Grasping the knob of the door upon the other side was the corpse of a man.
The captain gave a yell and bolted to the other end of the cabin.
But he finally recovered himself sufficiently to see that the corpse had not followed him.
He also saw that it had not the power to do so. The grip of its fingers upon idle knob held it.
The dead man undoubtedly was the captain of the brig. Bell made a motion to Barney, who came near.
“We are fools,” he said. “These dead people can’t hurt us!”
“Arrah, but it’s the looks av thim!” declared Barney.
“Hang the looks! They can’t kill. Let us go into the cabin.”
“I’m agreeable, sor.”
“There is no doubt but that he is the captain of the ship.”