It would
have been hard to accept that solution which Knappe had so recently and
so peremptorily refused to his brother consuls. And he was tempted, on
the other hand, by recent changes. There was no Pelly to support de
Coetlogon, who might now be disregarded. Mullan, Leary's successor, even
if he were not precisely a Hand, was at least no Leary; and even if
Mullan should show fight, Knappe had now three ships and could defy or
sink him without danger. Many small circumstances moved him in the same
direction. The looting of German plantations continued; the whole force
of Mataafa was to a large extent subsisted from the crops of Vailele; and
armed men were to be seen openly plundering bananas, breadfruit, and
cocoa-nuts under the walls of the plantation building. On the night of
the 13th the consulate stable had been broken into and a horse removed.
On the 16th there was a riot in Apia between half-castes and sailors from
the new ship _Olga_, each side claiming that the other was the worse of
drink, both (for a wager) justly. The multiplication of flags and little
neutral territories had, besides, begun to irritate the Samoans. The
protests of German settlers had been received uncivilly. On the 16th the
Mataafas had again sought to land in Saluafata bay, with the manifest
intention to attack the Tamaseses, or (in other words) "to trespass on
German lands, covered, as your Excellency knows, with flags.
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