r. Thacher, the other half of
the bar, and directed him to defend the prisoner. Then he bent his mind
to the consideration of jails, of which Samoa boasted two.

The municipal jail was a two-roomed wooden shed, sparingly furnished
with a couple of tin pails. Humanity forbidding the incarceration of
Captain Satterlee in such a hovel, the little consul passed on to
Mulinuu, where the general Samoan Government held sway. The jail here
was on a more pretentious scale. It consisted of a rectangular
inclosure, perhaps sixty feet by forty, formed by four eight-foot walls
of galvanized iron, and containing within five or six small huts of the
kind that shipwrecked seamen might build on a desert island. In fact
that was just about what they were, and as foul and repulsive as the
real article. Owing to financial stringency the Samoan Government was
unable to house or feed its prisoners, who for both these reasons might
well be described as castaways. These unfortunates were absent at the
time of Skiddy's visit, employing a very languid leisure on the
improvement of the roads; and the consul could not have penetrated the
jail at all had it not been for the king, who, on being appealed to, was
obliging enough to lend the diplomat his spare key.

Skiddy stood and regarded the place with an immense depression. It would
not do at all. It was no better than a cattle pen. He was about to turn
away, when the two Scanlons appeared on the scene, their keen noses
having scented out a job. The Scanlons were burly half-castes, of a
muddy, sweaty complexion, whose trustworthiness and intelligence were
distinctly above the average. The Scanlon brothers, to any one in a
difficult position, could be relied upon as pillars of strength. There
was nothing a Scanlon brother wouldn't do, and do well, for two dollars
and fifty cents a day. Mind and muscle were both yours--Scanlon mind and
muscle--for this paltry and insignificant sum; and the consul, in his
quandary, welcomed the stout, bristly haired pair as though they were
angels from heaven.

In less time than it takes to write, Alfred Scanlon was appointed a
United States marshal, Charles Scanlon an assistant United States
marshal, and the arrangement was made with them to take full charge of
Captain Satterlee during his trial. He was to live in their cottage,
have his meals served from the International Hotel, and, while carefully
guarded night and day, was to be treated "first class" throughou