again and again applied himself to the bottle, he became drunk, and swore at me for my impudence in giving orders without his sanction.  On this I tried to take the bottle from him, but he clutched it so firmly that I had to let it go; whereupon he immediately put it to his lips and swallowed the rest of the liquor that was in it.  After which he gave a chuckle, and staggered to a couch, on which he tumbled, and lay with his eyes open for a long while.  At last he fell asleep, but I was too nervous to do likewise, and sat watching him the most of the night; at least, when I awoke it was daylight, and it seemed to me that I had been asleep for a few minutes.

Jackson was still lying on the couch, and his face was calm and peaceful as he softly breathed.  The morning, too, was fine, and as I walked on to the veranda I saw the sea sparkling in the sunlight, and there was not a sound from it save a far-off and drowsy murmur.  Not a sign remained on its broad surface of the wrath of the day before.  It was wonderfully calm.  Lying here and there on the veranda, rolled up in their clothes, were the servants of the factory, sleeping soundly on the hard planks.

Presently, as the sun rose in the heavens and warmed the air, the place began to show signs of life, and one of the watch that I had set on the beach came running across the yard to tell me that the bodies had come ashore.

Immediately upon hearing this I called the hammock-bearers together, and going down to the beach, I went a considerable way along it toward a dark spot, which I knew to be a group of natives.  On coming up to the group, I found at least fifty negroes collected round the drowned man and woman, all chattering and squabbling among themselves, and probably over the plunder, for I saw that the bodies had been stripped to their underclothing.  Rushing into the crowd, with the aid of a stick I dispersed it, so far as to make the wretches stand back.  The man, of course, was Bransome, there was no doubt as to that, although he had received a terrible blow on the left temple, most likely from the pointed stem of the boat as it had toppled over upon him, and his face was distorted and twisted to one side.  The woman was evidently English, young and pretty, although her long hair, heavy and wet, was polluted by the sand that stuck to it, and her half-open eyes were filled with the same.  On her lips there lingered a slight smile.  She was of middle height, of slender figure, and delicately nurtured, as the small bare feet and little hands showed.  As I looked at the latter I saw a wedding-ring on her finger, and I thought, “It is Bransome’s wife.”  I tried to take the ring away, but it would not come off her finger—­which I might have known, because the natives would not have left it there had they been able to remove it.  I then ordered the bearers to lay the bodies in the hammocks; and that done, our little party wended its way along the shore homeward, while the natives I had dispersed followed one after another in African fashion.