‘ ‘Sit where you are, Bill,’said the blind man. ‘I can’t see, but I can hear a finger move. Hold out your right hand.’
I watched him put something in the captain’s hand.
‘And now that’s done,’ said the blind man, and he quickly went out of the inn. I heard his stick tap-tap-tapping away along the road.
The captain opened his hand and looked into it. ‘Ten o’clock!’ he cried, and jumped up. He put his hand round his nec, made a strange sound, and fell face down on to the floor.
I ran to him, calling to my mother. But the captain was dead.