第41章 THE SAMOAN CAMPS(4)

Hitherto the Tamasese fleet,being hardy and unencumbered,had made a fool of the huge floating forts upon the other side;and here they were tolling,not to produce another boat on their own pattern in which they had always enjoyed the advantage,but to make a new one the type of their enemies',of which they had now proved the uselessness for months.It came on to rain as the Americans landed;and though none offered to oppose their coming ashore,none invited them to take shelter.They were nowise abashed,entered a house unbidden,and were made welcome with obvious reserve.The rain clearing off,they set forth westward,deeper into the heart of the enemies'position.Three or four young men ran some way before them,doubtless to give warning;and Leary,with his indomitable taste for mischief,kept inquiring as he went after "the high chief"Tamasese.The line of the beach was one continuous breastwork;some thirty odd iron cannon of all sizes and patterns stood mounted in embrasures;plenty grape and canister lay ready;and at every hundred yards or so the German flag was flying.

The numbers of the guns and flags I give as I received them,though they test my faith.At the house of Brandeis -a little,weatherboard house,crammed at the time with natives,men,women,and squalling children -Leary and Moors again asked for "the high chief,"and,were again assured that he was farther on.A little beyond,the road ran in one place somewhat inland,the two Americans had gone down to the line of the beach to continue their inspection of the breastwork,when Brandeis himself,in his shirt-sleeves and accompanied by several German officers,passed them by the line of the road.The two parties saluted in silence.Beyond Eva Point there was an observable change for the worse in the reception of the Americans;some whom they met began to mutter at Moors;and the adventurers,with tardy but commendable prudence,desisted from their search after the high chief,and began to retrace their steps.On the return,Suatele and some chiefs were drinking kava in a "big house,"and called them in to join -their only invitation.But the night was closing,the rain had begun again:they stayed but for civility,and returned on board the ADAMS,wet and hungry,and I believe delighted with their expedition.It was perhaps the last as it was certainly one of the most extreme examples of that divinity which once hedged the white in Samoa.The feeling was already different in the camp of Mataafa,where the safety of a German loiterer had been a matter of extreme concern.Ten days later,three commissioners,an Englishman,an American,and a German,approached a post of Mataafas,were challenged by an old man with a gun,and mentioned in answer what they were."IFEA SIAMANI?Which is the German?"cried the old gentleman,dancing,and with his finger on the trigger;and the commissioners stood somewhile in a very anxious posture,till they were released by the opportune arrival of a chief.It was November the 27th when Leary and Moors completed their absurd excursion;in about three weeks an event was to befall which changed at once,and probably for ever,the relations of the natives and the whites.

By the 28th Tamasese had collected seventeen hundred men in the trenches before Saluafata,thinking to attack next day.But the Mataafas evacuated the place in the night.At half-past five on the morning of the 29th a signal-gun was fired in the trenches at Laulii,and the Tamasese citadel was assaulted and defended with a fury new among Samoans.When the battle ended on the following day,one or more outworks remained in the possession of Mataafa.

Another had been taken and lost as many as four times.Carried originally by a mixed force from Savaii and Tuamasanga,the victors,instead of completing fresh defences or pursuing their advantage,fell to eat and smoke and celebrate their victory with impromptu songs.In this humour a rally of the Tamaseses smote them,drove them out pell-mell,and tumbled them into the ravine,where many broke their heads and legs.Again the work was taken,again lost.Ammunition failed the belligerents;and they fought hand to hand in the contested fort with axes,clubs,and clubbed rifles.The sustained ardour of the engagement surprised even those who were engaged;and the butcher's bill was counted extraordinary by Samoans.On December 1st the women of either side collected the headless bodies of the dead,each easily identified by the name tattooed on his forearm.Mataafa is thought to have lost sixty killed;and the de Coetlogons'hospital received three women and forty men.The casualties on the Tamasese side cannot be accepted,but they were presumably much less.