Chapter 2 of part one of his last Bow by Sir, Arthur Conan
Doyle, this LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Chapter 2, the tiger of San Pedro.
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, the curved and Shadow Drive, led us to a low dark
house pitch black against a slate-coloured sky from the
front window. Upon the left of the door there.
Peeped a glimmer of a feeble light.
There's a constable in possession.
Said Baines, I'll knock at the window.
He stepped across the grass, plot and tapped with his hand on
the pain, through the fog glass, I dimly saw a man spring up from
a chair beside the fire and heard a sharp cry from within
the room. An instant later, a white-faced
hard breathing policeman at. Open the door, the candle
wavering in his trembling hand, What's the matter Walters asked,
Baines sharply the man, mopped his forehead with his
handkerchief and gave a long sigh of relief.
I'm glad you've come sir. It's been a long evening and I
don't think my nerve is as good as it was.
Your nerve Walters, I should not have thought you had a nerve in
your body. Well, sir, it's this lonely,
Silent House and the queer thing in the kitchen.
Then when you tapped at the window, I thought it had come
again. That water to come again.
The devil sir for all I know it was at the window what was it
the window and when it was just about two hours ago the light
was just fading, I was sitting reading in the chair, I don't
know what made me look up, but there was a face looking in at
me through the lower pane Lord sir.
What a face it was, I'll see you in my dreams.
Tut-tut watches. This is not talk for a police
Constable. I know sir.
I know but it shook me sir and there's no use to deny it, it
wasn't black sir nor was it white, nor any color that I
know, but I kind of queer shade like clay with a splash of milk
in it. Then there was a size of it, it
was twice your sir and a look of it.
The great staring goggle eyes and a line of white teeth like a
hungry Beast. I tell you sir, I couldn't move
a finger nor get my breath to like whisked away and it was
gone out Iran and through the Shrubbery but thank God.
There was no one there. If I didn't know you were a good
man Walters I should put a black mark against you for this if it
were the Devil Himself a constable on duty should never
thank God that he could not lay his hands upon him.
I suppose the whole thing is not a vision and a touch of nerves
That at least is very easily. Settled said, Holmes lighting is
little pocket Lantern. Yes.
He reported after a short examination of the grass bed and
number 12 shoe I should say if you was all on the same scale as
his foot, he must certainly have been a giant What became of him,
he seems to have broken through the Shrubbery, and made for the
road. 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
now. Mr. Rome's, with your
permission, I will show you around the house, the various
bedrooms and sitting rooms had yielded nothing to a careful
search. Apparently the tenants had
brought little or nothing with them and all the furniture down
to the This details have been taken over with the house.
A good deal of clothing, with the stamp of Marks & Co High,
Holborn had been left behind telegraphic.
Inquiries had been already made which showed that marks knew
nothing of his customer. Say that he was a good payer
odds and ends some pipes, a few novels, two of them in Spanish.
An old-fashioned, pinfire, revolver and a guitar were among
the person, No property. Nothing in all this said, Baines
stalking candle in hand from room to room but now mr.
Holmes, I invite your attention to the kitchen.
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. The table was piled with
half-eaten dishes and dirty plates.
The debris of last night's dinner, Look at this said,
domains or what do you make of it?
He held up his candle before an extraordinary object which stood
at the back of the dresser it was so wrinkled and shrunken and
withered that it was difficult to say what it might have been
one could but say that it was black and leathery and that it
bore some resemblance to a dwarfish, human figure.
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.
Finally, I was left in doubt as to whether it was an animal or
human, a double band of white shells, were strung around the
center of it. Very interesting, very
interesting indeed, said Holmes peering at, this Sinister Relic.
Anything more in silence Baynes, led the way to the sink and held
forward his candle, the limbs and body of some large white
bird Torn savagely to Pieces with the feather still on.
Were littered all over it, Holmes pointed to the wattles on
the severed head. A white cock said he most
interesting, it is really a very curious case.
But mr. Baines had kept his most
Sinister exhibit to the last from under the sink.
He drew a zinc pale which contained a quantity of blood.
Then from the table he took a platter heaped with small pieces
of charred bone. Something has been killed and
something has been burned. We raked all these out.
The fire. We had a Doctrine this morning.
He says that they are not human Holmes, smiled and rubbed his
hands. I must congratulate you
inspector on handling so distinctive and instructive a
case your powers if I may say. So without offence seem Superior
to your opportunities, inspector Baynes, has small eyes twinkled
with pleasure. You're right, mr.
