of a bottle, sullenness congested in the second. Obsequiousness was all

smiles; he ran to catch your eye, he loved to gabble; and he had about

a dozen words of beach English, and an eighth-of-an-inch veneer of

Christianity. Sullens was industrious; a big down-looking bee. When

he was spoken to, he answered with a black look and a shrug of one

shoulder, but the thing would be done. I don't give him to you for a

model of manners; there was nothing showy about Sullens; but he was

strong and steady, and ungraciously obedient. Now Sullens got into

trouble; no matter how; the regulations of the place were broken, and

he was punished accordingly--without effect. So, the next day, and the

next, and the day after, till I began to be weary of the business, and

Sullens (I am afraid) particularly so. There came a day when he was in

fault again, for the--oh, perhaps the thirtieth time; and he rolled a

dull eye upon me, with a spark in it, and appeared to speak. Now

the regulations of the place are formal upon one point: we allow no

explanations; none are received, none allowed to be offered. So one

stopped him instantly; but made a note of the circumstance. The next

day, he was gone from the settlement. There could be nothing more

annoying; if the labour took to running away, the fishery was wrecked.

There are sixty miles of this island, you see, all in length like the

Queen's Highway; the idea of pursuit in such a place was a piece of

single-minded childishness, which one did not entertain. Two days later,

I made a discovery; it came in upon me with a flash that Sullens had

been unjustly punished from beginning to end, and the real culprit

throughout had been Obsequiousness. The native who talks, like the woman

who hesitates, is lost. You set him talking and lying; and he talks, and

lies, and watches your face to see if he has pleased you; till at

147

The Ebb-Tide