On the 21st the _Olga_
came before Matafangatele, ordered the delivery of all arms within the
hour, and at the end of that period, none being brought, shelled and
burned the village. The shells fell for the most part innocuous; an
eyewitness saw children at play beside the flaming houses; not a soul was
injured; and the one noteworthy event was the mutilation of Captain
Hamilton's American flag. In one sense an incident too small to be
chronicled, in another this was of historic interest and import. These
rags of tattered bunting occasioned the display of a new sentiment in the
United States; and the republic of the West, hitherto so apathetic and
unwieldy, but already stung by German nonchalance, leaped to its feet for
the first time at the news of this fresh insult. As though to make the
inefficiency of the war-ships more apparent, three shells were thrown
inland at Mangiangi; they flew high over the Mataafa camp, where the
natives could "hear them singing" as they flew, and fell behind in the
deep romantic valley of the Vaisingano. Mataafa had been already
summoned on board the _Adler_; his life promised if he came, declared "in
danger" if he came not; and he had declined in silence the unattractive
invitation.
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