“This is awkward,” Phil exclaimed excitedly to Sydney. “Something’s got to be done at once or we’ll have the ‘tonga-fiti’ after all. Follow me.” He advanced, pushing his way through the crowd. The midshipmen were in uniform, and the natives gave way readily before them. Phil had almost reached Avao’s side, when a loud report of a rifle discharged brought him to a stand. Several more shots were then fired in rapid succession. The natives instantly backed away; but when they found no one had been hurt they stopped and began talking and gesticulating wildly. Phil seized Avao by the arm and turned quickly back toward the road. From out on the water a rocket soared into the sky. “Well, of all the mysteries,” Phil exclaimed as they hurried back toward the consulate. “I wonder if the guns are in that store after all?” At the landing the Herzovinian cutters were beginning to arrive as Phil and his party passed. They saw a company of sailors with two officers quickly form and move at double time up the road. The lads soon saw Commander Tazewell and the American consul hurrying toward the town. “What has happened?” Commander Tazewell demanded of Phil as they met. Phil breathlessly explained. “I suppose the war-ship thought it was an attack,” he ended. “But why are the guards there at all unless the guns are in the store and not on board the schooner? Kulinuu is deserted,” he added. “We landed there and walked home.” “Kataafa probably has the guns by now,” Commander Tazewell said to the consul in a low voice which Phil could barely hear. “Is this a plan to trick us into committing ourselves before the chief justice’s decision is rendered?” “There’s no need of our going further, commander,” the consul said, nervously regarding his daughters with a fond eye and fearful of danger to them. “Come back with me. We can talk more privately.” A figure proceeding from the landing was soon recognized as the British captain. He was given a full account of the incident, and appeared very much relieved. “When I heard the shots and the answering rocket from the war-ship,” he exclaimed, “I at once imagined that Kataafa was attacking Ukula. I have my men ready and the boats lowered,” he added. “Thought I’d come ashore to look about first. I was going to camp them in the British consul’s yard.” The party, with the exception of Avao, returned to the American consulate. The “Tapau,” with an innocent smile and a cheery “Talofa, Alii,”[25] slipped away by a “bush” trail. “What we need, Tazewell,” the British captain declared as the “lanai” was reached and all were seated quietly, “is information. We must send out scouts and find out where this Kataafa has gone and what that fellow Klinger is up to. Our mysterious count,” he added, “is not out purely for pleasure.”