummed his fingers on the table, gnawed his nails, and gave other signs of nervous impatience. 122 The dinner itself was neither well served nor well cooked, and the gloomy presence of the taciturn servant did not help to enliven us. 123 I can assure you that many times in the course of the evening I wished that I could invent some excuse which would take me back to Lee.
124 'One thing comes back to my memory which may have a bearing upon the business that you two gentlemen are investigating. 125 I thought nothing of it at the time. 126 Near the end of dinner a note was handed in by the servant. 127 I noticed that after my host had read it he seemed even more distrait and strange than before. 128 He gave up all pretence at conversation and sat, smoking endless cigarettes, lost in his own thoughts, but he made no remark as to the contents. 129 About eleven I was glad to go to bed. 130 Some time later Garcia looked in at my door - the room was dark at the time-and asked me if I had rung. 131 I said that I had not. 132 He apologized for having disturbed me so late, saying that it was nearly one o'clock. 133 I dropped off after this and slept soundly all night.
134 'And now I come to the amazing part of my tale. 135 When I woke it was broad daylight. 136 I glanced at my watch, and the time was nearly nine. 137 I had particularly asked to be called at eight, so I was very much astonished at this forgetfulness. 138 I sprang up and rang for the servant. 139 There was no response. 140 I rang again and again, with the same result. 141 Then I came to the conclusion that the bell was out of order. 142 I huddled on my clothes and hurried downstairs in an exceedingly bad temper to order some hot water. 143 You can imagine my surprise when I found that there was no one there. 144 I shouted in the hall There was no answer. 145 Then I ran from room to room. 146 All were deserted. 147 My host had shown me which was his bedroom the night before, so I knocked at the door. 148 No reply. 149 I turned the handle and walked in. 150 The room was empty, and the bed had never been slept in. 151 He had gone with the rest. 152 The foreign host, the foreign footman, the foreign cook, all had vanished in the night! 153 That was the end of my visit to Wisteria Lodge.'
154 Sherlock Holmes was rubbing his hands and chuckling as he added this bizarre incident to his collection of strange episodes.
155 'Your experience is, so far as I know, perfectly unique,' said he. 156 'May I ask, sir, what you did then?'
157 'I was furious. 158 My first idea was that I had been the victim of some absurd practical joke. 159 I packed my things, banged the hall door behind me, and set off for Esher, with my bag in my hand. 160 I called at Allan Brothers', the chief land agents in the village, and found that it was from this firm that the villa had been rented. 161 It struck me that the whole proceeding could hardly be for the purpose of making a fool of me, and that the main object must be to get out of the rent. 162 It is late in March, so quarter-day is at hand. 163 But this theory would not work. 164 The agent was obliged to me for my warning, but told me that the rent had been paid in advance. 165 Then I made my way to town and called at the Spanish Embassy. 166 The man was unknown there. 167 After this I went to see Melville, at whose house I had first met Garcia, but I found that he really knew rather less about him than I did. 168 Finally, when I got your reply to my wire I came out to you, since I understand that you are a person who gives advice in difficult cases. 169 But now, Mr Inspector, I gather, from what you said when you entered the room, that you can carry the story on, and that some tragedy has occurred. 170 I can assure you that every word I have said is the truth, and that, outside of what I have told you, I know absolutely nothing about the fate of this man. 171 My only desire is to help the law in every possible way.'
172 'I am sure of it, Mr Scott Eccles - I am sure of it,' said Inspector Gregson, in a very amiable tone. 173 'I am bound to say that everything which you have said agrees very closely with the facts as they have come to our notice. 174 For example, there was that note which arrived during dinner. 175 Did you chance to observe what became of it?'
176 'Yes, I did. 177 Garcia rolled it up and threw it into the fire.'
178 'What do you say to that, Mr Baynes?'
179 The country detective was a stout, puffy, red man, whose face was only redeemed from grossness by two extraordinarily bright eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow. 180 With a slow smile he drew a folded and discoloured scrap of paper from his pocket.
181 'It was a dog-grate, Mr Holmes, and he over-pitched it. 182 I picked this out unburned from the back of it.'
183 Holmes smiled his appreciation.
184 'You must have examined the house very carefully, to find a single pellet of paper.'
185 'I did, Mr Holmes. 186 It's my way. 187 Shall I read it, Mr Gregson?'
188 The Londoner nodded.
189 'The note is written upon ordinary cream-laid paper without watermark. 190 It is a quarter-sheet. 191 The paper is cut off in two snips with a short-bladed scissors. 192 It has been folded over three times and scaled with purple wax, put on hurriedly and pressed down with some flat, oval object. 193 It is addressed to Mr Garcia, Wisteria Lodge. 194 It says: 195 "Our own colours, green and white. 196 Green open, white shut. 197 Main stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize. 198 God speed. D." 199 It is a woman's writing, done with a sharp-pointed pen, but the address is either done with another pen or by someone else. 200 It is thicker and bolder, as you see.'
201 'A very remarkable note,' said Holmes, glancing it over. 202 'I must compliment you, Mr Baynes, upon your attention to detail in your examination of it. 203 A few trifling points might perhaps be added. 204 The oval seal is undoubtedly a plain sleeve-link - what else is of such a shape? 205 The scissors were bent nail-scissors. 206 Short as the two snips are, you can distinctly see the same slight curve in each.'
207 The country detective chuckled.
208 'I thought I had squeezed all the juice out of it, but I see there was a little over,' he said. 209 'I'm bound to say that I make nothing of the note except that there was something on hand, and that a woman, as usual, was at the bottom of it.'
210 Mr Scott Eccles had fidgeted in his seat during this conversation.
211 'I am glad you found the note, since it corroborates my story,' said he. 212 'But I beg to point out that I have not yet heard what has happened to Mr Garcia, nor what has become of his household.'