Holmes we Stagnate in the provinces a case of this sort
gives a man a chance and I hope that I shall take it, what do
you make of these bones? Alam I should say or a kid and
the white cock. Curious mr.
Baines, very curious. I should say almost unique.
Yes, sir. There must have been some very
strange people with some very strange ways in this house.
One of them is dead, did his companions?
Follow him and kill him. If they did we should have them
for every port is watched but my own views are different.
Yes, sir. My own views are very different.
You have a theory then and I'll work it myself, mr.
Holmes, it's only due to my own credit to do.
So your name is made but I've still to make mine.
I shall be glad to be able to say afterwards that I had solved
it without your help. Holmes laughed good-humouredly
her. Well, well inspector said, he do
you. Follow your path and I will
follow mine. My results are always very much
at your service. If you care to apply to me for
them. I think that I've seen all that
I wish in this house and that's my time, maybe more profitably,
employed elsewhere, or revoir and good luck.
I could tell by numerous subtle signs which might have been lost
upon anyone but myself that Holmes was on a hot scent as
impassive as ever to the Casual Observer.
There were nonetheless, a subdued eagerness and suggestion
of tension in his brightened eyes and brisk a manner, which
he assured me. That the game was afoot after
his habit, he said nothing and after mine, I asked no
questions. Sufficient for me to share the
And lend my humble help to capture without distracting that
intent brain. With needless Interruption all
would come round to me in due time, I waited there for, but to
my ever-deepening disappointment, I waited in vain
day, succeeded day and my friend took no step forward.
One morning. He spent in town and I learned
from a casual reference that he had visited the British museum.
So 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, I'm sure Watson
are weak in the country will be invaluable to you.
He remarked, it is very pleasant to see the first green shoots
upon the hedges and the catkins on the Hazel's once again with a
spud, a tin box and an elementary book on botany.
There are Active days to be spent.
He prowled about with this equipment himself, but it was a
poor show of plants, which he would bring back of an evening
occasionally in our Rambles. We came across inspector Baines
his fat red face, wreathed itself in smiles and his small
eyes glittered as he greeted my companion.
He said, little about the case, but from that little we gathered
that he also was not dissatisfied at the course of
events. I must admit however that I was
somewhat. Is when some five days after the
crime, I opened my morning paper to find in large letters.
The akshar, not mystery a solution, a rest of supposed
assassin, Holmes, sprang in his chair as if he'd been stung,
when I read the headlines by jove he cried, you don't mean
that Baynes has got him. Apparently said I, as I read the
following report, great excitement was caused in Isha
and the neighboring District when it was learned late last
night, that an arrest had been affected in connection with the
upshot murder. It will be remembered that.
Mr. Garcia of Wisteria Lodge was found dead on oakeshott 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.
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.
Every effort was made by inspector Baines, 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 have been
already prepared. It was certain from the first
however that they would eventually be detected as the
cook from the evidence of one or Trades people 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. 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 inspector Baines, considering that such a
visit must have some purpose in View, and Is likely therefore to
be repeated abandoned the house but left an ambuscade in the
Shrubbery. The man walked into the Trap and
was captured last night after a struggle in which Constable
Downing was badly. Bitten by The Savage, we
understand that. When the prisoner is brought
before the magistrates areum and will be applied for by the
police and that great developments are hoped from his
capture. Really we must see Baines at
once. Cried Holmes picking up his hat,
we will just catch him before he starts.
We hurried Down The Village Street and found as we had
expected that the inspector was just leaving his lodgings.
You seen the paper mr. Holmes, he asked holding one out
to us. Yes, Baines.
I've seen it pray. Don't think it a liberty.
If IV give you a word of friendly warning of warning, mr.
Holmes, I have looked into this case with some care and I am not
convinced that you're on the right lines.
I don't want you to commit yourself to far unless you're
sure you're very kind, mr. Holmes.
I assure you. I speak for your good.
It seemed to me that something like a wink quivered for an
instant over. One of mr.
Baines has tiny eyes. We agreed to work on our own
lines. Mr. Holmes, that's what I'm
doing. Oh, very good said, Holmes,
don't blame me. No, sir, I believe you mean well
by me, but we all have our own systems, mr.
Holmes, you have yours and maybe I have mine.
Let us say no more about it. You're welcome.
