Ay, but what about the light in the cabin?
It had been extinguished after the fleeing fugitive had entered Dorothy's stateroom.

Did this mean that the slayer had an accomplice?
If so, then the killing was not the result of a mere personal quarrel amidships, or in the forecastle; but the result of some conspiracy.

I thought of Sanchez, and of Estada's plan to obtain control of the ship.

Could this be its culmination?
And was the Spaniard already lying dead in his cabin?
This was the only solution of the mystery which seemed probable, and yet this did not wholly satisfy my mind.
Not that I questioned the fiendishness of Estada, or his coconspirator, Manuel, or their unwillingness to commit such a crime, but it seemed so unnecessarily brutal.

Why should they stab a man already so severely wounded as to be threatened with death?
he was helpless, and in their power; neglect, or at most a simple reopening of his wounds, would be sufficient for their purpose.