KING JAKOB (Part 8)


By KATZMAREK(C)


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This work is fiction. It remains the property of the author and
may not be used for profit without the author's express
permission in writing. It contains sex, so if this offends etc...


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Part 8


In 1914 Japan was still a mystery to most of Europe. They were artistic, creative, aesthetic with a quaint, highly ritualistic society. They were also fiercely Nationalistic, belicose and believed as much in divine destiny as any European demagogue. By 1914, she had also acquired a reputation for attacking her enemies before actually declaring war. To the Europeans, this was a serious breach of etiquette. She had attacked China that way in 1897 and in 1904, Admiral Tojo Heichiro sent his torpedo boats against the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, Manchuria.


Germany's only Naval base of any consequence outside of home was at Tsingtao, China in the then German Concession. It was also perilously close to Japan. At the beginning of August 1914, the authorities had gathered together all the Naval shipping they could from Germany's scattered colonies. By and large, they were a motley collection of old colonial gunboats who were serving out their time before retirement. Four of them lined the quay, 'Iltis,' 'Jaguar,' 'Luchs,' and 'Tiger'. From August the 1st 1914, these were all decommissioned and their guns unshipped and emplaced ashore.


At Ponape in the Eastern Carolines was the freshly renamed South Seas Squadron of Vice Admiral Maximillian Johannes Maria Hubertus von Spee. Besides 'Scharnhorst' and 'Gneisenau,' relatively modern 'armoured cruisers,' his squadron also consisted of the smaller, 'Nuernburg,' 'Emden' and 'Prinz Eitel Friedrich' together with the tenders 'Titania' and 'Markomannia.' Abandoning his 'tour of inspection' then in progress, von Spee awaited orders from Berlin to begin operations.


Britain had had a treaty with Belgium since the 1830's guaranteeing her sovereignty. Germany's 'Schleifen plan' called for a right hook through Belgian territory to attack France. Unbelievably, the German General Staff had convinced themselves that Britain would ignore their intrusion. After all, it was only a little bit of Belgian territory. Too little, they believed, for Britain to get too het up about. It wasn't the first, or the last time Germany completely botched her international diplomacy and strategic planning. From that point, the Central Powers effectively put victory out of reach. 


Meanwhile, far away in the outer islands of German Samoa, Jakob Herzberg's three-masted topsail schooner 'Borodino' was anchored off an anonymous little volcano called Talofa'a'sofua Island. They were waiting there to pick up one Dr. Bentine, an English Anthropologist. Arriving the night before, the Borodino's Samoan crewmen had been reluctant to go ashore. Claiming, they said, that a landing would be too dangerous, Jakob suspected that their real fear was of the inhabitants.


"What's on the other side?" Jakob asked his Samoan 'Master mate'.


"Rocks, sheer cliffs," he told him, "no landing there. Village under those trees, there, see?" he pointed.


"Got it! So where the hell is everyone?"


"Out fishing?" he shrugged, "gone to nearby islands for sea-birds or eggs, shellfish? Who knows what they do?"


"So what say we land."


"No chance," he shook his head, "can't do that while men away. Women will run away, men come back and stick you with spears."


"Ha, are the women that attractive?" he laughed.


"Like sows, with udders the size of ship's buoys?" the Samoan grinned.


"Now that I've got to see!"


But protocol demanded that they wait for the men to return. To do otherwise would be needlessly provocative. It was easy to understand. In days gone by when rival 'fanau' raided each other's villages, 'women stealing' was high on the agenda. It was one way of widening the gene pool.


Jakob's mistresses were creating not a small amount of interest themselves. Asmira and Qing Li acquired the habit of wearing quite immodest attire when on deck, light cotton tops over otherwise naked breasts and short trousers or island lavalavas. Julia was the only one of Jakob's women companions who dressed 'decently.' Her 'proper' upbringing would not allow her to dress as the other women. The previous night she had shed some of her English reserve when she had lain with Jakob in the presence of Asmira and Qing Li. Although she had made love to only Jakob, she couldn't be sure in the heat of passion just whose hands, and fingers, were upon her.


Or indeed tongues, for she had writhed in excitement at the sensation of a moist wriggling thing insinuated between her legs. She couldn't place whose tongue it was and it concerned her. Had she sunk to new levels of degradation? It bothered her because she had truely enjoyed the experience. It would have been much better to have felt repelled.


