by the Germans. "Do you not see the king?"
said the commodore reprovingly. "His father was no king," was the bold
answer. A bolder still has been printed, but this is Mataafa's own
recollection of the passage. On the next day, the chiefs were all
ordered back to shake hands with Tamasese. Again they obeyed; but again
their attitude was menacing, and some, it is said, audibly murmured as
they gave their hands.

It is time to follow the poor Sheet of Paper (literal meaning of
_Laupepa_), who was now to be blown so broadly over the face of earth.
As soon as news reached him of the declaration of war, he fled from
Afenga to Tanungamanono, a hamlet in the bush, about a mile and a half
behind Apia, where he lurked some days. On the 24th, Selu, his
secretary, despatched to the American consul an anxious appeal, his
majesty's "cry and prayer" in behalf of "this weak people." By August
30th, the Germans had word of his lurking-place, surrounded the hamlet
under cloud of night, and in the early morning burst with a force of
sailors on the houses. The people fled on all sides, and were fired
upon. One boy was shot in the hand, the first blood of the war. But the
king was nowhere to be found; he had wandered farther, over the woody
mountains, the backbone of the land, towards Siumu and Safata. Here, in
a safe place, he built himself a town in the forest, where he received a
continual stream of visitors and messengers. Day after day the German
blue-jackets were employed in the hopeless enterprise of beating the
forests for the fugitive; day after day they were suffered to pass
unhurt under the guns of ambushed Samoans; day after day they returned,
exhausted and disappointed, to Apia. Seumanu Tafa, high chief of Apia,
was known to be in the forest with the king; his wife, Fatuila, was
seized, imprisoned in the German hospital, and when it was thought her
spirit was sufficiently reduced, brought up for cross-examination. The
wise lady confined herself in answer to a single word. "Is your husband
near Apia?" "Yes." "Is he far from Apia?" "Yes." "Is he with the king?"
"Yes." "Are he and the king in different places?" "Yes." Whereupon the
witness was discharged. About the 10th of September, Laupepa was
secretly in Apia at the American consulate with two companions. The
German pickets were close set and visited by a strong patrol; and on his
return, his party was observed and hailed and fired on by a sentry. They
ran away on all fours in