And, then, not without a qualm or two, which I should be a liar to deny, I went and stood nearer to them.
Nearly all their clothes had fallen away, hanging but in shreds here and there.

That the hat had so jauntily kept its place was one of those grim touches Death, that terrible humorist, loves to add to his jests.
The cards, which had apparently just been dealt, had suffered scarcely from decay--only a little dirt had sifted down upon them, as it had into the rum glasses that stood too at each man's side.

And, as I looked at the skeleton jauntily facing me, I noticed that a bullet hole had been made as clean as if by a drill in his forehead of bone--while, turning to examine more closely his silent partner, I noticed a rusty sailor's knife hanging from the ribs where the lungs had been.

Then I looked on the floor and found the key to the whole story.

For there, within a few yards, stood a heavy sailor's chest, strongly bound around with iron.
Its lid was thrown back, and a few coins lay scattered at the bottom, while a few lay about on the floor.