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A Footnote to History-Part23_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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at the rate (as I receive the tale) of three dollars a head for

every German saved. The obligation was in this instance



incommensurably deep, those with whom they were at war had saved

the German blue-jackets at the venture of their lives; Knappe was,



besides, far from ungenerous; and I can only explain the niggard

figure by supposing it was paid from his own pocket. In one case,



at least, it was refused. "I have saved three Germans," said the

rescuer; "I will make you a present of the three."



The crews of the American and German squadrons were now cast, still

in a bellicose temper, together on the beach. The discipline of



the Americans was notoriously loose; the crew of the NIPSIC had

earned a character for lawlessness in other ports; and recourse was



had to stringent and indeed extraordinary measures. The town was

divided in two camps, to which the different nationalities were



confined. Kimberley had his quarter sentinelled and patrolled.

Any seaman disregarding a challenge was to be shot dead; any



tavern-keeper who sold spirits to an American sailor was to have

his tavern broken and his stock destroyed. Many of the publicans



were German; and Knappe, having narrated these rigorous but

necessary dispositions, wonders (grinning to himself over his



despatch) how far these Americans will go in their assumption of

jurisdiction over Germans. Such as they were, the measures were



successful. The incongruous mass of castaways was kept in peace,

and at last shipped in peace out of the islands.



Kane returned to Apia on the 19th, to find the CALLIOPE the sole

survivor of thirteen sail. He thanked his men, and in particular



the engineers, in a speech of unusual feeling and beauty, of which

one who was present remarked to another, as they left the ship,



"This has been a means of grace." Nor did he forget to thank and

compliment the admiral; and I cannot deny myself the pleasure of



transcribing from Kimberley's reply some generous and engaging

words. "My dear captain," he wrote, "your kind note received. You



went out splendidly, and we all felt from our hearts for you, and

our cheers came with sincerity and admiration for the able manner



in which you handled your ship. We could not have been gladder if

it had been one of our ships, for in a time like that I can truly



say with old Admiral Josiah Latnall, 'that blood is thicker than

water.'" One more trait will serve to build up the image of this



typical sea-officer. A tiny schooner, the EQUATOR, Captain Edwin

Reid, dear to myself from the memories of a six months' cruise,



lived out upon the high seas the fury of that tempest which had

piled with wrecks the harbour of Apia, found a refuge in Pango-



Pango, and arrived at last in the desolated port with a welcome and

lucrative cargo of pigs. The admiral was glad to have the pigs;



but what most delighted the man's noble and childish soul, was to

see once more afloat the colours of his country.



Thus, in what seemed the very article of war, and within the

duration of a single day, the sword-arm of each of the two angry



Powers was broken; their formidable ships reduced to junk; their

disciplined hundreds to a horde of castaways, fed with difficulty,



and the fear of whose misconduct marred the sleep of their

commanders. Both paused aghast; both had time to recognise that



not the whole Samoan Archipelago was worth the loss in men and

costly ships already suffered. The so-calledhurricane of March



16th made thus a marking epoch in world-history; directly, and at

once, it brought about the congress and treaty of Berlin;



indirectly, and by a process still continuing, it founded the

modern navy of the States. Coming years and other historians will



declare the influence of that.

CHAPTER XI - LAUPEPA AND MATAAFA



1889-1892

WITH the hurricane, the broken war-ships, and the stranded sailors,



I am at an end of violence, and my tale flows henceforth among

carpet incidents. The blue-jackets on Apia beach were still



jealously held apart by sentries, when the powers at home were

already seeking a peaceablesolution. It was agreed, so far as



might be, to obliterate two years of blundering; and to resume in

1889, and at Berlin, those negotiations which had been so unhappily






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