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.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93