Sentence:  Perhaps, through neglect, the <WSD>panman</WSD> allowed the strike to boil down too low, and charging up suddenly to hide the fault when the sugar had almost cooked to proof, "got grain" very much to his own surprise and disgust perhaps, for not knowing how to deal with this new phase in sugar making, he probably thought the strike spoilt, and gave it up for lost. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  One who oversees the steaming process in refining sugar.