213 'As to Garcia,' said Gregson, 'that is easily answered. 214 He was found dead this morning upon Oxshott Common, nearly a mile from his home. 215 His head had been smashed to pulp by heavy blows of a sand-bag or some such instrument, which had crushed rather than wounded. 216 It is a lonely corner, and there is no house within a quarter of a mile of the spot. 217 He had apparently been struck down first from behind, but his assailant had gone on beating him long after he was dead. 218 It was a most furious assault. 219 There are no footsteps nor any clue to the criminals.'
220 'Robbed?'
221 'No, there was no attempt at robbery.'
222 'This is very painful - very painful and terrible,' said Mr Scott Eccles, in a querulous voice, 'but it is really uncommonly hard upon me. 223 I had nothing to do with my host going off upon a nocturnal excursion and meeting so sad an end. 224 How do I come to be mixed up with the case?'
225 'Very simply, sir,' Inspector Baynes answered. 226 'The only document found in the pocket of the deceased was a letter from you saying that you would be with him on the night of his death. 227 It was the envelope of this letter which gave us the dead man's name and address. 228 It was after nine this morning when we reached his house and found neither you nor anyone else inside it. 229 I wired to Mr Gregson to run you down in London while I examined Wisteria Lodge. 230 Then I came into town, joined Mr Gregson, and here we are.'
231 'I think now,' said Gregson, rising, 'we had best put this matter into an official shape. 232 You will come round with us to the station, Mr Scott Eccles, and let us have your statement in writing.'
233 'Certainly, I will come at once. 234 But I retain your services, Mr Holmes. 235 I desire you to spare no expense and no pains to get at the truth.'
236 My friend turned to the country inspector.
237 'I suppose that you have no objection to my collaborating with you, Mr Baynes?'
238 'Highly honoured, sir, I am sure.'
239 'You appear to have been very prompt and businesslike in all that you have done. 240 Was there any clue, may I ask, as to the exact hour that the man met his death?'
241 'He had been there since one o'clock. 242 There was rain about that time, and his death had certainly been before the rain.'
243 'But that is perfectly impossible, Mr Baynes,' cried our client. 244 'His voice is unmistakable. 245 I could swear to it that it was he who addressed me in my bedroom at that very hour.'
246 'Remarkable, but by no means impossible,' said Holmes, smiling.
247 'You have a clue?' asked Gregson.
248 'On the face of it the case is not a very complex one, though it certainly presents some novel and interesting features. 249 A further knowledge of facts is necessary before I would venture to give a final and definite opinion. 250 By the way, Mr Baynes, did you find anything remarkable besides this note in your examination of the house?'
251 The detective looked at my friend in a singular way.
252 'There were,' said he, 'one or two very remarkable things. 253 Perhaps when I have finished at the police-station you would care to come out and give me your opinion of them.'
254 'I am entirely at your service,' said Sherlock Holmes, ringing the bell. 255 'You will show these gentlemen out, Mrs Hudson, and kindly send the boy with this telegram. 256 He is to pay a five-shilling reply.'
257 We sat for some time in silence after our visitors had left. 258 Holmes smoked hard, with his brows drawn down over his keen eyes, and his head thrust forward in the eager way characteristic of the man.
259 'Well, Watson,' he asked, turning suddenly upon me, 'what do you make of it?'
260 'I can make nothing of this mystification of Scott Eccles.'
261 'But the crime?'
262 'Well, taken with the disappearance of the man's companions, I should say that they were in some way concerned in the murder and had fled from justice.'
263 'That is certainly a possible point of view. 264 On the face of it you must admit, however, that it is very strange that his two servants should have been in a conspiracy against him and should have attacked him on the one night when he had a guest. 265 They had him alone at their mercy every other night in the week.'
266 'Then why did they fly?'
267 'Quite so. 268 Why did they fly? 269 There is a big fact. 270 Another big fact is the remarkable experience of our client, Scott Eccles. 271 Now, my dear Watson, is it beyond the limits of human ingenuity to furnish an explanation which would cover both these big facts? 272 If it were one which would also admit of the mysterious note with its very curious phraseology, why, then it would be worth accepting as a temporary hypothesis. 273 If the fresh facts which come to our knowledge all fit themselves into the scheme, then our hypothesis may gradually become a solution.'
274 'But what is our hypothesis?'
275 Holmes leaned back in his chair with half-closed eyes.
276 'You must admit, my dear Watson, that the idea of a joke is impossible. 277 There were grave events afoot, as the sequel showed, and the coaxing of Scott Eccles to Wisteria Lodge had some connection with them.'
278 'But what possible connection?'
279 'Let us take it link by link. 280 There is, on the face of it, something unnatural about this strange and sudden friendship between the young Spaniard and Scott Eccles. 281 It was the former who forced the pace. 282 He called upon Eccles at the other end of London on the very day after he first met him, and he kept in close touch with him until he got him down to Esher. 283 Now, what did he want with Eccles? 284 What could Eccles supply? 285 I see no charm in the man. 286 He is not particularly intelligent - not a man likely to be congenial to a quick-witted Latin. 287 Why, then, was he picked out from all the other people whom Garcia met as particularly suited to his purpose? 288 Has he any one outstanding quality? 289 I say that he has. 290 He is the very type of conventional British respectability, and the very man as a witness to impress another Briton. 291 You saw yourself how neither of the inspectors dreamed of questioning his statement, extraordinary as it was.'
292 'But what was he to witness?'
293 'Nothing, as things turned out, but everything had they gone another way. 294 That is how I read the matter.'
295 'I see, he might have proved an alibi.'
296 'Exactly, my dear Watson, he might have proved an alibi. 297 We will suppose, for argument's sake, that the household of Wisteria Lodge are confederates in some design. 298 The attempt, whatever it may be, is to come off, we will say, before one o'clock. 299 By some juggling of the clocks it is quite possible that they may have got Scott Eccles to bed earlier than he thought, but in any case it is likely that when Garcia went out of his way to tell him that it was one it was really not more than twelve. 300 If Garcia could do whatever he had to do and be back by the hour mentioned he had evidently a powerful reply to any accusation. 301 Here was this irreproachable Englishman ready to swear in any court of law that the accused was in his house all the time. 302 It was an insurance against the worst.'
