own, not by any fault of the
inhabitants, rather by the act of Becker, had fallen back in civilisation
about a thousand years.

There falls one more incident to be narrated, and then I can close with
this ungracious chapter. I have mentioned the name of the new English
consul. It is already familiar to English readers; for the gentleman who
was fated to undergo some strange experiences in Apia was the same de
Coetlogon who covered Hicks's flank at the time of the disaster in the
desert, and bade farewell to Gordon in Khartoum before the investment.
The colonel was abrupt and testy; Mrs. de Coetlogon was too exclusive for
society like that of Apia; but whatever their superficial disabilities,
it is strange they should have left, in such an odour of unpopularity, a
place where they set so shining an example of the sterling virtues. The
colonel was perhaps no diplomatist; he was certainly no lawyer; but he
discharged the duties of his office with the constancy and courage of an
old soldier, and these were found sufficient. He and his wife had no
ambition to be the leaders of society; the consulate was in their time no
house of feasting; but they made of it that house of mourning to which
the preacher tells us it is better we should go. At an early date after
the battle of Matautu, it was opened as a hospital for the wounded. The
English and Americans subscribed what was required for its support. Pelly
of the _Lizard_ strained every nerve to help, and set up tents on the
lawn to be a shelter for the patients. The doctors of the English and
American ships, and in particular Dr. Oakley of the _Lizard_, showed
themselves indefatigable. But it was on the de Coetlogons that the
distress fell. For nearly half a year, their lawn, their verandah,
sometimes their rooms, were cumbered with the sick and dying, their ears
were filled with the complaints of suffering humanity, their time was too
short for the multiplicity of pitiful duties. In Mrs. de Coetlogon, and
her helper, Miss Taylor, the merit of this endurance was perhaps to be
looked for; in a man of the colonel's temper, himself painfully
suffering, it was viewed with more surprise, if with no more admiration.
Doubtless all had their reward in a sense of duty done; doubtless, also,
as the days passed, in the spectacle of many traits of gratitude and
patience, and in the success that waited on their efforts. Out of a
hundred cases treated, only five died. They were