nt.
Quickly I passed him, but he gave no sign that he knew any one was near
him; and as I leaped down on to the first ledge of rock below me, I saw
that he was not following me, but had disappeared among the brushwood.

When I got down to the beach, I found that the boat's crew had reached
the shore in safety, but of the two passengers nothing had been seen.
The capsized boat was sometimes visible as it lifted on the rollers,
but through my glass I saw that no one was clinging to it. I called for
Sooka, but Sooka was missing. Every one had seen him land, but he had
disappeared mysteriously. In vain I questioned the other boys as to the
cause of the disaster. The only answer I could get out of them was an
appeal to look to the sea and judge for myself. The woman was a
white woman from the big ship, was all they could say about her; and,
negro-like, they evidently considered the loss of a woman or so of very
little consequence.

All I could do was to set a watch along the beach to look for the bodies
when they should be washed ashore, and this done, I returned to the
factory. My next desire was to find Sooka. He could hardly have gone
far, so I sent for a runner to take a message to the native king under
whose protection we on the Point were, and after whom the Point was
called, and who was bound to find the missing man for me if he could, or
if he had not been bribed to let him pass.

In my sorrow at what had happened, and in my doubt as to the cause of
it, I had forgotten all about Jackson; but after I had despatched
my messenger to the king, I went to look for him. I discovered him
crouching in a corner of his own bedroom in the dark.

"Are they found?" he asked, in a voice so hollow and broken that I
hardly knew it; and before I could answer him, he whispered to himself,
"No, no; they are drowned--drowned."

I tried to lead him into the lighted dining-room, but he only crouched
the closer to his corner. At length by the promise of the ever-potent
temptation, liquor, I got him to leave the room. He could scarcely walk,
though, now, and he trembled so violently that I was glad to give him
part of a bottle of brandy that I had by me. He filled a tumbler half
full of the spirits, and drank it off. This put strength into him, and
for a little he was calm; but as he again and again applied himself to
the bottle, he became drunk, and swore at me for my impudence in giving
orders without his sanction. On this I tried to