303 'Yes, yes, I see that. 304 But how about the disappearance of the others?'
305 'I have not all my facts yet, but I do not think there are any insuperable difficulties. 306 Still, it is an error to argue in front of your data. 307 You find yourself insensibly twisting them round to fit your theories.'
308 'And the message?'
309 'How did it run? 310 "Our own colours, green and white." 311 Sounds like racing. 312 "Green open, white shut." 313 That is clearly a signal. 314 "Main stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize." 315 This is an assignation. 316 We may find a jealous husband at the bottom of it all. 317 It was clearly a dangerous quest. 318 She could not have said "God speed" had it not been so. 319 "D" - that should be a guide.'
320 'The man was a Spaniard. 321 I suggest that "D" stands for Dolores, a common female name in Spain.'
322 'Good, Watson, very good - but quite inadmissible. 323 A Spaniard would write to a Spaniard in Spanish. 324 The writer of this note is certainly English. 325 Well, we can only possess our souls in patience, until this excellent inspector comes back for us. 326 Meanwhile we can thank our lucky fate which has rescued us for a few short hours from the insufferable fatigues of idleness.'
327 An answer had arrived to Holmes's telegram before our Surrey officer had returned. 328 Holmes read it, and was about to place it in his note-book when he caught a glimpse of my expectant face. 329 He tossed it across with a laugh.
330 'We are moving in exalted circles,' said he.
331 The telegram was a list of names and addresses: 332 'Lord Harringby, The Dingle, Sir George Ffolliott, Oxshott Towers, Mr Hynes Hynes, JP, Purdey Place, Mr James Baker Williams, Forton Old Hall, Mr Henderson, High Gable, Rev. Joshua Stone, Nether Walsling.'
333 'This is a very obvious way of limiting our field of operations,' said Holmes. 334 'No doubt Baynes, with his methodical mind, has already adopted some similar plan.'
335 'I don't quite understand.'
336 'Well, my dear fellow, we have already arrived at the conclusion that the message received by Garcia at dinner was an appointment or an assignation. 337 Now, if the obvious reading of it is correct, and in order to keep this tryst one has to ascend a main stair and seek the seventh door in a corridor, it is perfectly clear that the house is a very large one. 338 It is equally certain that this house cannot be more than a mile or two from Oxshott, since Garcia was walking in that direction, and hoped, according to my reading of the facts, to be back again in Wisteria Lodge in time to avail himself of an alibi, which would only be valid up to one o'clock. 339 As the number of large houses close to Oxshott must be limited, I adopted the obvious method of sending to the agents mentioned by Scott Eccles and obtaining a list of them. 340 Here they are in this telegram, and the other end of our tangled skein must lie among them.'
341 It was nearly six o'clock before we found ourselves in the pretty Surrey village of Esher, with Inspector Baynes as our companion.
342 Holmes and I had taken things for the night, and found comfortable quarters at the Bull. 343 Finally we set out in the company of the detective on our visit to Wisteria Lodge. 344 It was a cold, dark March evening, with a sharp wind and a fine rain beating upon our faces, a fit setting for the wild common over which our road passed and the tragic goal to which it led us.

345 2 THE TIGER OF SAN PEDRO

346 A cold and melancholy walk of a couple of miles brought us to a high wooden gate, which opened into a gloomy avenue of chestnuts. 347 The curved and shadowed drive led us to a low, dark house, pitch-black against a slate-coloured sky. 348 From the front window upon the left of the door there peeped a glimmer of a feeble light.
349 'There's a constable in possession,' said Baynes. 350 'I'll knock at the window.' 351 He stepped across the grass plot and tapped with his hand on the pane. 352 Through the fogged glass I dimly saw a man spring up from a chair beside the fire, and heard a sharp cry from within the room. 353 An instant later a white-faced, hard-breathing policeman had opened the door, the candle wavering in his trembling hand.
354 'What's the matter, Walters?' asked Baynes, sharply.
355 The man mopped his forehead with his handkerchief and gave a long sigh of relief.
356 'I am glad you have come, sir. 357 It has been a long evening and I don't think my nerve is as good as it was.'
358 'Your nerve, Walters? 359 I should not have thought you had a nerve in your body.'
360 'Well, sir, it's this lonely, silent house and the queer thing in the kitchen. 361 Then when you tapped at the window I thought it had come again.'
362 'That what had come again?'
363 'The devil, sir, for all I know. 364 It was at the window.'
365 'What was at the window, and when?'
366 'It was just about two hours ago. 367 The light was just fading. 368 I was sitting reading in the chair. 369 I don't know what made me look up, but there was a face looking in at me through the lower pane. 370 Lord, sir, what a face it was! 371 I'll see it in my dreams.'
372 'Tut, tut, Walters! 373 This is not talk for a police-constable.'
374 'I know, sir, I know, but it shook me, sir, and there's no use to deny it. 375 It wasn't black, sir, nor was it white, nor any colour that I know, but a kind of queer shade like clay with a splash of milk in it. 376 Then there was the size of it - it was twice yours, sir. 377 And the look of it - the great staring goggle eyes, and the line of white teeth like a hungry beast. 378 I tell you, sir, I couldn't move a finger, nor get my breath, till it whisked away and was gone. 379 Out I ran and through the shrubbery, but thank God there was no one there.'
380 'If I didn't know you were a good man, Walters, I should put a black mark against you for this. 381 If it were the devil himself, a constable on duty should never thank God that he could not lay his hands upon him. 382 I suppose the whole thing is not a vision and a touch of nerves?'
383 'That, at least, is very easily settled,' said Holmes, lighting his little pocket lantern. 384 'Yes,' he reported, after a short examination of the grass bed, 'a number twelve shoe, I should say. 385 If he was all on the same scale as his foot he must certainly have been a giant.'
386 'What became of him?'
