In vain Sooka, for that was the patrao's name, protested, and demanded
to know what wrong thing he had done. The agent was furious, and
showered his blows upon the black. Equally in vain I shouted that Sooka
had done well by us, and that he, Mr. Bransome, was making an enemy of
a man who would have him now and then in his power. At length Sooka
took to his heels, and sure enough, when he had got a little way off, he
began to threaten vengeance for what he had received. I sympathised with
him, for I knew what a loss to his dignity it was to be beaten without
cause before his fellows, and I feared that Mr. Bransome would indeed be
sorry, sooner or later, for what he had done.
I now suggested to him, by way of diverting his thoughts from poor
Sooka, that standing on the beach in wet clothes was the very way to
catch the coast-fever straight off, and he instantly suffered himself to
be carried up the factory. There Jackson received him in a sort of
"who on earth are you?" manner; and Mr. Bransome, clearing his throat,
announced himself and his authority, adding that he intended to make the
factory a point of departure to all the others on the coast; then,
very abruptly, he requested Jackson to prepare quarters for him without
delay.
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