ly, the
worst was soon to pass. After one last tremendous wave there was a lull
for a few moments, and the patrao, who had watched for such a chance,
swiftly turned the boat round, and giving the word to the crew, they
pulled lustily toward the shore. In a few minutes we were again in
safety. The boat grounded on the beach, the oars were tossed into the
sea; the crew sprang overboard; some of them seized the new arrival; I
clambered on the back of the patrao; a crowd of negroes, who had been
waiting on the beach, laid hold of the tow-rope of the boat, and it and
we were landed simultaneously on the dry sand.

Once on shore Mr. Bransome, for that was the new man's name, rapidly
recovered his presence of mind and manner, and, by way of covering his
past confusion, remarked that he supposed the surf was seldom so bad as
it then was. I replied in an offhand way, meaning to make fun of him,
that what he had passed through was nothing, and appealed to the patrao
to confirm what I had said. That negro, seeing the joke, grinned all
over his black face; and Mr. Bransome, perceiving that he was being
laughed at, snatched a good-sized stick from a native standing near, and
struck the patrao repeatedly over the back.

In vain Sooka, for that was the patrao's name, protested, and demanded
to know what wrong thing he had done. The agent was furious, and
showered his blows upon the black. Equally in vain I shouted that Sooka
had done well by us, and that he, Mr. Bransome, was making an enemy of
a man who would have him now and then in his power. At length Sooka
took to his heels, and sure enough, when he had got a little way off, he
began to threaten vengeance for what he had received. I sympathised with
him, for I knew what a loss to his dignity it was to be beaten without
cause before his fellows, and I feared that Mr. Bransome would indeed be
sorry, sooner or later, for what he had done.

I now suggested to him, by way of diverting his thoughts from poor
Sooka, that standing on the beach in wet clothes was the very way to
catch the coast-fever straight off, and he instantly suffered himself to
be carried up the factory. There Jackson received him in a sort of
"who on earth are you?" manner; and Mr. Bransome, clearing his throat,
announced himself and his authority, adding that he intended to make the
factory a point of departure to all the others on the coast; then,
very abruptly, he requested Jackson to prepare quarters for him