387 'He seems to have broken through the shrubbery and made for the road.'
388 'Well,' said the inspector, with a grave and thoughtful face, 'whoever he may have been, and whatever he may have wanted, he's gone for the present, and we have more immediate things to attend to. 389 Now, Mr Holmes, with your permission, I will show you round the house.'
390 The various bedrooms and sitting-rooms had yielded nothing to a careful search. 391 Apparently the tenants had brought little or nothing with them, and all the furniture down to the smallest details had been taken over with the house. 392 A good deal of clothing with the stamp of Marx and Co., High Holborn, had been left behind. 393 Telegraphic inquiries had been already made which showed that Marx knew nothing of his customer save that he was a good payer. 394 Odds and ends, some pipes, a few novels, two of them in Spanish, an old-fashioned pin-fire revolver, and a guitar were amongst the personal property.
395 'Nothing in all this,' said Baynes, stalking, candle in hand, from room to room. 396 'But now, Mr Holmes, I invite your attention to the kitchen.'
397 It was a gloomy, high-ceilinged room at the back of the house, with a straw litter in one corner, which served apparently as a bed for the cook. 398 The table was piled with half-eaten dishes and dirty plates, the débris of last night's dinner.
399 'Look at this,' said Baynes. 400 'What do you make of it?'
401 He held up his candle before an extraordinary object which stood at the back of the dresser. 402 It was so wrinkled and shrunken and withered that it was difficult to say what it might have been. 403 One could but say that it was black and leathery and that it bore some resemblance to a dwarfish human figure. 404 At first, as I examined it, I thought that it was a mummified negro baby, and then it seemed a very twisted and ancient monkey. 405 Finally I was left in doubt as to whether it was animal or human. 406 A double band of white shells was strung round the centre of it.
407 'Very interesting - very interesting, indeed!' said Holmes, peering at this sinister relic. 408 'Anything more?'
409 In silence Baynes led the way to the sink and held forward his candle. 410 The limbs and body of some large, white bird, torn savagely to pieces with the feathers still on, were littered all over it. 411 Holmes pointed to the wattles on the severed head.
412 'A white cock,' said he, 'most interesting! 413 It is really a very curious case.'
414 But Mr Baynes had kept his most sinister exhibit to the last. 415 From under the sink he drew a zinc pail which contained a quantity of blood. 416 Then from the table he took a platter heaped with small pieces of charred bone.
417 'Something has been killed and something has been burned. 418 We raked all these out of the fire. 419 We had a doctor in this morning. 420 He says that they are not human.'
421 Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands.
422 'I must congratulate you, inspector, on handling so distinctive and instructive a case. 423 Your powers, if I may say so without offence, seem superior to your opportunities.'
424 Inspector Baynes's small eyes twinkled with pleasure.
425 'You're right, Mr Holmes. 426 We stagnate in the provinces. 427 A case of this sort gives a man a chance, and I hope that I shall take it. 428 What do you make of these bones?'
429 'A lamb, I should say, or a kid.'
430 'And the white cock?'
431 'Curious, Mr Baynes, very curious. 432 I should say almost unique.'
433 'Yes, sir, there must have been some very strange people with some very strange ways in this house. 434 One of them is dead. 435 Did his companions follow him and kill him? 436 If they did we should have them, for every port is watched. 437 But my own views are different. 438 Yes, sir, my own views are very different.'
439 'You have a theory, then?'
440 'And I'll work it myself, Mr Holmes. 441 It's only due to my own credit to do so. 442 Your name is made, but I have still to make mine. 443 I should be glad to be able to say afterwards that I had solved it without your help.'
444 Holmes laughed good-humouredly.
445 'Well, well, inspector,' said he. 446 'Do you follow your path and I will follow mine. 447 My results are always very much at your service if you care to apply to me for them. 448 I think that I have seen all that I wish in this house, and that my time may be more profitably employed elsewhere. 449 Au revoir and good luck!'
450 I could tell by numerous subtle signs, which might have been lost upon anyone but myself, that Holmes was on a hot scent. 451 As impassive as ever to the casual observer, there were none the less a subdued eagerness and suggestion of tension in his brightened eyes and brisker manner which assured me that the game was afoot. 452 After his habit he said nothing, and after mine I asked no questions. 453 Sufficient for me to share the sport and lend my humble help to the capture without distracting that intent brain with needless interruption. 454 All would come round to me in due time.
455 I waited, therefore - but, to my ever-deepening disappointment, I waited in vain. 456 Day succeeded day, and my friend took no step forward. 457 One morning he spent in town, and I learned from a casual reference that he had visited the British Museum. 458 Save for this one excursion, he spent his days in long and often solitary walks, or in chatting with a number of village gossips whose acquaintance he had cultivated.
459 'I'm sure, Watson, a week in the country will be invaluable to you,' he remarked. 460 'It is very pleasant to see the first green shoots upon the hedges and the catkins on the hazels once again. 461 With a spud, a tin box, and an elementary book on botany, there are instructive days to be spent.' 462 He prowled about with this equipment himself, but it was a poor show of plants which he would bring back of an evening.
463 Occasionally in our rambles we came across Inspector Baynes. 464 His fat, red face wreathed itself in smiles and his small eyes glittered as he greeted my companion. 465 He said little about the case, but from that little we gathered that he also was not dissatisfied at the course of events. 466 I must admit, however, that I was somewhat surprised when, some five days after the crime, I opened my morning paper to find in large letters:

467 THE OXSHOTT MYSTERY A SOLUTION ARREST OF SUPPOSED ASSASSIN

468 Holmes sprang in his chair as if he had been stung when I read the head-lines.
469 'By Jove!' he cried. 470 'You don't mean that Baynes has got him?'
