front and the left flank of Matautu.
About half-past three they enveloped the right flank also. The defenders
were driven back along the beach road as far as the pilot station at the
turn of the land. From this also they were dislodged, stubbornly
fighting. One, it is told, retreated to his middle in the lagoon; stood
there, loading and firing, till he fell; and his body was found on the
morrow pierced with four mortal wounds. The Tamasese force was now
enveloped on three sides; it was besides almost cut off from the sea; and
across its whole rear and only way of retreat a fire of hostile bullets
crossed from east and west, in the midst of which men were surprised to
observe the birds continuing to sing, and a cow grazed all afternoon
unhurt. Doubtless here was the defence in a poor way; but then the
attack was in irons. For the Mataafas about the pilot house could
scarcely advance beyond without coming under the fire of their own men
from the other side of the Fuisa; and there was not enough organisation,
perhaps not enough authority, to divert or to arrest that fire.

The progress of the fight along the beach road was visible from Mulinuu,
and Brandeis despatched ten boats of reinforcements. They crossed the
harbour, paused for a while beside the _Adler_--it is supposed for
ammunition--and drew near the Matautu shore. The Mataafa men lay close
among the shore-side bushes, expecting their arrival; when a silly lad,
in mere lightness of heart, fired a shot in the air. My native friend,
Mrs. Mary Hamilton, ran out of her house and gave the culprit a good
shaking: an episode in the midst of battle as incongruous as the grazing
cow. But his sillier comrades followed his example; a harmless volley
warned the boats what they might expect; and they drew back and passed
outside the reef for the passage of the Fuisa. Here they came under the
fire of the right wing of the Mataafas on the river-bank. The beach,
raked east and west, appeared to them no place to land on. And they hung
off in the deep water of the lagoon inside the barrier reef, feebly
fusillading the pilot house.

Between four and five, the Fabeata regiment (or folk of that village) on
the Mataafa left, which had been under arms all day, fell to be withdrawn
for rest and food; the Siumu regiment, which should have relieved it, was
not ready or not notified in time; and the Tamaseses, gallantly profiting
by the mismanagement, recovered the most of the