a crack on the side of his head
from Manogi's mother, who thought he meant to kill her son-in-law,
and had dashed to the rescue with a heavy tappa mallet. And then, as
Packenham went down like a pithed bullock, there arose a wild cry from
some one that the white captain was being murdered. Denison heard it,
and with five of the _Indiana's_ crew, armed with Winchester rifles, he
jumped into the boat and hurried ashore.

By this time some thirty or forty stalwart Samoans, under the direction
of the teacher, had flung themselves upon the women who were still
rending each other in deadly silence, and in some way separated them.
Packenham was lying apart from the rest, his head supported by a
white-haired old native who was threatening every one present with the
bloody vengeance of a man-of-war. Deasy and Hans were seated on the
sward, still panting and furious. Deasy had one black eye; Hans had two.

"Are yez satisfied, Dutchy?" inquired Deasy.

"Shoost as mooch as you vas!" answered the German.

*****

Now here the matter would have ended, but just at that time Pati-lima,
who was being fanned by a couple of her friends, caught sight of the
slight figure of Manogi, her white muslin gown torn to ribbons and her
bosom heaving with excitement. Her beautiful face, though white with
rage, was un-marred by the slightest scratch, while Pati-lima's was
deeply scored by her enemy's nails. This was hard to bear.

Raising herself on one elbow, Mrs. Deasy pointed contemptuously to
Manogi's husband and called out--

"Ah, you conceited Manogi! Take home thy German _pala-ai_ (coward). My
man hath beaten him badly."

"Thou liest, thou great blubbering whale," was the beauty's scornful
reply; "he could beat such a drunkard as thy husband any day."

The two women sprang to their feet, and were about to engage again when
Denison ran in between them, and succeeded in keeping them apart. Deasy
and Hans looked on unconcernedly.

"What is all this?" said Denison to Packenham.

Packenham groaned, "I don't know. An old woman hit me with a club."

"Serve you right. Now then, Deasy, and you, Hans, send all these women
away. I thought you had more sense than to encourage such things,"
and then Denison, who excelled in vituperative Samoan, addressed the
assemblage, and told the people to go home.

Still glaring defiance, the two factions slowly turned to leave the
field, and again all would have been well but for Manogi, who was
burnin