471 'Apparently,' said I, as I read the following report:
472 Great excitement was caused in Esher and the neighbouring district when it was learned late last night that an arrest had been effected in connection with the Oxshott murder. 473 It will be remembered that Mr Garcia, of Wisteria Lodge, was found dead on Oxshott Common, his body showing signs of extreme violence, and that on the same night his servant and his cook fled, which appeared to show their participation in the crime. 474 It was suggested, but never proved, that the deceased gentleman may have had valuables in the house, and that their abstraction was the motive of the crime. 475 Every effort was made by Inspector Baynes, who has the case in hand, to ascertain the hiding place of the fugitives, and he had good reason to believe that they had not gone far, but were lurking in some retreat which had been already prepared. 476 It was certain from the first, however, that they would eventually be detected, as the cook, from the evidence of one or two tradespeople who have caught a glimpse of him through the window, was a man of most remarkable appearance - being a huge and hideous mulatto, with yellowish features of a pronounced negroid type. 477 This man has been seen since the crime, for he was detected and pursued by Constable Walters on the same evening, when he had the audacity to revisit Wisteria Lodge. 478 Inspector Baynes, considering that such a visit must have some purpose in view, and was likely, therefore, to be repeated, abandoned the house, but left an ambuscade in the shrubbery. 479 The man walked into the trap, and was captured last night after a struggle, in which Constable Downing was badly bitten by the savage. 480 We understand that when the prisoner is brought before the magistrates a remand will be applied for by the police, and that great developments are hoped from his capture.
481 'Really we must see Baynes at once,' cried Holmes, picking up his hat. 482 'We will just catch him before he starts.' 483 We hurried down the village street and found, as we had expected, that the inspector was just leaving his lodgings.
484 'You've seen the paper, Mr Holmes?' he asked, holding one out to us.
485 'Yes, Baynes, I've seen it. 486 Pray don't think it a liberty if I give you a word of friendly warning.'
487 'Of warning, Mr Holmes?'
488 'I have looked into this case with some care, and I am not convinced that you are on the right lines. 489 I don't want you to commit yourself too far, unless you are sure.'
490 'You're very kind, Mr Holmes.'
491 'I assure you I speak for your good.'
492 It seemed to me that something like a wink quivered for an instant over one of Mr Baynes's tiny eyes.
493 'We agreed to work on our own lines, Mr Holmes. 494 That's what I am doing.'
495 'Oh, very good,' said Holmes. 496 'Don't blame me.'
497 'No, sir, I believe you mean well by me. 498 But we all have our own systems, Mr Holmes. 499 You have yours, and maybe I have mine.'
500 'Let us say no more about it.'
501 'You're welcome always to my news. 502 This fellow is a perfect savage, as strong as a carthorse and as fierce as the devil. 503 He chewed Downing's thumb nearly off before they could master him. 504 He hardly speaks a word of English, and we can get nothing out of him but grunts.'
505 'And you think you have evidence that he murdered his late master?'
506 'I didn't say so, Mr Holmes, I didn't say so. 507 We all have our little ways. 508 You try yours and I will try mine. 509 That's the agreement.'
510 Holmes shrugged his shoulders as we walked away together. 511 'I can't make the man out. 512 He seems to be riding for a fall. 513 Well, as he says, we must each try our own way and see what comes of it. 514 But there's something in Inspector Baynes which I can't quite understand.'
515 'Just sit down in that chair, Watson,' said Sherlock Holmes, when we had returned to our apartment at the Bull. 516 'I want to put you in touch with the situation, as I may need your help to-night. 517 Let me show you the evolution of this case, so far as I have been able to follow it. 518 Simple as it has been in its leading features, it has none the less presented surprising difficulties in the way of an arrest. 519 There are gaps in that direction which we have still to fill.
520 'We will go back to the note which was handed in to Garcia upon the evening of his death. 521 We may put aside this idea of Baynes's that Garcia's servants were concerned in the matter. 522 The proof of this lies in the fact that it was he who had arranged for the presence of Scott Eccles, which could only have been done for the purpose of an alibi. 523 It was Garcia, then, who had an enterprise, and apparently a criminal enterprise, in hand that night, in the course of which he met his death. 524 I say criminal because only a man with a criminal enterprise desires to establish an alibi. 525 Who, then, is most likely to have taken his life? 526 Surely the person against whom the criminal enterprise was directed. 527 So far it seems to me that we are on safe ground.
528 'We can now see a reason for the disappearance of Garcia's household. 529 They were all confederates in the same unknown crime. 530 If it came off then Garcia returned, any possible suspicion would be warded off by the Englishman's evidence, and all would be well. 531 But the attempt was a dangerous one, and if Garcia did not return by a certain hour it was probable that his own life had been sacrificed. 532 It had been arranged, therefore, that in such a case his two subordinates were to make for some prearranged spot, where they could escape investigation and be in a position afterwards to renew their attempt. 533 That would fully explain the facts, would it not?'
534 The whole inexplicable tangle seemed to straighten out before me. 535 I wondered, as I always did, how it had not been obvious to me before.
536 'But why should one servant return?'
537 'We can imagine that, in the confusion of flight, something precious, something which he could not bear to part with, had been left behind. 538 That would explain his persistence, would it not?'
539 'Well, what is the next step?'
540 'The next step is the note received by Garcia at the dinner. 541 It indicates a confederate at the other end. 542 Now, where was the other end? 543 I have already shown you that it could only he in some large house, and that the number of large houses is limited. 544 My first days in this village were devoted to a series of walks, in which in the intervals of my botanical researches I made a reconnaissance of all the large houses and an examination of the family history of the occupants. 545 One house, and only one, riveted my attention. 546 It is the famous old Jacobean grange of High Gable, one mile on the farther side of Oxshott, and less than half a mile from the scene of the tragedy. 547 The other mansions belonged to prosaic and respectable people who live far aloof from romance. 548 But Mr Henderson, of High Gable, was by all accounts a curious man, to whom curious adventures might befall. 549 I concentrated my attention, therefore, upon him and his household.
