Scanlon house stood on the hither side of the Tamasese breastwork, just
inside the newly accepted territory, and within easy range of the firm.
Armed men, to the number of a hundred, had issued from Mulinuu, had
"taken charge" of the house, had pointed a gun at Scanlon's head, and had
twice "threatened to kill" his pigs. I hear elsewhere of some effects
(_Gegenstande_) removed. At the best a very pale atrocity, though we
shall find the word employed. Germans declare besides that Scanlon was
no American subject; they declare the point had been decided by court-
martial in 1875; that Blacklock had the decision in the consular
archives; and that this was his reason for handing the affair to Leary.
It is not necessary to suppose so. It is plain he thought little of the
business; thought indeed nothing of it; except in so far as armed men had
entered the neutral territory from Mulinuu; and it was on this ground
alone, and the implied breach of Becker's engagement at the conference,
that he invited Leary's attention to the tale. The impish ingenuity of
the commander perceived in it huge possibilities of mischief. He took up
the Scanlon outrage, the atrocity of the threatened pigs; and with that
poor instrument--I am sure, to his own wonder--drove Tamasese out of
Mulinuu. It was "an intrigue," Becker complains. To be sure it was; but
who was Becker to be complaining of intrigue?

On the 7th Leary laid before Fritze the following conundrum: "As the
natives of Mulinuu appear to be under the protection of the Imperial
German naval guard belonging to the vessel under your command, I have the
honour to request you to inform me whether or not they are under such
protection? Amicable relations," pursued the humorist, "amicable
relations exist between the government of the United States and His
Imperial German Majesty's government, but we do not recognise Tamasese's
government, and I am desirous of locating the responsibility for
violations of American rights." Becker and Fritze lost no time in