Always to my news. This fellow is a perfect Savage
as strong as a carthorse and as Fierce as the devil, he chewed
Downing stump nearly off before. They could Master him, he hardly
speaks a word of English and we can get nothing out of him.
But grunts. And you think you have evidence
that he murdered his late master.
I didn't say so mr. Holmes I didn't say so we all
have our little ways. You try yours and I will try
mine. That's the agreement Holmes
Shrugged, his shoulders as we walked away together.
I can't make the man out. He seems to be riding for a
fall. Well, as he says, we must eat,
try our own way and see what comes of it, but there's
something in inspector Baines, which I can't quite understand,
just sit down in that chair, Watson said, Sherlock Holmes.
When we had returned to our apartment at the bull, I want to
put you in touch with the situation as I may need your
help tonight. Let me show you the evolution of
this case so far, as I have been able to follow it simple, as it
has been in its leading features, it has non the less
presented surprising difficulties in the way of an
arrest. There are gaps in that direction
which were may have to still fill.
We still go back to the note, which was handed into Garcia
upon the evening of his death. We may put aside this idea of
baines's that Garcia's servants were concerned in the matter.
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.
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. I say criminal because only a
And with a Criminal Enterprise desires to establish an alibi
who then is most likely to have taken his life.
Surely the person against whom the criminal Enterprise was
directed so far. It seems to me that we are on
safe ground. We can now see a reason for The
Disappearance of Garcia's household.
They were all Confederates in the same unknown crime.
If it came off when Garcia returned, And any possible
suspicion would be warded off by the englishman's evidence and
all would be well, 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.
It had been arranged therefore that in such a case, his to
subordinates were to make for some pre-arranged spot where
they could Escape investigation and be in a position afterwards.
To renew their attempt that would fully explain the facts,
would it? Not the whole explicable tangle
seemed to straighten out before me.
I wondered as I always did how it had not been obvious to me
before. But why should one servant
returned we can? Imagine that in the confusion of
flight, something precious something, which he could not
bear to part with had been left behind.
That would explain his persistence.
Would it not? Well, what is the next step?
The next step is the note received by Garcia at the
dinner. It indicates a Confederate at
the other end. Now, where was the other end?
I have already shown you that it could only lie in some large
house and that the number of large houses is limited my first
days in this Village were devoted to a series of walks in
which, in the intervals, of my Botanical research, has I made
Reconnaissance of all the large houses and an examination of the
family history of the occupants one house and only one riveted
my attention. It is a famous old jacobean,
Grange of high Gable, one mile on the farther side of oakeshott
and less than half a mile from the scene of the tragedy, The
Other Mansions belong to prosaic, and respectable people
who live far aloof from Romance. But mr.
Henderson of high Gable was by all accounts.
A curious, man to whom curious Adventures, might before I
concentrated my attention, therefore upon him and his
household. A singular set of people Watson,
the man himself the most singular of them, all, I managed
to see him on a plausible pretext, but I seem to read in
his dark deepest, brooding eyes that he was perfectly aware of
my true business. He is a man of fifty, strong
active with iron-gray hair, great bunched, black eyebrows,
the step of a deer and the air of an emperor, a fierce A full
man with a red-hot spirit behind his parchment face.
He's either a foreigner or has lived along in the tropics for
he is yellow and sapless, but tough as whipcord his friend and
secretary mr. Lucas is undoubtedly.
A foreigner chocolate brown. Wiley Suave and cat-like with a
poisonous gentleness of speech. 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 these two men, close and
confidential friends are the center of the household but
there is one other person who for our immediate purpose, maybe
even more important. Henderson has two children,
girls of 11 and 13, their governess is a Miss Bernette an
English woman of forty or thereabouts.
There is also Confidential manservant this little group
forms. The real family for they travel
about together and Henderson is a great Traveller always on the
move. It is only within the last
week's that he has returned after a Year's absence to high
Gable. I may add that he is enormously
rich and whatever his whims maybe he can very easily satisfy
them. For the rest.
His house is full of Butler's footmen.
Maid servants. And the usual overfed
underworked staff of a large English Country House.
So much I learned partly from Village gossip and partly from
my own observation. There are no better instruments
than discharge servants with a grievance and I was lucky enough
to find one. I call it luck, but it would not
have come my way. Had I not been looking out for
it as Baines remarks. We all have our systems.
It was my system which enabled me to find John.
Warner. Late God.
