In this overcrowding of ships in an open entry of the
reef, even the eye of the landsman could spy danger; and
Captain-Lieutenant Wallis of the _Eber_ openly blamed and lamented, not
many hours before the catastrophe, their helpless posture. Temper once
more triumphed. The army of Mataafa still hung imminent behind the town;
the German quarter was still daily garrisoned with fifty sailors from the
squadron; what was yet more influential, Germany and the States, at least
in Apia bay, were on the brink of war, viewed each other with looks of
hatred, and scarce observed the letter of civility. On the day of the
admiral's arrival, Knappe failed to call on him, and on the morrow called
on him while he was on shore. The slight was remarked and resented, and
the two squadrons clung more obstinately to their dangerous station.
On the 15th the barometer fell to 29.11 in. by 2 P.M. This was the
moment when every sail in port should have escaped. Kimberley, who flew
the only broad pennant, should certainly have led the way: he clung,
instead, to his moorings, and the Germans doggedly followed his example:
semi-belligerents, daring each other and the violence of heaven. Kane,
less immediately involved, was led in error by the report of residents
and a fallacious rise in the glass; he stayed with the others, a
misjudgment that was like to cost him dear.
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