OF THE SOUTH SEAS 121 



without expert guidance, and more so that the crew 

 might renew the combat. 



The secretary-general conferred with the private sec- 

 retary of the governor, the first and second in command, 

 and several old residents. They would apply to the 

 British consul for warrants for the arrest of the ruf- 

 fianty marksmen, they would wrench them from the rails, 

 and sentence them to long imprisonments. 



So for an hour more the steamship puffed and ex- 

 hausted her steam, while the high officials paced the 

 wharf shaking their fists at the besotted stokers, who 

 shook theirs back. 



The stores, closing at five o'clock, sent their quota of 

 clerks to swell the mob at the quay, and the "rubberneck 

 wagon," alert to earn fares, took the news of the fray 

 into the cduntiy, and hauled in scores of excited provin- 

 cials, who had vague ideas that la guerre was on. The 

 wedding party, only six motor-cars full on the second 

 day, all in wreaths of tuberoses and wild-cherry rind, 

 the bride still in her point-lace veil, and the groom and 

 all the guests cheered with the champagne they had 

 drunk, drove under the shed from the suburbs and 

 honked their horns, to the horror of the secretary -general 

 and the others. 



The situation was now both disciplinary and diplo- 

 matic. 



'^C'est tres serieux" whispered the secretary to the 

 governor's private secretary, a dapper little man whose 

 flirting had made his wife a Niobe and alarmed the hus- 

 bands and fathers of many French dames et files. 



"Serious, monsieur?" said the private secretary, twist- 

 ing his black wisp of a mustache, "it is more than serious 



