"Bring your revolver."
He stopped and peered in my direction.
"Who is it?"
"Leslie. Come below, for God's sake!"
He came slowly toward me, and in a dozen words I told him what had
happened. I saw then that he had been drinking. He reeled against
me, and seemed at a loss to know what to do.
"Get your revolver," I said, "and wake the captain."
He disappeared into the forward house, to come back a moment later
with a revolver. I had got a lantern in the mean time, and ran to
the forward companionway which led into the main cabin. Singleton
followed me.
"Where's the captain?" I asked.
"I didn't call him," Singleton replied, and muttered something
unintelligible under his breath.
Swinging the lantern ahead of me, I led the way down the companionway.
Something lay huddled at the foot. I had to step over it to get down.
Singleton stood above, on the steps. I stooped and held the lantern
close, and we both saw that it was the captain, killed as Vail had
been. He was fully dressed except for his coat, and as he lay on his
back, his cap had been placed over his mutilated face.
I thought I heard something moving behind me in the cabin, and
wheeled sharply, holding my revolver leveled. The idea had come to
me that the crew had mutinied, and that every one in the after house
had been killed.
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