While on
the staircase, I heard another burst of prolonged and rapturous applause,
so I suppose the audience were satisfied.
The feelings that came uppermost in my mind were hardly of a very solemn
character, but I thought of my first acquaintance with Chowbok, of the
scene in the woodshed, of the innumerable lies he had told me, of his
repeated attempts upon the brandy, and of many an incident which I have
not thought it worth while to dwell upon; and I could not but derive some
satisfaction from the hope that my own efforts might have contributed to
the change which had been doubtless wrought upon him, and that the rite
which I had performed, however unprofessionally, on that wild upland
river-bed, had not been wholly without effect. I trust that what I have
written about him in the earlier part of my book may not be libellous,
and that it may do him no harm with his employers. He was then
unregenerate. I must certainly find him out and have a talk with him;
but before I shall have time to do so these pages will be in the hands of
the public.
* * * * *
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