He gripped my shoulders-then drew a step away, a touch of awe on his face.
"Yeah?" whispered McCann. "Yeah-he came through when the knots burned! It freed him! It's you an'
me that's got to watch our step now!"
CHAPTER VIII: NURSE WALTERS' DIARY
I took McCann up with me to Ricori's bedside. Confrontation with his chief would be the supreme test, I
felt, resolving one way or another all my doubts as to his sincerity. For I realized, almost immediately, that
bizarre as had been the occurrences I have just narrated, each and all of them could have been a part of
the elaborate hocus-pocus with which I had tentatively charged the gunman. The cutting off of the doll's
head could have been a dramatic gesture designed to impress my imagination. It was he who had called
my attention to the sinister reputation of the knotted cord. It was McCann who had found the pin. His