Gardner of high Gable sacked. In a moment of Temper by his
imperious employer. He in turn had friends among the
indoor servants who unite in their fear and dislike of their
master. So, I had my key to the secrets
of the establishment, Curious people want some.
I don't pretend to understand it all yet but very curious people
anyway, it's a double winged house and the servants live.
On one side, the family on the other.
There's no link between the to save for Henderson's own
servant, who serves the family's meals.
Everything is carried to a certain door which forms the one
connection. Governess and children hardly go
out at all, except into the Garden Henderson, Never by any
chance, walks alone, his dark secretary's.
Like his shadow, the gossip among the servants is their
Master is terribly. Afraid of something.
Sold his soul to the devil in exchange for money, says Warner
and expects his creditor to come up and claim his own, where they
came from or who they are, nobody has an idea.
They are very violent twice, Henderson has lashed it folk
with his dog Whip and only his long purse and heavy
compensation of kept him out of the courts.
Well, now Watson, let us judge the situation by this new
information. 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. Who wrote the note?
It was someone within the Citadel and it was a woman who
then but miss Bernette the governess, all our reasoning
seems to point that way at any rate.
We may take it as a hypothesis and see what consequences it
would entail. I may add that Miss Bernette
sage and character make it certain that my first idea that
there might be a love interest in our story is out of the
question. Justin, if she wrote the note,
she was. Presumably the friend and
Confederate of Garcia. What then might she be expected
to do if she heard of his death? If he met it in some nefarious
Enterprise, her lips might be sealed.
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 have Revenge.
Upon them. Could we see her then and try to
use her? That was my first thought but
now we come to a Sinister fact, Miss Burnett has not been seen
by any human eyes since the night of the murder from that
evening. She has utterly vanished.
Is she alive as she? Perhaps met her end on the same
night as the friend whom she had summoned, or is she merely a
prisoner? There is the point which we
still have to decide. You will appreciate the
difficulty of the situation Watson.
There is nothing upon which we can apply for a warrant our
whole scheme. Might seem fantastic if laid
before a magistrate the woman's disappearance counts for
nothing. Since in that extraordinary
household. Any member of it might be
invisible for a week and yet she met at the present moment, be in
danger of her life. All I can do is to watch the
house and leave my agent Warner on guard at the gates.
We can't let such a situation, continue.
It's a law can do nothing. We must take the risk ourselves.
What do you suggest I know which is her room?
It is accessible from the top of an outhouse.
My suggestion is that you and I go tonight and see if we can
strike at the very heart of the mystery.
It was not. I must confess a very alluring
Prospect 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 order.
But there was something in the ice-cold reasoning of homes,
which made it impossible to shrink from any Adventure, which
he might recommend one knew that the sand only, thus, could a
solution be found. I clasped his hand in silence
and the die was cast. But it was not destined that.
Our investigation should have so adventurous and ending.
It was about 5:00 and the Shadows of the March evening
were beginning to fall when an excited rustic, rushed into our
room. I've gone mr.
Holmes, they went by the last train, the lady broke away and
I've got her in a cab downstairs.
Excellent Warner Pride homes springing to his feet Watson.
The gaps are closing rapidly in the cab was a woman half
collapsed from nervous exhaustion.
She bore upon her aquiline and emaciated face the traces of
some recent tragedy. Her head hung listlessly upon
her breast but as she raised it and turned her dull Eyes Upon
Us, I saw the her pupils were dark dots in the center of the
broad gray. Iris!
She was drugged with opium. I watched at the gate same as
you advised. Mr. Holmes said our msre the
discharged Gardener, when the carriage came out, I followed it
to the station. She was like one walking in her
sleep, but when they try to get her into the train, she came to
life in struggled. They pushed her into the
carriage, she fought her way out.
Again, I took apart got in a cab and here we are.
I shan't forget the face at the carriage window as I led her
away. a short life if I'd is way The Black-Eyed scowling yellow
devil, We carried her upstairs later on the sofa and a couple
of cups of the strongest coffee soon.
Cleared her brain from The Mists of the drug Baines have been
summoned by homes and the situation rapidly explain to him
why. So you've got me the very
evidence I want. So the inspector warmly shaking
my friend by the hand, I was on the same sense as you from the
first. What you are off to Henderson,
why mr. Holmes, when you are crawling in
the Shrubbery at high Gable, I was up one of the trees in the
plantation and saw you down below.
It was just who would get his evidence first.
Then why did you arrest the mulatto Baines chuckled?
