drew in to an in the midst of a double row of wire was stretched around above her rail that looked like business and when saw the shore alongside armed with bows and arrows and he wished more earnestly than ever that the was over that evening the natives were slow in leaving the ship at a number of them checked the mate when he ordered them ashore never mind i ll fix them said captain below when he came back he showed a stick of attached to a fish hook now it happens that a paper wrapped bottle of with a piece of harmless projecting can fool anybody it and it the natives when captain lighted the and the terrible the fish hook into the tail end of a native s cloth that native was smitten with so ardent a desire for the shore that he forgot to shed the cloth he started forward the and at his rear the natives in his path taking over the wire at every jump was horror stricken so was captain he had forgotten his twenty five on each of which he had paid thirty shillings advance they went over the side along with the shore dwelling folk and followed by him who the bottle did not see the bottle go off but the mate a stick of real aft where it would harm nobody would have sworn in any court to a blown to the flight of the twenty five had actually cost the forty pounds and since they had taken to the bush there was no hope of recovering them the and his mate proceeded to drown their sorrow in cold tea the cold tea a the terrible was in bottles so did not know it was cold tea they were up all he knew was that the two men got very drank and argued and at length as to whether the exploded should be reported as a case of or as an accidental drowning when they off to sleep he was the only white man left and he kept a perilous watch till dawn in fear of an attack from shore and an of the crew three more days the spent on the coast and three more nights the and the mate drank of cold tea leaving to keep the watch they knew he could be depended upon while he was equally certain that if he lived he would report their drunken conduct to captain then the dropped anchor at plantation on and landed on the beach with a sigh of relief and shook hands with the manager mr was ready for him now you mustn t be alarmed if some the terrible of our fellows seem downcast mr said having drawn him aside in confidence there s been talk of an outbreak and two or three suspicious signs i m willing to admit but personally i think it s all how � how many have you on the plantation asked with a sinking heart we re working four hundred just now replied mr cheerfully but the three of us with you of course and the and mate of the can handle them all right turned to meet one the who scarcely acknowledged the introduction such was his eagerness to present his resignation it being that i m a married man mr i can t very well afford to remain on longer trouble is working up as plain as the nose on your face the are going to break out and there ll be another horror here the terrible what s a horror asked after the had been persuaded to remain until the end of the month oh he means plantation on said the manager the killed the five white men ashore captured the killed the captain and mate and escaped in a body to but i always said they were careless on they won t catch us here come along mr and see our view from the was too busy wondering how he could get away to to the s house to see much of the view he was still wondering when a rifle exploded very near to him behind his back at the same moment his arm was nearly so eagerly did mr drag him indoors i say old man that was a close said the manager him over to see if he had been hit i can t tell you how the terrible sorry i am but it was broad daylight and i never dreamed was beginning to turn pale they got the other manager that way vouchsafed and a dashed fine chap he was blew his brains out all over the you noticed that dark stain there between the steps and the door was ripe for the which mr pitched in and for him but before he could drink it a man in riding trousers and entered what s the matter now the manager asked after one look at the s face is the river up again river be � it s the stepped out of the cane grass not a dozen feet away and at me it was a and he shot from the hip now what i want to know is where d he get that � oh i beg pardon glad to know you mr mr brown is my assistant explained ic the terrible mr and now let s have that drink but where d he get that mr brown insisted i always objected to keeping those guns on the premises they re still there mr said with a show of heat mr brown smiled come along and see said the manager joined the procession into the office where mr pointed triumphantly at a big packing case in a dusty corner well then where did the beggar get that mr brown but just then lifted the packing case the manager started then tore off the lid the case was empty they gazed at 