took five pips from an orange and put them in an envelope. On it he wrote 'S.H. for J.C.'
'I'm sending the pips, not from the K.K.K., but from me, Sherlock Holmes, to Captain James Calhoun. His ship is called the Star. He and his men are sailing back to Georgia, USA, now.'
'How did you find him, Holmes?' I asked.
'Ship's papers,' he said. 'I've looked at hundreds of them today. Only one ship, the Star, was in the three ports at the right times, and this morning the Star left
London to sail back to Georgia. I found out that the captain and two of his men, all Americans, weren't on the ship last night, so I'm sure they killed poor John Openshaw. When they arrive in America, they'll get the pips and then the police will catch them!'
Sherlock Holmes is a very clever detective, but he can do nothing about the weather. The winter storms
at sea that year were worse than ever, and so the Star never arrived in Georgia, and nobody saw the captain or his men again. The murderers of John Openshaw did not get the pips, but, in the end, death came to them.