"It does seem uncanny, somehow," agreed Rob; "the posture of this man, this strange writing! I wonder how he died?"
"Impossible to say," rejoined the officer; "but let us investigate further. We may make some more discoveries."
"I hope we don't make any more finds of this character," rejoined Rob with deep feeling.
Reverently and quietly they made their way out of the presence of the dead mariner.
Their next objective point was the poop of the vessel, where a high, old-fashioned quarter-deck upreared itself above the main deck. Port holes looked out from this, and the party of explorers rightly judged that here had been the living-quarters of the ship's officers. A door of heavily carved mahogany gave access to the space below the lofty poop-deck. Pressing through this, they found themselves in a dark, dingy-looking cuddy. The cushions of the lockers, which ranged along each side, were green with mould and in the air hung the odor of decay.
A skylight above gave light to this chamber, and at its sides four doors, two to a side, opened off.
"Those doors must lead to the staterooms of the former officers," declared the ensign, and a tour of inspection of the rooms was begun at once. In the first three, after a thorough ransacking nothing more interesting was to be found than some old sea chests, containing garments and nautical instruments of antique pattern. In the last, however, which bore traces of having been better furnished than the others, there hung a crudely painted picture of a grizzled-looking seaman, on whose breast hung conspicuously a gold image of a whale. Apparently this was some sort of an emblem. But to Rob the portrait presented a clew.
"Why, that same emblem hung on the uniform of the dead man in the deckhouse!" he exclaimed.
"So it did," cried the ensign. "Boys, from the looks of it, this was the cabin of the master of the ship, and yonder body, it is my firm belief, is his."
But Merritt had stumbled upon another discovery. This was nothing more than a large book, bound in leather. But to the ensign it seemed to be apparently a highly important find.