During a stormy night, Watson and Detective Sherlock Holmes were together in the house on

Baker Street, when they heard someone arrive. He was a clean and well-dressed young man,
named John Openshaw, who came looking for advice and help from Holmes.

When Sherlock asked him to explain what was happening, the young man began to tell his story.
He said that, many years before, his uncle Elías had gone to live some years in America, where he
first served the army and then retired to the place where he had a plantation. Later he returned to
England and settled on a farm, where he invited John to live. He lived with his uncle for many
years and assisted him in some tasks. One day Elijah received a letter from India. When he opened
it and saw that inside it contained five orange seeds and a stamp that read "K. K. K. "paled with
fear.

As a result, the man decided to leave all his possessions in his will to his brother and burned
certain papers that he took out of a box with the inscription "K. K. K. " He also changed his
routines, because he shut himself up more and became more nervous, until one day they found
him dead, drowned in a puddle of water, but without signs of violence. Under the circumstances,
John's father took possession of the property and the legacy money.

After a time of living in peace, John's father also received a letter containing five orange seeds and
the instruction to "place the documents on the sundial." He left a few days from home to visit a
friend, but never returned, because he had an accident that took his life. Years later, John himself
received that mysterious letter.

John explained that he had not obeyed the instructions in the letter, but he was afraid and did not
know what to do, as the police did not give importance to the matter. Holmes was angry that he
had not come before her to help, and recommended that he take action immediately. The young
man also showed the detective a sheet written by his uncle, which he had found and which was
very similar to those he had burned. In it, the issue of the five seeds was mentioned.

Holmes instructed him to return to the house, to put the sheet on the sundial, and to add a note
saying that the other papers had been burned. In addition, he recommends that you be extremely
careful because you are facing imminent danger.

When the client left the place, Watson and Holmes began to reflect on the case. From the stamps
of the different letters they deduced that they had all been sent by someone traveling by ship.
Holmes also reveals that the letter acronym corresponded with the Ku Klux Klan, a secret society
that used violence for political purposes. This had dissolved just the year that Openshaw had left
America, so they assumed that those who demanded those documents sought to eliminate all
evidence that could incriminate them.
The next day Holmes was about to leave, but both he and Watson were surprised to read in the
paper that Jon Owelsha had accidentally died the night before, that is, shortly after leaving the
detective. Holmes was very distressed and decided to continue with the investigation, until the
criminals ended up in jail.

At night Watson and Holmes met again and the detective told what he had done during the day.
He explained that he had obtained the names of the criminals thanks to documents about boat
trips. He decided not to go for them, but also send them letters with orange seeds. In addition,
knowing in which boat they moved now, sent letters to destiny to request his arrest as soon as
they disembarked. However, that never happened nor did the criminals receive the seeds, because
during the trip a storm destroyed the ship.