situation, ammunition began to run low; and the
cartridge-boxes of the wounded and the dead had been already brought
into use before, at about eight o'clock, the _Eber_ steamed into the
bay. Her commander, Wallis, threw some shells into Letongo, one of which
killed five men about their cooking-pot. The Samoans began immediately
to withdraw; their movements were hastened by a sortie, and the remains
of the landing-party brought on board. This was an unfortunate movement;
it gave an irremediable air of defeat to what might have been else
claimed for a moderate success. The blue-jackets numbered a hundred and
forty all told; they were engaged separately and fought under the worst
conditions, in the dark and among woods; their position in the house
was scarce tenable; they lost in killed and wounded fifty-six,--forty
per cent.; and their spirit to the end was above question. Whether we
think of the poor sailor lads, always so pleasantly behaved in times of
peace, or whether we call to mind the behaviour of the two civilians,
Haideln and Hufnagel, we can only regret that brave men should stand to
be exposed upon so poor a quarrel, or lives cast away upon an enterprise
so hopeless.

News of the affair reached Apia early, and Moors, always curious of
these spectacles of war, was immediately in the saddle. Near
Matafangatele he met a Manono chief, whom he asked if there were any
German dead. "I think there are about thirty of them knocked over," said
he. "Have you taken their heads?" asked Moors. "Yes," said the chief.
"Some foolish people did it, but I have stopped them. We ought not to
cut off their heads when they do not cut off ours." He was asked what
had been done with the heads. "Two have gone to Mataafa," he replied,
"and one is buried right under where your horse is standing, in a basket
wrapped in tapa." This was afterwards dug up, and I am told on native
authority that, besides the three heads, two ears were taken. Moors next
asked the Manono man how he came to be going away. "The man-of-war is
throwing shells," said he. "When they stopped firing out of the house,
we stopped firing also; so it was as well to scatter when the shells
began. We could have killed all the white men. I wish they had been
Tamaseses." This is an _ex parte_ statement, and I give it for such; but
the course of the affair, and in particular the adventures of Haideln
and Hufnagel, testify to a surprising lack of animosity against the
Germans. A