It was even possible that someone in authority had given orders for his death.

With this in mind he climbed down the ladder and opened the door of the forecastle.

He found the sailors sitting in a loose circle on the floor rolling battered dice out of a time-blackened leather box.
Harrigan sat down on the edge of his bunk, produced the captured knife, and commenced to sharpen it slowly, without ostentation, on the sole of his shoe.

It was already of a razor keenness.

It was a carving knife evidently stolen from the galley of the ship; it had been ground so often that the steel which remained was thin and narrow.