I was sure Henderson's. He calls himself felt that he
was suspected that he would lie low, and make no move so long as
he thought, Was in any danger? I arrested the wrong man to make
him believe that our eyes were off him.
I knew it'd be likely to clear off then and give us a chance of
getting it Miss Burnett. Holmes, laid his hand upon the
inspectors shoulder. You will rise high in your
profession. You have Instinct and intuition
said he, Bane's flushed with pleasure.
Now that plainclothes man waiting at the station, all the
week, wherever the high Gable folk go.
We will keep them in sight but he must have been hard.
Put to it when Miss Bernette broke away.
However, your man picked her up and it was all ends.
Well, we can't arrest without her evidence.
That is clear. So the sooner we get a
statement, the better every minute she gets stronger, said
Holmes glancing, at the governess, But tell me Baines,
who is this man Henderson? Henderson inspector answered is
Don Murillo once called the tiger of San Pedro, the tiger of
San Pedro, the whole history of the man came back to me in a
Flash. He had made his name as the most
elude and bloodthirsty Tyrant at it ever governed.
Any country, with a pretends, to civilization strong, fearless,
and energetic. He has sufficient virtue to
enable him to impose his odious. Is upon a cowering people for 10
or 12 years. His name was a terror through
all Central America at the end of that time.
There was a universal Rising against him, but he was as
cunning as he was cruel. And at the first Whisper of
coming trouble. He had secretly conveyed, his
treasures aboard his ship, which was manned by devoted adherence.
It was an empty Palace which was stormed by the insurgents.
Next day the Later, his two children, his secretary and his
wealth had all escaped them from that moment.
He had vanished from the world, and his identity had been a
frequent subject for comment in the European press.
Yes, sir, Don Murillo, the tiger of San.
Pedro said, Baines, if you look it up, you will find that the
San Pedro colors are green and white.
Same as in the note, mr. Holmes Henderson, he call
himself but I traced him back Paris and Rome and Madrid to
Barcelona where his ship came in in 86, no been looking for him
all the time for their Revenge, but it is only now that they
have begun to find him out. They discovered him a year ago
said Miss Burnett who had sat up and was now intently following
the conversation what's already is life has been attempted, but
some evil spirit, shielded him. Now again it is the noble
chivalrous Garcia who has fallen while the monster goes safe, but
another will come, and yet another until some day Justice
will be done. That is a certain as the rise of
Tomorrow, son. Athena hands clenched and her
worn face blanched with the passion of her hatred.
But how come you into this matter, Miss Burnett asked
Holmes, how can an English lady join in such a murderous affair.
I join in it because there is no other way in the world by which
Justice can be gained. What does the law of England
care for the rivers of blood shed years ago in San Pedro?
All for the shipload of treasure, which this man has
stolen to you. They're like crimes committed in
some other planet but we know we have learned the truth in sorrow
and in suffering to us, there is no fiend in hell like one
Murillo and no peace. Life while his victims.
Still cry for vengeance. No doubt said Holmes.
He was as you say. I have heard that he was
atrocious, but how are you affected?
I will tell you it all this villains 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.
My husband. Yes.
My real name is senior evict or odor and oh, was the San Pedro
minister in London? He met me and married me there.
I know blah man, never lived upon Earth.
Unhappily Murillo, heard of his Excellence, recalled him on some
pretext and had him shot with a premonition of his fate.
He had refused to take me with him, his Estates were
confiscated and I was left with pittance and a broken heart,
then came the downfall of the Tyrant, he escaped as you have
just described but the many whose lives he had ruined whose
nearest and dearest had suffered torture and Such as hands would
not let the matter. Rest, they banded themselves
into a society which would never be dissolved until the work was
done. 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. This, I was able to do by
securing the position of governess in his family.
He little knew that the woman who faced him at every meal was
the woman whose husband. He had hurried at an hours.
Notice into eternity. I smiled on him.
Did my duty to his children and bided.
My time, an attempt was made in Paris and failed.
We zigzagged swiftly here, and there over Europe to throw off
the pursuers. And finally, Turn to this house,
which he had taken upon his first arrival in England.
But here also, the Ministers of Justice were waiting, knowing
that he would return there Garcia.
Who is the son of the former highest dignitary in.
San Pedro was waiting with to trusty Companions of humble
station. All three fired with the same
reasons for Revenge. He could do little during the
day for Murillo, took every precaution.
