They had not had time to throw themselves into the sea before the boat had capsized, and their clothing would sink them in such a surf, even if they had escaped being crushed by the boat.  Besides, I feared there had been some foul play on the part of Sooka.  Quickly as he had done it, I had seen him with his oar put the boat beyond the possibility of escaping from the wave, and I remembered how he had been treated by Bransome.

With such thoughts I ran along the cliff to the pathway that led down to the beach; and as I ran, I saw Jackson running before me, not steadily or rightly, but heavily, and swaying from side to side as he went.  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