How I got through that day I hardly know.  Alone I buried Bransome and his wife, and alone I returned from the hurried task to watch by Jackson’s bedside.  None of the natives would stay near him.  For two days he lay unconscious.  At the end of that time he seemed to have some idea of the outside world, for his eyes met mine with intelligence in their look, and on bending over him I heard him whisper, “Forgive me!” Then he relapsed into unconsciousness again.  Through the long hours his eyes remained ever open and restless; he could not eat, nor did he sleep, and I was afraid he would pass away through weakness without a sign, being an old man.  On the third day he became delirious, and commenced chattering and talking to himself, and imagining that all kinds of horrid shapes and creatures were around and near him.  I had to watch him narrowly in order to prevent him stealing out of his bed, which he was ready to do at any moment to avoid the tortures which he fearfully imagined awaited him.  By these signs I knew that he was in the middle of an attack of delirium tremens, and I tried to quiet him by means of laudanum, but it had no effect upon him.  I got him, however, to swallow a little soup, which sustained him.  My own boy was the only negro I had been able to induce to stay in the room, and he would only remain in it while I was there.

I had sent a messenger to the nearest station, where I remembered there was a Portuguese doctor; but he had not returned by the evening of the fourth day.  That night, worn out with watching, I had dozed off to sleep on a chair placed by the sick man’s bed, when all at once I was awakened by a loud report, and I jumped up to find the room filled with smoke.  As it cleared away I saw that Jackson was standing in the middle of the room with a revolver in his hand.  As I confronted him he laughed a devilish laugh and cocked the weapon, crying as he did so, “It was you who tempted me with your smooth face and unsuspicious way, and you shall die, though I suffer doubly in hell for it.  Hist!” and he stopped suddenly and listened.  “Don’t you hear the breakers?  Hark, how they roar!  They say they are ready, always ready,” and staring in front of him, he advanced, as if following the sign of an invisible hand, to the door, unconsciously placing, to my infinite relief, the revolver on the top of a chest of drawers as he passed by it.  I did not dare to move, and he opened the door and walked into the front room.  Then I followed him.  For a little he remained in the room, glaring vacantly about him, and muttering to himself; but seeing the outer door open he made a rush toward it, and disappeared into the darkness of the night.  Calling to the boy, I ran after him, and easily came up to him, when he turned, and picking up a heavier stone than I thought he could have lifted, threw it at me.  I dodged it and closed with him.  Once in my arms I found I could hold him, and my servant and I carried him back into the factory.  We placed him on the floor