“What do you mean by arresting an innocent man?” O’Neil exclaimed when Johnny Upolu had risen to his feet. “What’s this island coming to, anyway? Now, you just beat it.” Johnny coaxed a smile upon his face. “Got a warrant,” he said, producing a large certificate and showing it to O’Neil and the crowd. O’Neil glanced contemptuously at the official paper. He could not read a word, but he recognized the design of the seal. “Take that out to Kataafa at Kulinuu,” O’Neil said. “That don’t go here. You’ve got to have either a lion or another breed of bird on your warrant to do business with us.” O’Neil considered the matter settled. His arm linked under that of Stump, they reëntered the house. The chief of police did not follow. An American sailorman on liberty was, to his mind, a dangerous object to meddle with. It was a kind of explosive mixture which might go off upon contact. O’Neil had never met Stump, but he sized him up as accurately as if he had been personally acquainted. “You’re from the ‘Talofa,’” O’Neil said as Mary called for more cocoanuts and Stump composed his ruffled garments. “Why ain’t you in her now? She’s off on a pleasure cruise with a foreign nobleman.” Stump wagged his head knowingly. “The ‘Talofa’ ain’t the breed to go on any pleasure cruise,” he answered. “‘Bully’ Scott’s got something on board that he didn’t just like to put ashore in Ukula. I’ve been hiding in the ‘bush.’ I saw her go, so I started to find our consul to get my rights.” “Who’s been abusing you except Johnny Upolu?” O’Neil asked. “Your countenance does look as if it had met a hard round object. Who did it?” “‘Bully’ Scott,” Stump replied bitterly. “But I’m quit of him now. He’ll never get me on his ship again if I can help it.” “Stop swinging all over the compass,” O’Neil said rebukingly, “and steady down on some course. We want to hear what you got to say.” Stump laughed a mirthless laugh. “That’s what I did,” he exclaimed. “I steered her into Ukula when old man Scott thought he was heading straight for Saluafata. Fixed the compass, you see. Oh, it’s a great trick.” O’Neil began to understand. “So Scott didn’t intend coming in here last night?” he asked. “Not he,” Stump declared joyfully. “He was loaded with ‘blacks’ and guns.” “That’s where you’re dead wrong, then,” O’Neil explained, “for he has landed everything and a foreign count has hired the schooner.” Stump gazed in wonder at the speaker. “You don’t seem to know ‘Bully’ Scott,” he said. “Them guns are in the schooner and he’s going to land them to-night at Saluafata.” “Come with me,” O’Neil commanded taking Stump by the arm. “You ought to know if any one does. What we’ve got to do is to put our captain wise at once. Is Scott an Englishman?” O’Neil asked. “Not he!” Stump exclaimed. “He’s an American. Comes from ‘Frisco’; and the ‘Talofa’ was stolen at Hongkong from a Chinaman.” As they passed Klinger’s store, Stump stopped to eye the boxes still piled on the porch of the store.