legitimate successor, Mataafa, roused most of the population
under his leadership. The Adler steamed about the islands
shelling Mataafa villages, and the American consul steamed after
him, putting his launch between the Adler and the shore. In the
course of these events, on December 18, 1888, Mataafa ambushed a
German landing party and killed fifty of its members.

German public opinion thereupon vociferously demanded a
punishment which would establish the place of Germany as a
colonial power in the Pacific. Great Britain, however, was not
disposed to give her growing rival a free hand. The United States
was appealed to under the Treaty of 1878, and American sentiment
determined to protect the Samoans in their heroic fight for
self-government. All three nations involved sent warships to
Apia, and through the early spring of 1889 their chancelleries
and the press were prepared to hear momentarily that some one's
temper had given way in the tropic heat and that blood had been
shed--with what consequences on the other side of the globe no
man could tell.

Very different, however, was the news that finally limped in, for
there was no cable. On March 16, 1889, a hurricane had swept the
islands, wrecking all but one of the warships. The common
distress had brought about cooperation among all parties. Tales
of mutual help and mutual praise of natives and the three nations
filled the dispatches. The play turned out to be a comedy after
all. Yet difficulties remained which could be met only by joint
action. A commission of the three nations therefore was arranged
to meet in Berlin. The United States insisted on native
government; Germany, on foreign control. Finally they agreed to a