There was no Pelly to support de Coetlogon,who might now be disregarded.Mullan,Leary's successor,even if he were not precisely a Hand,was at least no Leary;and even if Mullan should show fight,Knappe had now three ships and could defy or sink him without danger.Many small circumstances moved him in the same direction.The looting of German plantations continued;the whole force of Mataafa was to a large extent subsisted from the crops of Vailele;and armed men were to be seen openly plundering bananas,bread-fruit,and cocoa-nuts under the walls of the plantation building.On the night of the 13th the consulate stable had been broken into and a horse removed.On the 16th there was a riot in Apia between half-castes and sailors from the new ship OLGA,each side claiming that the other was the worse of drink,both (for a wager)justly.The multiplication of flags and little neutral territories had,besides,begun to irritate the Samoans.The protests of German settlers had been received uncivilly.On the 16th the Mataafas had again sought to land in Saluafata bay,with the manifest intention to attack the Tamaseses,or (in other words)"to trespass on German lands,covered,as your Excellency knows,with flags."I quote from his requisition to Fritze,December 17th.Upon all these considerations,he goes on,it is necessary to bring the fighting to an end.Both parties are to be disarmed and returned to their villages -Mataafa first.And in case of any attempt upon Apia,the roads thither are to be held by a strong landing-party.Mataafa was to be disarmed first,perhaps rightly enough in his character of the last insurgent.Then was to have come the turn of Tamasese;but it does not appear the disarming would have had the same import or have been gone about in the same way.Germany was bound to Tamasese.No honest man would dream of blaming Knappe because he sought to redeem his country's word.The path he chose was doubtless that of honour,so far as honour was still left.But it proved to be the road to ruin.
Fritze,ranking German officer,is understood to have opposed the measure.His attitude earned him at the time unpopularity among his country-people on the spot,and should now redound to his credit.It is to be hoped he extended his opposition to some of the details.If it were possible to disarm Mataafa at all,it must be done rather by prestige than force.A party of blue-jackets landed in Samoan bush,and expected to hold against Samoans a multiplicity of forest paths,had their work cut out for them.And it was plain they should be landed in the light of day,with a discouraging openness,and even with parade.To sneak ashore by night was to increase the danger of resistance and to minimise the authority of the attack.The thing was a bluff,and it is impossible to bluff with stealth.Yet this was what was tried.Alanding-party was to leave the OLGA in Apia bay at two in the morning;the landing was to be at four on two parts of the foreshore of Vailele.At eight they were to be joined by a second landing-party from the EBER.By nine the Olgas were to be on the crest of Letongo Mountain,and the Ebers to be moving round the promontory by the seaward paths,"with measures of precaution,"disarming all whom they encountered.There was to be no firing unless fired upon.At the appointed hour (or perhaps later)on the morning of the 19th,this unpromising business was put in hand,and there moved off from the OLGA two boats with some fifty blue-jackets between them,and a PRAAM or punt containing ninety,-the boats and the whole expedition under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Jaeckel,the praam under Lieutenant Spengler.The men had each forty rounds,one day's provisions,and their flasks filled.
In the meanwhile,Mataafa sympathisers about Apia were on the alert.Knappe had informed the consuls that the ships were to put to sea next day for the protection of German property;but the Tamaseses had been less discreet."To-morrow at the hour of seven,"they had cried to their adversaries,"you will know of a difficulty,and our guns shall be made good in broken bones."An accident had pointed expectation towards Apia.The wife of Le Mamea washed for the German ships -a perquisite,I suppose,for her husband's unwilling fidelity.She sent a man with linen on board the ADLER,where he was surprised to see Le Mamea in person,and to be himself ordered instantly on shore.The news spread.If Mamea were brought down from Lotoanuu,others might have come at the same time.Tamasese himself and half his army might perhaps lie concealed on board the German ships.And a watch was accordingly set and warriors collected along the line of the shore.
One detachment lay in some rifle-pits by the mouth of the Fuisa.
They were commanded by Seumanu;and with his party,probably as the most contiguous to Apia,was the war-correspondent,John Klein.Of English birth,but naturalised American,this gentleman had been for some time representing the NEW YORK WORLD in a very effective manner,always in the front,living in the field with the Samoans,and in all vicissitudes of weather,toiling to and fro with his despatches.His wisdom was perhaps not equal to his energy.He made himself conspicuous,going about armed to the teeth in a boat under the stars and stripes;and on one occasion,when he supposed himself fired upon by the Tamaseses,had the petulance to empty his revolver in the direction of their camp.By the light of the moon,which was then nearly down,this party observed the OLGA'S two boats and the praam,which they described as "almost sinking with men,"the boats keeping well out towards the reef,the praam at the moment apparently heading for the shore.An extreme agitation seems to have reigned in the rifle-pits.What were the newcomers?
What was their errand?Were they Germans or Tamaseses?Had they a mind to attack?The praam was hailed in Samoan and did not answer.