"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. The idea made me frantic; I thought of the women,
of Elsa Lee, and I was ready to kill.

"Where is the light switch?" I demanded of Singleton, who was still
on the companion steps, swaying.

"I don't know," he said, and collapsed, sitting huddled just above
the captain's body, with his face in his hands.

I saw I need not look to him for help, and I succeeded in turning
on the light in the swinging lamp in the center of the cabin. There
was no sign of any struggle, and the cabin was empty. I went back
to the captain's body, and threw a rug over it. Then I reached over
and shook Singleton by the arm.