"That’s all—just Lucy." "You’ve lived around here for some time, I suppose?" asked Forrester. "About two years," she replied. "Have you a husband?" he queried, glancing about the room as if he expected to see a man in some corner. "I did have," she said, "but he ran away soon after we moved in here." "Too bad—too bad," sympathized Forrester, as he made some notes in his book. Then he added, "Now, what can you tell me about the goings-on at this tree?" "What do you want to know?" "Well, frankly," said Forrester, "I haven’t a very clear idea of what I do want to know. You see, that’s just what I came to you about. I thought perhaps you could tell me something regarding what was going on here. Have you ever seen any of the men who make use of that tree?" "No," she declared, "and no one ever will." "What do you mean by that?" queried Forrester. "No men ever come near that tree—just ghosts. It’s haunted!" Forrester stared for a moment. It was curious how all these people agreed on that one point. He could understand how an ignorant colored man could have his superstitions aroused, and he could see how a plain man like Green might be tricked; but it was hard to believe that this apparently educated colored woman, living for two years within the shadow of the tree, could be fooled. This, he concluded, was suspicious circumstance number one, and as he glanced toward the snakes in the aquarium he strongly suspected that if she were willing, the negress could give him some inside facts regarding the manifestations at the tree. "What do you keep those snakes for?" he asked, suddenly. "They’re part of my religion," she returned. "Don’t you go to church?" inquired Forrester. "Not the church these niggers around here go to," she sneered. "I worship in my own way." Forrester did not venture to question her further on this point, for he had read enough regarding the Voodoo worship to know that they were extremely reticent in describing their ceremonies. The possession of the snakes suggested to Forrester that this woman might even be a priestess of the sect, because he remembered having read that only the priests and priestesses were accustomed to using snakes in their ceremonies. Another thought came to Forrester at this moment, which gave him a decided start. Voodoo worshippers had been known to demand _human sacrifices_! Was he, after all, actually discovering clues which the detectives had overlooked? "Well," he went on, again addressing the negress, "if there are ghosts instead of men hanging around that tree, perhaps you can tell me something about what they do. I’m sure this is going to make a most interesting story for my paper." "I have never seen anything," explained Lucy, "but sometimes when I come home late at night I hear things." "Such as—" suggested Forrester. "Oh, groans and sighs—rattling chains—and sometimes the sound of a bell."