day in Leulumoenga; three hundred recruits had come in, a feast was
cooking; and the photographer, in view of the native love of being
photographed, was made entirely welcome. But beneath the friendly
surface all were on the alert. The secret had leaked out: Weber beheld
his plans threatened in the root; Brandeis trembled for the possession of
his slave and sovereign; and the German vice-consul, Mr. Sonnenschein,
had been sent or summoned to the scene of danger.

It was after dark, prayers had been said and the hymns sung through all
the village, and Strong and the German sat together on the mats in the
house of Tamasese, when the events began. Strong speaks German freely, a
fact which he had not disclosed, and he was scarce more amused than
embarrassed to be able to follow all the evening the dissension and the
changing counsels of his neighbours. First the king himself was missing,
and there was a false alarm that he had escaped and was already closeted
with Poor. Next came certain intelligence that some of the ministry had
run the blockade, and were on their way to the house of the English
settler. Thereupon, in spite of some protests from Tamasese, who tried
to defend the independence of his cabinet, Brandeis gathered a posse of
warriors, marched out of the village, brought back the fugitives, and
clapped them in the corrugated iron shanty which served as gaol. Along
with these he seems to have seized Billy Coe, interpreter to the
Hawaiians; and Poor, seeing his conspiracy public, burst with his boat's-
crew into the town, made his way to the house of the native prime
minister, and demanded Coe's release. Brandeis hastened to the spot,
with Strong at his heels; and the two principals being both incensed, and
Strong seriously alarmed for his friend's safety, there began among them
a scene of great intemperance. At one point, when Strong suddenly
disclosed his acquaintance with German, it attained a high style of
comedy; at another, when a pistol was most foolishly drawn, it bordered