Finally the bustee-wallahs agreed to stop operations and await legal judgment.
After eighteen months I was suddenly left in sole charge of all the Company's gardens, the Burra Sahib having finally succumbed to drink; but I was not long left in charge, being soon relieved by a more experienced man.

Shortly after I was ordered to Scottpore Garden in Cachar, the manager of which, a particularly fine man and a great friend of mine, had suffered the awful death of being pierced by the very sharp end of a heavy, newly-cut bamboo, which he seems to have ridden against in the dark.

He always rode at great speed, and he too, in this way, was a victim of drink.

The tremendously high death-rate amongst planters was directly due to this fatal habit.
Scottpore was a new (young) garden, not teelah, but level land, having extremely rich soil.

The bushes showed strong growth and there were no "vacancies"; indeed it was a model plantation.