550 'A singular set of people, Watson - the man himself the most singular of them all. 551 I managed to see him on a plausible pretext, but I seemed to read in his dark, deep-set, brooding eyes that he was perfectly aware of my true business. 552 He is a man of fifty, strong, active, with iron-grey hair, great bunched black eyebrows, the step of a deer, and the air of an emperor - a fierce, masterful man, with a red-hot spirit behind his parchment face. 553 He is either a foreigner or has lived long in the Tropics, for he is yellow and sapless, but tough as whipcord. 554 His friend and secretary, Mr Lucas, is undoubtedly a foreigner, chocolate brown, wily, suave and cat-like, with a poisonous gentleness of speech. 555 You see, Watson, we have come already upon two sets of foreigners - one at Wisteria Lodge and one at High Gable - so our gaps are beginning to close.
556 'These two men, close and confidential friends, are the centre of the household, but there is one other person, who for our immediate purpose may be even more important. 557 Henderson has two children - girls of eleven and thirteen. 558 Their governess is a Miss Burnet, an Englishwoman of forty or thereabouts. 559 There is also one confidential man-servant. 560 This little group forms the real family, for they travel about together, and Henderson is a great traveller, always on the move. 561 It is only within the last few weeks that he has returned, after a year's absence, to High Gable. 562 I may add that he is enormously rich, and whatever his whims may be he can very easily satisfy them. 563 For the rest, his house is full of butlers, footmen, maid-servants, and the usual overfed, underworked staff of a large English country-house.
564 'So much I learned partly from village gossip and partly from my own observation. 565 There are no better instruments than discharged servants with a grievance, and I was lucky enough to find one. 566 I call it luck, but it would not have come my way had I not been looking out for it. 567 As Baynes remarks, we all have our systems. 568 It was my system which enabled me to find John Warner, late gardener of High Gable, sacked in a moment of temper by his imperious employer. 569 He in turn had friends among the indoor servants, who unite in their fear and dislike of their master. 570 So I had my key to the secrets of the establishment.
571 'Curious people, Watson! 572 I don't pretend to understand it all yet, but very curious people anyway. 573 It's a double-winged house, and the servants live on one side, the family on the other. 574 There's no link between the two save for Henderson's own servant, who serves the family's meals. 575 Everything is carried to a certain door, which forms the one connection. 576 Governess and children hardly go out at all, except into the garden. 577 Henderson never by any chance walks alone. 578 His dark secretary is like his shadow. 579 The gossip among the servants is that their master is terribly afraid of something. 580 "Sold his soul to the devil in exchange for money," says Warner, "and expects his creditor to come up and claim his own." 581 Where they came from, or who they are, nobody has an idea. 582 They are very violent. 583 Twice Henderson has lashed at folk with his dog-whip, and only his long purse and heavy compensation have kept him out of the courts.
584 'Well, now, Watson, let us judge the situation by this new information. 585 We may take it that the letter came out of this strange household, and was an invitation to Garcia to carry out some attempt which had already been planned. 586 Who wrote the note? 587 It was someone within the citadel, and it was a woman. 588 Who then, but Miss Burnet, the governess? 589 All our reasoning seems to point that way. 590 At any rate, we may take it as a hypothesis, and see what consequences it would entail. 591 I may add that Miss Burnet's age and character make it certain that my first idea that there might be a love interest in our story is out of the question.
592 'If she wrote the note she was presumably the friend and confederate of Garcia. 593 What, then, might she be expected to do if she heard of his death? 594 If he met it in some nefarious enterprise her lips might be sealed. 595 Still, in her heart she must retain bitterness and hatred against those who had killed him, and would presumably help so far as she could to have revenge upon them. 596 Could we see her, then, and try to use her? 597 That was my first thought. 598 But now we come to a sinister fact. 599 Miss Burnet has not been seen by any human eye since the night of the murder. 600 From that evening she has utterly vanished. 601 Is she alive? 602 Has she perhaps met her end on the same night as the friend whom she had summoned? 603 Or is she merely a prisoner? 604 There is the point which we still have to decide.
605 'You will appreciate the difficulty of the situation, Watson. 606 There is nothing upon which we can apply for a warrant. 607 Our whole scheme might seem fantastic if laid before a magistrate. 608 The woman's disappearance counts for nothing, since in that extraordinary household any member of it might be invisible for a week. 609 And yet she may at the present moment be in danger of her life. 610 All I can do is to watch the house and leave my agent, Warner, on guard at the gates. 611 We can't let such a situation continue. 612 If the law can do nothing we must take the risk ourselves.'
613 'What do you suggest?'
614 'I know which is her room. 615 It is accessible from the top of an outhouse. 616 My suggestion is that you and I go to-night and see if we can strike at the very heart of the mystery.'
617 It was not, I must confess, a very alluring prospect. 618 The old house with its atmosphere of murder, the singular and formidable inhabitants, the unknown dangers of the approach, and the fact that we were putting ourselves legally in a false position, all combined to damp my ardour. 619 But there was something in the ice-cold reasoning of Holmes which made it impossible to shrink from any adventure which he might recommend. 620 One knew that thus, and only thus, could a solution be found. 621 I clasped his hand in silence, and the die was cast.
622 But it was not destined that our investigation should have so adventurous an ending. 623 It was about five o'clock, and the shadows of the March evening were beginning to fall, when an excited rustic rushed into our room.
624 'They've gone, Mr Holmes. 625 They went by the last train. 626 The lady broke away, and I've got her in a cab downstairs.'
627 'Excellent, Warner!' cried Holmes, springing to his feet. 628 'Watson, the gaps are closing rapidly.'
629 In the cab was a woman, half-collapsed from nervous exhaustion. 630 She bore upon her aquiline and emaciated face the traces of some recent tragedy. 631 Her head hung listlessly upon her breast, but as she raised it and turned her dull eyes upon us, I saw that her pupils were dark dots in the centre of the broad grey iris. 632 She was drugged with opium.
