If it was indeed a man, he was undoubtedly dead, and therefore harmless; and having learned this much he would know more.
So presently he groped forward, felt again the round head and soft hair, and below it and beyond it a heap of what felt like small oblong packages done up in wrappings of cloth and tied round with cord.
He picked one up and handled it inquisitively, with a shrewd idea of what might be, or might have been, inside.

The cord was very loose, as though the contents had shrunk since it was tied.

As he fumbled with it in the dark, it came open and left him no possible room for doubt as to what those contents were.

He sneezed till the top of his head seemed like to lift, and the tears ran down his cheeks in an unceasing stream.
What had once been tobacco had powdered into snuff, and his rough handling of the package had scattered it broadcast.
He turned at last, and lay with his head in his arms against the wall until the air should have time to clear, and meanwhile the sneezing had quickened his wits.
Here was possible tinder, and by means of those dried-up wrappings he might procure a light.

If it lasted but five minutes it might enable him to solve the problem on which he had stumbled.
He groped again for the opened package, and found it on the dead man's face.