For months they had lived with the knowledge that the big guns were trained upon them, and that at any moment a careless or frightened soldier might pull the lanyard, fire a cannon off, and blow half Honolulu to smithereens. He did not say much, but felt that he would have to make many changes in affairs, and went to bed to think things over. He was awakened in the middle of the night by cries of: "Hi! hi! hi! there! Say! It's half-past two." It took him some time to realize that this was the soldierly manner in which the Hawaiian army changed the guard, and when the truth finally dawned upon him, he laughed himself to sleep over the comic army he was called upon to reorganize and train. The next day, to the horror of the people in the palace, he removed the guns, and reduced the number of sentries to four. There was a terrible outcry against this order. Those in the palace declared their lives were no longer safe. The first night after guns and sentries were taken away, they passed a night of terror, no one apparently expecting to live to see the morning. When, however, morning came, and they were all alive, they calmed down a little. So did the townspeople, when the guns were taken away. When the Colonel made arrangements whereby the imprisoned Queen could get a little fresh air daily, and no terrible consequences followed, he became the most popular person in Honolulu. The government decided that Colonel McLean was a wonder for quieting the citizens. The citizens were grateful to him for having had sense enough to remove the guns; the supporters of the Queen liked him for making matters more comfortable for her; and the army found that he knew what he was about, and trusted him accordingly. Colonel McLean has had three years of very hard work getting the soldiers into order, but has left the army in a very different condition from that in which he found it. * * * * * The State Department has sent to Mr. Uhl, the United States Ambassador to Germany, directing him to make a demand on the German Government for the release of an American citizen named Mayer, who has been wrongfully forced to serve in the German army. This matter is of interest to us, because it shows us our rights as citizens. The father of this Mayer was a German citizen who came to this country, lived here for a good number of years, and returned to his native land when his son was between eleven and twelve years old. The elder Mayer never took out his naturalization papers, and therefore remained a citizen of Germany. The younger Mayer was nevertheless an American citizen because he was born here, and this is the point that interests us.