The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 17Stevenson, Robert Louis
History
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 17
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Islands of the Pacific -- Fiction; Samoan Islands -- History; Short stories
security; and Brandeis was summoned at last from a public dinner, to
find rebellion organised, the woods behind Apia full of insurgents, and
a plan prepared, and in the very article of execution, to surprise and
seize Mulinuu. The timely discovery averted all; and the leaders hastily
withdrew towards the south side of the island, leaving in the bush a
rear-guard under a young man of the name of Saifaleupolu. According to
some accounts, it scarce numbered forty; the leader was no great chief,
but a handsome, industrious lad who seems to have been much beloved. And
upon this obstacle Brandeis fell. It is the man's fault to be too
impatient of results; his public intention to free Samoa of all debt
within the year, depicts him; and instead of continuing to temporise and
let his enemies weary and disperse, he judged it politic to strike a
blow. He struck it, with what seemed to be success, and the sound of it
roused Samoa to rebellion.
About two in the morning of August 31st, Apia was wakened by men
marching. Day came, and Brandeis and his war-party were already long
disappeared in the woods. All morning belated Tamaseseites were still to
be seen running with their guns. All morning shots were listened for in
vain; but over the top of the forest, far up the mountain, smoke was for
some time observed to hang. About ten a dead man was carried in, lashed
under a pole like a dead pig, his rosary (for he was a Catholic) hanging
nearly to the ground. Next came a young fellow wounded, sitting in a
rope swung from a pole; two fellows bearing him, two running behind for
a relief. At last about eleven, three or four heavy volleys and a great
shouting were heard from the bush town Tanungamanono; the affair was
over, the victorious force, on the march back, was there celebrating
its victory by the way. Presently after, it marched through Apia, five
or six hundred strong, in tolerable order and strutting with the
ludicrous assumption of the triumphant islander. Women who had been
buying bread ran and gave them loaves. At the tail end came Brandeis
himself, smoking a cigar, deadly pale, and with perhaps an increase of
his usual nervous manner. One spoke to him by the way. He expressed his
sorrow the action had been forced on him. "Poor people, it's all the
worse for them!" he said. "It'll have to be done another way now." And
it was supposed by his hearer that he referred to intervention from the
German war-ships. He meant, he said, to put a stop to head-hunting; his
men had taken two that day, he added, but he had not suffered them to
bring them in, and they had been left in Tanungamanono. Thither my
informant rode, was attracted by the sound of wailing, and saw in a
house the two heads washed and combed, and the sister of one of the dead
lamenting in the island fashion and kissing the cold face. Soon after, a
small grave was dug, the heads were buried in a beef box, and the pastor
read the service. The body of Saifaleupolu himself was recovered
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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