633 'I watched at the gate, same as you advised, Mr Holmes,' said our emissary, the discharged gardener. 634 'When the carriage came out I followed it to the station. 635 She was like one walking in her sleep, but when they tried to get her into the train she came to life and struggled. 636 They pushed her into the carriage. 637 She fought her way out again. 638 I took her part, got her into a cab, and here we are. 639 I shan't forget the face at the carriage window as I led her away. 640 I'd have a short life if he had his way - the black-eyed, scowling, yellow devil.'
641 We carried her upstairs, laid her on the sofa, and a couple of cups of the strongest coffee soon cleared her brain from the mists of the drug. 642 Baynes had been summoned by Holmes, and the situation rapidly explained to him.
643 'Why, sir, you've got me the very evidence I want,' said the inspector, warmly, shaking my friend by the hand. 644 'I was on the same scent as you from the first.'
645 'What! 646 You were after Henderson?'
647 'Why, Mr Holmes, when you were crawling in the shrubbery at High Gable I was up one of the trees in the plantation and saw you down below. 648 It was just who would get his evidence first.'
649 'Then why did you arrest the mulatto?'
650 Baynes chuckled.
651 'I was sure Henderson, as he calls himself, felt that he was suspected, and that he would he low and make no move so long as he thought he was in any danger. 652 I arrested the wrong man to make him believe that our eyes were off him. 653 I knew he would be likely to clear off then and give us a chance of getting at Miss Burnet.'
654 Holmes laid his hand upon the inspector's shoulder.
655 'You will rise high in your profession. 656 You have instinct and intuition,' said he.
657 Baynes flushed with pleasure.
658 'I've had a plain-clothes man waiting at the station all the week. 659 Wherever the High Gable folk go he will keep them in sight. 660 But he must have been hard put to it when Miss Burnet broke away. 661 However, your man picked her up, and it all ends well. 662 We can't arrest without her evidence, that is clear, so the sooner we get a statement the better.'
663 'Every minute she gets stronger,' said Holmes, glancing at the governess. 664 'But tell me, Baynes, who is this man Henderson?'
665 'Henderson', the inspector answered, 'is Don Murillo, once called the Tiger of San Pedro.'
666 The Tiger of San Pedro! 667 The whole history of the man came back to me in a flash. 668 He had made his name as the most lewd and bloodthirsty tyrant that had ever governed any country with a pretence to civilization. 669 Strong, fearless, and energetic, he had sufficient virtue to enable him to impose his odious vices upon a cowering people for ten or twelve years. 670 His name was a terror through all Central America. 671 At the end of that time there was a universal rising against him. 672 But he was as cunning as he was cruel, and at the first whisper of coming trouble he had secretly conveyed his treasures aboard a ship which was manned by devoted adherents. 673 It was an empty palace which was stormed by the insurgents next day. 674 The Dictator, his two children, his secretary, and his wealth had all escaped them. 675 From that moment he had vanished from the world, and his identity had been a frequent subject for comment in the European Press.
676 'Yes, sir, Don Murillo, the Tiger of San Pedro,' said Baynes. 677 'If you look it up you will find that the San Pedro colours are green and white, same as in the note, Mr Holmes. 678 Henderson he called himself, but I traced him back, Paris and Rome and Madrid to Barcelona, where his ship came in in '86. 679 They've been looking for him all the time for their revenge, but it is only now that they have begun to find him out.'
680 'They discovered him a year ago,' said Miss Burnet, who had sat up and was now intently following the conversation. 681 'Once already his life has been attempted, but some evil spirit shielded him. 682 Now, again, it is the noble, chivalrous Garcia who has fallen, while the monster goes safe. 683 But another will come, and yet another, until some day justice will be done, that is as certain as the rise of to-morrow's sun.' 684 Her thin hands clenched, and her worn face blanched with the passion of her hatred.
685 'But how come you into this matter, Miss Burnet?' asked Holmes. 686 'How can an English lady join in such a murderous affair?'
687 'I join in it because there is no other way in the world by which justice can be gained. 688 What does the law of England care for the rivers of blood shed years ago in San Pedro, or for the ship-load of treasure which this man has stolen? 689 To you they are like crimes committed in some other planet. 690 But we know. 691 We have learned the truth in sorrow and in suffering. 692 To us there is no fiend in hell like Juan Murillo, and no peace in life while his victims still cry for vengeance.'
693 'No doubt,' said Holmes, 'he was as you say. 694 I have heard that he was atrocious. 695 But how are you affected?'
696 'I will tell you it all. 697 This villain's policy was to murder, on one pretext or another, every man who showed such promise that he might in time come to be a dangerous rival.
698 My husband - yes, my real name is Señora Victor Durando - was the San Pedro Minister in London. 699 He met me and married me there. 700 A nobler man never lived upon earth. 701 Unhappily, Murillo heard of his excellence, recalled him on some pretext, and had him shot. 702 With a premonition of his fate he had refused to take me with him. 703 His estates were confiscated, and I was left with a pittance and a broken heart.
704 'Then came the downfall of the tyrant. 705 He escaped as you have just described. 706 But the many whose lives he had ruined, whose nearest and dearest had suffered torture and death at his hands, would not let the matter rest. 707 They banded themselves into a society which should never be dissolved until the work was done. 708 It was my part after we had discovered in the transformed Henderson the fallen despot, to attach myself to his household and keep the others in touch with his movements. 709 This I was able to do by securing the position of governess in his family. 710 He little knew that the woman who faced him at every meal was the woman whose husband he had hurried at an hour's notice into eternity. 711 I smiled on him, did my duty to his children, and bided my time. 712 An attempt was made in Paris, and failed. 713 We zigzagged swiftly here and there over Europe, to throw off the pursuers, and finally returned to this house, which he had taken upon his first arrival in England.
714 'But here also the ministers of justice were waiting. 715 Knowing that he would return there, Garcia, who is the son of the former highest dignitary in San Pedro, was waiting with two trusty companions of humble station, all three fired with the same reasons for revenge. 716 He could do little during the day, for Murillo took every precaution, and never went out save with his satellite Lucas, or Lopez as he was known in the days of his greatness. 717 At night, however, he slept alone, and the avenger might find him. 718 On a certain evening, which had been prearranged, I sent my friend final instructions, for the man was for ever on the alert, and continually changed his room. 719 I was to see that the doors were open and the signal of a green or white light in a window which faced the drive was to give notice if all was safe, or if the attempt had better be postponed.
