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,