Between this and that, I was so utterly terrified of the blind beggar that I forgot my terror of the captain, and as I opened the parlor door, cried out the words he had ordered in a trembling voice. The poor captain raised his eyes, and at one look the rum went out of him, and left him staring sober. The expression of his face was not so nmch of terror as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but I do not believe he had enough force left in his body. If I can't see, I can hear a finger stirring.
Business is business.
Hold out your left hand. Boy, take his left hand by the wrist, and bring it near to my right. We both obeyed him to the letter, and I saw him pass something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain's, which closed upon it instantly. Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swaying for a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole height face foremost to the floor. I ran to him at once, calling to my mother.