720 'But everything went wrong with us. 721 In some way I had excited the suspicion of Lopez, the secretary. 722 He crept up behind me, and sprang upon me just as I had finished the note. 723 He and his master dragged me to my room, and held judgement upon me as a convicted traitress. 724 Then and there they would have plunged their knives into me, could they have seen how to escape the consequence of the deed. 725 Finally, after much debate, they concluded that my murder was too dangerous. 726 But they determined to get rid for ever of Garcia. 727 They had gagged me, and Murillo twisted my arm round until I gave him the address. 728 I swear that he might have twisted it off had I understood what it would mean to Garcia. 729 Lopez addressed the note which I had written, sealed it with his sleeve-link, and sent it by the hand of the servant, José. 730 How they murdered him I do not know, save that it was Murillo's hand who struck him down, for Lopez had remained to guard me. 731 I believe he must have waited among the gorse bushes through which the path winds and struck him down as he passed. 732 At first they were of a mind to let him enter the house and to kill him as a detected burglar, but they argued that if they were mixed up in an inquiry their own identity would at once be publicly disclosed and they would be open to further attacks. 733 With the death of Garcia the pursuit might cease, since such a death might frighten others from the task.
734 'All would now have been well for them had it not been for my knowledge of what they had done. 735 I have no doubt that there were times when my life hung in the balance. 736 I was confined to my room, terrorized by the most horrible threats, cruelly ill-used to break my spirit - see this stab on my shoulder and the bruises from end to end of my arms - and a gag was thrust into my mouth on the one occasion when I tried to call from the window. 737 For five days this cruel imprisonment continued, with hardly enough food to hold body and soul together. 738 This afternoon a good lunch was brought me, but the moment after I took it I knew that I had been drugged. 739 In a sort of dream I remember being half-led, half-carried to the carriage, in the same state I was conveyed to the train. 740 Only then, when the wheels were almost moving, did I suddenly realize that my liberty lay in my own hands. 741 I sprang out, they tried to drag me back, and had it not been for the help of this good man, who led me to the cab, I should never have broken away. 742 Now, thank God, I am beyond their power for ever.'
743 We had all listened intently to this remarkable statement. 744 It was Holmes who broke the silence.
745 'Our difficulties are not over,' he remarked, shaking his head. 746 'Our police work ends, but our legal work begins.'
747 'Exactly,' said I. 748 'A plausible lawyer could make it out as an act of self-defence. 749 There may be a hundred crimes in the background, but it is only on this one that they can be tried.'
750 'Come, come,' said Baynes, cheerily, 'I think better of the law than that. 751 Self-defence is one thing. 752 To entice a man in cold blood with the object of murdering him is another, whatever danger you may fear from him. 753 No, no, we shall all be justified when we see the tenants of High Gable at the next Guildford Assizes.'
754 It is a matter of history, however, that a little time was still to elapse before the Tiger of San Pedro should meet with his deserts. 755 Wily and bold, he and his companion threw their pursuer off their track by entering a lodging-house in Edmonton Street and leaving by the back-gate into Curzon Square. 756 From that day they were seen no more in England. 757 Some six months afterwards the Marquess of Montalva and Signor Rulli, his secretary, were both murdered in their rooms at the Hotel Escurial at Madrid. 758 The crime was ascribed to Nihilism, and the murderers were never arrested. 759 Inspector Baynes visited us at Baker Street with a printed description of the dark face of the secretary, and of the masterful features, the magnetic black eyes, and the tufted brows of his master. 760 We could not doubt that justice, if belated, had come at last.
761 'A chaotic case, my dear Watson,' said Holmes, over an evening pipe. 762 'It will not be possible for you to present it in that compact form which is dear to your heart. 763 It covers two continents, concerns two groups of mysterious persons, and is further complicated by the highly respectable presence of our friend Scott Eccles, whose inclusion shows me that the deceased Garcia had a scheming mind and a well-developed instinct of self-preservation. 764 It is remarkable only for the fact that amid a perfect jungle of possibilities we, with our worthy collaborator the inspector, have kept our close hold on the essentials and so been guided along the crooked and winding path. 765 Is there any point which is not quite clear to you?'
766 'The object of the mulatto cook's return?'
767 'I think that the strange creature in the kitchen may account for it. 768 The man was a primitive savage from the backwoods of San Pedro, and this was his fetish. 769 When his companion and he had fled to some prearranged retreat-already occupied, no doubt by a confederate - the companion had persuaded him to leave so compromising an article of furniture. 770 But the mulatto's heart was with it, and he was driven back to it next day, when, on reconnoitring through the window, he found policeman Walters in possession. 771 He waited three days longer, and then his piety or his superstition drove him to try once more. 772 Inspector Baynes, who, with his usual astuteness, had minimized the incident before me, had really recognized its importance, and had left a trap into which the creature walked. 773 Any other point, Watson?'
774 'The torn bird, the pail of blood, the charred bones, all the mystery of that weird kitchen?'
775 Holmes smiled as he turned up an entry in his note-book.
776 'I spent a morning in the British Museum reading up that and other points. 777 Here is a quotation from Eckermann Voodooism and the Negroid Religions:
778 The true Voodoo-worshipper attempts nothing of importance without certain sacrifices which are intended to propitiate his unclean gods. 779 In extreme cases these rites take the form of human sacrifices followed by cannibalism. 780 The more usual victims are a white cock, which is plucked in pieces alive, or a black goat, whose throat is cut and body burned.
781 'So you see our savage friend was very orthodox in his ritual. 782 It is grotesque, Watson,' Holmes added, as he slowly fastened his notebook, 'but, as I have had occasion to remark, there is but one step from the grotesque to the horrible.'


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