He doesn't give it away.

My no! He dassn't do that.

But the minute some one else is killed, coming looking for it, then he's free--and the new ghost has got to go on sitting there, waiting for ever so long till some one else comes looking for it." "But, what has this sucking fish got to do with it ?" And I pointed to the red membrane already drying up in Tom's hand.
"Well, the man who carries this in his pocket won't be the next ghost," he answered.
"Take good care of it for me then, Tom," I said, "and when it's properly dried, let me have it.

For I've a sort of idea I may have need of it, after all." And just then, old Sailor, the quietest member of the crew, put up his head into my hands, as though to say that he had been unfairly lost sight of.
"Yes, and you too, old chap--that's right.

Tom, and you, and I." And then I turned in for the night..