The apparently more legitimate successor, Mataafa, roused most of the population under his leadership.

The Adler steamed about the islands shelling Mataafa villages, and the American consul steamed after him, putting his launch between the Adler and the shore.

In the course of these events, on December 18, 1888, Mataafa ambushed a German landing party and killed fifty of its members.
German public opinion thereupon vociferously demanded a punishment which would establish the place of Germany as a colonial power in the Pacific.
Great Britain, however, was not disposed to give her growing rival a free hand.

The United States was appealed to under the Treaty of 1878, and American sentiment determined to protect the Samoans in their heroic fight for self-government.

All three nations involved sent warships to Apia, and through the early spring of 1889 their chancelleries and the press were prepared to hear momentarily that some one's temper had given way in the tropic heat and that blood had been shed--with what consequences on the other side of the globe no man could tell.
Very different, however, was the news that finally limped in, for there was no cable.