By the next morning, to my surprise, Jackson appeared to have become
reconciled to the fact that he had been superseded by a man who knew
nothing of the coast, and of his own accord he offered to tell Mr.
Bransome the clues to the letter-locks on the doors of the various
store-rooms; for we on the coast used none but letter-locks, which
are locks that do not require a key to open them. But Mr. Bransome
expressed, most politely, a wish that Jackson should consider himself
still in charge of the factory, at any rate until the whole estate of
the unfortunate Flint Brothers could be wound up; and he trusted that
his presence would make no difference to him.
This was a change, on the part of both men, from the manners of the
previous day; and yet I could not help thinking that each but ill
concealed his aversion to the other.
Months now slipped away, and Mr. Bransome was occupied in going up and
down the coast in a little steamer, shutting up factory after factory,
transferring their goods to ours, and getting himself much disliked by
all the Europeans under him, and hated by the natives, especially by
the boat-boys, who were a race or tribe by themselves, coming from one
particular part of the coast.
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