Suddenly a thought struck me. Putting my arm within his, I said,
as coolly as I could, "Never mind the sea, Jackson; let us have a
_matabicho_" (our local expression for a "drink"). He took the bait, and
came away quietly enough to the house. Once there, I enticed him into
the dining-room, and shutting to the door quickly, I locked it on the
outside, resolving to keep him there until Mr. Bransome should return;
for, being alone, I was afraid of him.
Then I went back to the end of the Point to look for the return of the
two boats. When I reached it I saw that the rollers had increased
in size in the short time that I had been absent, and that they were
breaking, one after another, as fast as they could come shoreward; not
pygmy waves, but great walls of water along their huge length before
they fell.
A surf such as I had never yet seen had arisen. I stood and anxiously
watched through a glass the boats at the steamer's side, and at length,
to my relief, I saw one of them leave her, but as it came near I saw, to
my surprise, that Mr. Bransome was not in the boat, and that it was not
the one that Sooka steered.
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