pointed at various
groups of houses. He asked what these buildings were that lay in the line
of fire.

"Just houses," he was told. "Residences."

"Do rebels or suspected rebels live in them?" he asked.

"Why, no," he was told. "Citizens."

The Colonel was so astonished at this that he did not know what to say.

He didn't wonder that the people were dissatisfied and frightened.

For months they had lived with the knowledge that the big guns were
trained upon them, and that at any moment a careless or frightened soldier
might pull the lanyard, fire a cannon off, and blow half Honolulu to
smithereens.

He did not say much, but felt that he would have to make many changes in
affairs, and went to bed to think things over.

He was awakened in the middle of the night by cries of:

"Hi! hi! hi! there! Say! It's half-past two."

It took him some time to realize that this was the soldierly manner in
which the Hawaiian army changed the guard, and when the truth finally
dawned upon him, he laughed himself to sleep over the comic army he was
called upon to reorganize and train.

The next day, to the horror of the people in the palace, he removed the
guns, and reduced the number of sentries to four.

There was a terrible outcry against this order. Those in the palace
declared their lives were no longer safe. The first night after guns and
sentries were taken away, they passed a night of terror, no one apparently
expecting to live to see the morning.

When, however, morning came, and they were all alive, they calmed down a
little.

So did the townspeople, when the guns were taken away.

When the Colonel made arrangements whereby the imprisoned Queen could get
a little fresh air daily, and no terrible consequences followed, he became
the most popular person in Honolulu.

The government decided that Colonel McLean was a wonder for quieting the
citizens. The citizens were grateful to him for having had sense enough to
remove the guns; the supporters of the Queen liked him for making matters
more comfortable for her; and the army found that he knew what he was
about, and trusted him accordingly.

Colonel McLean has had three years of very hard work getting the soldiers
into order, but has left the army in a very different condition from that
in which he found it.

* * * * *

The State Department has sent to Mr. Uhl, the United States Ambassador to
Germany, directing him to make a dem