His people murmured at his absence, threatened to "take away his name," and had already attempted a rescue.

The adventure was now taken in hand by his wife Faatulia, a woman of much sense and spirit and a strong partisan; and by her contrivance, Seumanu gave his guardians the slip and rejoined his clan at Faleula.

This process of winnowing was of course counterbalanced by another of recruitment.

But the harshness of European and military rule had made Brandeis detested and Tamasese unpopular with many; and the force on Mulinuu is thought to have done little more than hold its own.

Mataafa sympathisers set it down at about two or three thousand.