so confused,
some fatuous people blaming the goat, and some Denison, who was
generally disliked by the Germans, while Mrs. Molly said it was caused
by the man with the bucket of milk, and Captain Hayes who had bribed him
to do it, and nearly caused bloodshed, as the German officer who was
insulted by Hayes had shot a lot of people in duels, or if he had not
shot them he had stuck his sword into them in fifteen places, more or
less.

Now let me explain: First of all there was Mrs. Molly, who was the
hostess; then there was Hamilton, the Apia pilot and his wife; the
manager of the big German firm at Matafale (he wore gold spectacles, and
was very fond of Mrs. Molly, who was a widow); then there was Bully
Hayes, and old Coe the American consul, and young Denison; all these
were some of the local guests, and lived in Samoa, the rest were
officers from a German man-of-war lying in port, and the usual
respectable town loafers. Then there were Leger, the bibulous carpenter;
'_Liza,_ his black wife; a white policeman named Thady O'Brien, and a
loafing scoundrel of a Samoan named Mataiasi, called "Matty" for
brevity, who was the public flogger, and milked Mrs. MacLaggan's herd of
seven imported Australian cows; and lastly the goat, and about thirty or
forty of Bully Hayes's crew, and as many Samoans, who came to look at
the dancing and see what they could steal, Leger and his wife and the
policeman and the town flogger had charge of the refreshment tables,
which for the sake of coolness had been laid out upon the wide, back
verandah, and handsomely decorated with pot plants and flags from the
man-of-war, and blanc-manges and jellies, and tipsy cake, and cold roast
pigeons and chickens were lying around as if they weren't worth two
cents.

The big wholesale store, which formed part of Mrs. Molly's house and
establishment, made a fine ballroom. All the barrels of whisky and
Queensland rum, and the cases of lager beer and Holland's gin, had been
stowed neatly on each side, and covered over with flags and orange
blossoms by Denison and Bully Hayes and his men, and the orange blossoms
killed the smell of the rum so much that strangers would have thought it
was sherry.

Everything went on beautifully for the first two hours, and then Mrs.
Molly asked Denison to take out a very pretty young half-caste lady and
get her a drink of milk. When they reached the side table where the milk
should have been, they found it all gone; but O'Br