第34章 LAST EXPLOITS OF BECKER(4)

that the LIZARD was to remain for the protection of British subjects;that a signalman was to be stationed at the consulate;that,on any further firing from boats,the signalman was to notify the LIZARD and she to fire one gun,on which all boats must lower sail and come alongside for examination and the detection of the guilty;and that,"in the event of the boats not obeying the gun,the admiral would not be responsible for the consequences."It was listened to by Brandeis and Tamasese "with the greatest attention."Brandeis,when it was done,desired his thanks to the admiral for the moderate terms of his message,and,as Kane went to his boat,repeated the expression of his gratitude as though he meant it,declaring his own hands would be thus strengthened for the maintenance of discipline.But I have yet to learn of any gratitude on the part of Tamasese.Consider the case of the poor owlish man hearing for the first time our diplomatic commonplaces.

The admiral would not be answerable for the consequences.Think of it!A devil of a position for a DE FACTO king.And here,the same afternoon,was Leary in the Scalon house,mopping it out for unknown designs by the hands of an old woman,and proffering strange threats of bloodshed.Scanlon and his pigs,the admiral and his gun,Leary and his bombardment,-what a kettle of fish!

I dwell on the effect on Tamasese.Whatever the faults of Becker,he was not timid;he had already braved so much for Mulinuu that Icannot but think he might have continued to hold up his head even after the outrage of the pigs,and that the weakness now shown originated with the king.Late in the night,Blacklock was wakened to receive a despatch addressed to Leary."You have asked that Iand my government go away from Mulinuu,because you pretend a man who lives near Mulinuu and who is under your protection,has been threatened by my soldiers.As your Excellency has forbidden the man to accept any satisfaction,and as I do not wish to make war against the United States,I shall remove my government from Mulinuu to another place."It was signed by Tamasese,but I think more heads than his had wagged over the direct and able letter.On the morning of the 11th,accordingly,Mulinuu the much defended lay desert.Tamasese and Brandeis had slipped to sea in a schooner;their troops had followed them in boats;the German sailors and their war-flag had returned on board the ADLER;and only the German merchant flag blew there for Weber's land-claim.Mulinuu,for which Becker had intrigued so long and so often,for which he had overthrown the municipality,for which he had abrogated and refused and invented successive schemes of neutral territory,was now no more to the Germans than a very unattractive,barren peninsula and a very much disputed land-claim of Mr.Weber's.It will scarcely be believed that the tale of the Scanlon outrages was not yet finished.Leary had gained his point,but Scanlon had lost his compensation.And it was months later,and this time in the shape of a threat of bombardment in black and white,that Tamasese heard the last of the absurd affair.Scanlon had both his fun and his money,and Leary's practical joke was brought to an artistic end.

Becker sought and missed an instant revenge.Mataafa,a devout Catholic,was in the habit of walking every morning to mass from his camp at Vaiala beyond Matautu to the mission at the Mulivai.

He was sometimes escorted by as many as six guards in uniform,who displayed their proficiency in drill by perpetually shifting arms as they marched.Himself,meanwhile,paced in front,bareheaded and barefoot,a staff in his hand,in the customary chief's dress of white kilt,shirt,and jacket,and with a conspicuous rosary about his neck.Tall but not heavy,with eager eyes and a marked appearance of courage and capacity,Mataafa makes an admirable figure in the eyes of Europeans;to those of his countrymen,he may seem not always to preserve that quiescence of manner which is thought becoming in the great.On the morning of October 16th he reached the mission before day with two attendants,heard mass,had coffee with the fathers,and left again in safety.The smallness of his following we may suppose to have been reported.He was scarce gone,at least,before Becker had armed men at the mission gate and came in person seeking him.

The failure of this attempt doubtless still further exasperated the consul,and he began to deal as in an enemy's country.He had marines from the ADLER to stand sentry over the consulate and parade the streets by threes and fours.The bridge of the Vaisingano,which cuts in half the English and American quarters,he closed by proclamation and advertised for tenders to demolish it.On the 17th Leary and Pelly landed carpenters and repaired it in his teeth.Leary,besides,had marines under arms,ready to land them if it should be necessary to protect the work.But Becker looked on without interference,perhaps glad enough to have the bridge repaired;for even Becker may not always have offended intentionally.Such was now the distracted posture of the little town:all government extinct,the German consul patrolling it with armed men and issuing proclamations like a ruler,the two other Powers defying his commands,and at least one of them prepared to use force in the defiance.Close on its skirts sat the warriors of Mataafa,perhaps four thousand strong,highly incensed against the Germans,having all to gain in the seizure of the town and firm,and,like an army in a fairy tale,restrained by the air-drawn boundary of the neutral ground.