John from Londonl John's enemy is in London already!'
'Good God, Holmes!' I cried. 'Who is this man?'
'More than one man, I think. They belong to the Ku Klux Klan. That explains the "K.K.K.". Haven't you ever heard of it? It's a very secret group of Americans from the South. They wanted to stop equality for black people and to kill anyone who didn't agree with them. The police couldn't stop them. But in 1869 Uncle Elias, who belonged to this secret group, suddenly left America with all their papers, and so the group could not go on. Of course the group wanted to get the papers back. You remember the half-burnt paper? That was Uncle Elias's American diary. While he was working for the K.K.K., he sent the pips to frighten those three men. Two left the country, but one didn't, so the K.K.K. "finished business with him", or killed him. The K.K.K. always worked like that.'
'Well, I hope they won't kill young Openshaw,' I said.