ould not enter. Covering
his face with his hands, he trembled violently as I pushed the door open
and advanced to the bedside. The room, hushed and in semi-darkness; the
white sheet, whose surface showed too plainly the forms beneath it;
and the scared, terrified face of the man who, with brain afire,
stood watching, with staring eyes, the bed, made a scene I have never
forgotten.
Slowly I turned down the upper part of the sheet, and Jackson, as if
fascinated by the act, advanced a step or two into the room, but with
face averted. Gradually he turned it toward the bodies, and for a moment
his gaze rested upon them. The next instant he staggered forward, looked
at the woman's face, panted for breath once or twice, and then, with
uplifted hands and a wild cry of "Lucy!" fell his length upon the floor.
When I stooped over him he was in convulsions, and dark matter was
oozing out of his mouth. The climax had come. I shouted for the
servants, and they carried him to his own room, and placed him on his
own bed.
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 Po
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