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Scott Eccles, whose inclusion shows
me that the deceased Garcia had a scheming mind and a well-developed
instinct of self-preservation. 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. Is there any
point which is not quite clear to you?"
    "The object of the mulatto cook's 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 mulatto's heart was with it, and he was driven back
to it next day, when, on reconnoitering 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
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. 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 note-book.
    "I spent a morning in the British Museum reading up on that and other
points. Here is a quotation from Eckermann's Voodooism and the Negroid
Religions:
    "'The true voodoo-worshipper attempts nothing of importance without
certain sacrifices which are intended to propitiate his unclean gods.
In extreme cases these rites 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," 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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