And never went out say with his satellite, Lucas or Lopez as he
was known in the As of his greatness at night, however, he
slept alone and the Avenger might find him on a certain
evening which had been prearranged.
I sent my friend final instructions for the man was
forever on the alert and continually changed his room.
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. And but everything went wrong
with us. In some way.
I had excited, the suspicion of Lopez, the secretary, he crept
up behind me and sprang upon me just.
As I had finished the note. He and his master dragged me to
my room and held judgment upon me as a convicted traitorous
then and there they would have plunged their knives into me.
Could they have seen how to escape the consequences of the
deed? Finally, after much debate, They
concluded that my murder was too dangerous, but they determined
to get rid of forever of Garcia. They had gagged me and marullo
twisted, my arm around until I gave him the address.
I swear that he might have Twisted it off.
Had I understood what it would mean to Garcia.
Lopez address the note which I had written sealed it with his
sleeve link and send it by the hand of the servant Jose how
they murdered him. I do not know say that it was
Murillo's hand who struck him down for Lopez had remained to
guard me. I believe he must have waited
among the gorse bushes through which the path wines and struck
him down as he passed. 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 with
their own identity would at once be publicly disclosed and they
would be open to further attacks with the death of Garcia.
The pursuit might cease since such a death, might frighten
others from the task. All would now have been well for
them. Had it not been for my knowledge
of what they had done. I have no doubt that there were
times when my life hung in the balance.
I was confined to my room, terrorized by the most horrible
threats. Cruelly ill used to break my
spirit. See this stabbed on my shoulder
and the bruises from the 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. For five days, this cruel
imprisonment continued with hardly enough food to hold Body
and Soul. Together this afternoon, a good
lunch was brought me but the moment after I took it.
I knew that I'd been drugged 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.
Only, then, when the wheels were almost moving, did I suddenly
realize that my Liberty lay in my own hands?
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
now. Thank God, I am beyond their
power forever. We had all listened intently to
this remarkable statement. It was homes.
Who broke the silence? Our difficulties are not over.
He remarked shaking his head. Our police work ends, but our
legal work begins. Exactly today, a plausible
lawyer, could make it out as an act of self-defense.
No, maybe a hundred crimes in the background, but it is only
on this one that they can be tried.
Come come said Baines cheerily, I think better of the law than
that self-defense is one thing to entice.
A Man In Cold Blood with the object of murdering him is
another whatever danger you may fear from him?
No, no. We shall all be justified when
we see the tenants of high Gable at the next Guilford assizes.
It is a master of History. However, that a little time was
still to elapse before the tiger of San Pedro.
Should meet with his desserts Wiley and bold.
He and His companion through their pursuer off their Track by
entering a lodging House in Edmonton Street and leaving by
the back gate into kurzon square from that day.
There was seen no more England, some six months afterwards the
Marquess of Montrose lava and Senior truly his secretary.
We're both murdered in their rooms at the hotel, escorial at
Madrid. The crime was described to
nihilism and the murderers were never arrested inspector Baines
visitors as a trigger 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.
We could not doubt that Justice if belated had come at last our
chaotic case, my dear Watson said, Holmes over an evening
pipe, it will not be possible for you to present in that
compact form, which is dear to your heart.
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, The deceased Garcia
had a scheming mind and a well-developed Instinct of
self-preservation. It is remarkable only for the
fact that a mid of 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. Is there any point, which is not
quite clear to you the object of the mulatto Cooks return?
I think that the strange creature in the kitchen May
account for it. The man was A Primitive Savage
from the backwoods of San Pedro. And this was his fetish 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, but the mulattos heart was with it and
he was driven back to it next day when on, During through the
window, he found policeman, Walters in possession, he waited
three days longer and then his piety or his Superstition, drove
him to try. Once more inspector Baines, 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. Any other point Watson?
The torn bird, the pail of blood, the charred bones, all
the mystery of that weird kitchen.
Holmes smiled. As he turned up an entry in his
notebook. I spent a morning in the British
museum reading up on that and other points.
Here is a quotation from a Commons voodooism and the
negroid religions the true Voodoo worshiper attempts.
Nothing of importance without certain sacrifices which are
intended to propitiate his unclean.
God's in extreme cases these rights.
Take the form of human sacrifices.
Followed by cannibalism 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. So you see our Savage.
Friend was very Orthodox in his ritual.
It is grotesque Watson homes 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, End of chapter 2 and Adventure.
One of his last bow.