Some time around mid-morning there was movement on the distant beach. Through their telescopes, Jakob and his Samoan master mate spotted a white man, a veritable Robinson Crusoe of a character.


"There's your Englishman," the Samoan said.


He was dressed in a ragged shirt and lavalava. An old straw boater graced his head and Jakob thought he could see bird feathers wound into his long hair.


"Good grief!" Jakob said, "what has the man been doing?"


"Gone native," grinned the Samoan, "too many big udders!"


As they watched, several more people appeared and began to point towards them. These were young men, bare-chests festooned with sea-shell necklaces and they carried spears.


"I don't like the look of them!" remarked Jakob.


"Fishing spears," commented the Samoan, "probably come back from the reefs. Spear fish in rock pools."


"Ah! That explains it."


Presently a canoe appeared from the bush and they set out towards the 'Borodino.'


"Julia! Dress up and close your legs. Here comes your husband."


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Dr. Bentine was excentric, cultured, mannered and spoke English smattered with Samoan. He wore rimless glasses, island dress and long hair wound into locks and twisted with feathers. He was shorter than Jakob and sturdier in build, a European knife dangled on a strap over his shoulder. Jakob decided to keep quiet about his relationship with Julia until he was sure of the man's temper.


Julia was shocked at the change in him. Could this once reserved, academic gentleman possibly be her husband? Jakob tactfully left them alone to get re-acquainted. It wasn't long, however, before she returned, an indefinable look on her face.


"He wants to stay," she told Jakob.


"Right! Waisake throw on a shovelful and turn up the wick. Pull the anchor up, let's go!"


"No wait," cried Julia, "you can't leave him!"


"Let him stay, Julia, send him back to his udders and spearfishermen."


"But..."


"We're not his keepers, Julia."


Unbeknown to them, at that precise time the Australian squadron was combing the Bismarck Archipelago and the Balaus for von Spee. The German South Seas Squadron, however, had scattered. Von Spee had gathered together his light cruisers, 'Leipzig' and 'Dresden' and together with 'Nuernburg' had taken them and his big ships South East into the Pacific. 'Emden' was ordered to take the tender 'Markomannia' and head for the Indian Ocean. The 'Australia' signalled the important news that von Spee was loose in the Pacific, then headed for Port Moresby in British New Guinea for coal and further orders. War was heading for the Pacific whether the citizens of Samoa wanted it or not.


On Samoa itself, the cable link to Fiji abruptly ceased. That to German New Guinea was slow and erratic. Starved of news, the settlers grew more anxious. The big Telefunken wireless radio on Telegraph hill buzzed with traffic, however. But all of it was in code, all official and couldn't be disseminated to the population. A perimeter was constructed around the station and it's diesel generator guarded by two Samoan policemen armed with Mannlicher semi-automatic pistols. Schapinski had received direct orders from Berlin to do so. Communications had to be secured.


Poor old Stadler's plan of escape had been blocked. He was there for the duration whether he liked it or not.


Hoffmann's men kept themselves busy digging rifle pits on the lower slopes of the hills above Apia. 'Better to succumb heroically,' he told his 'troops,''than to damage German prestige by giving in without a fight.' Three of his troop weren't so sure and slipped away to their homes on the Northern island of Savai'i.


Schapinski had the single artillery piece on Samoa, its antique 37mm signal gun, secretly disabled. The old cannon took half an hour to reload at any rate and was considered more of a danger to friend than foe. The Administrator wasn't going to have some hothead letting the thing off at the 'Australia.'


Generally the 190 odd German settlers remaining on the Samoan Islands in August 1914 were less interested in heroic deeds than a quiet life. Not quite so the Samoan native population. About a dozen chiefs had pledged over a thousand warriors to resist any invasion. They had few firearms among them, however, just spears and clubs. Schapinski spent time with the orators in a hitherto vain attempt at convincing them they were officially neutrals and so couldn't fight. A difficult concept, they were expected to stand by as spectators while one European power siezed their islands from another.


The Colonial Administrator was quickly running out of nerves. He had done better thus far than anyone expected of the man. But for Hoffmann's troops and the Samoan war party, everything had been kept under control in the most trying circumstances. What he needed now was von Goeltz, or failing that Herzberg, with the personal power and charisma to rein in the idiots. Alas, von Goeltz was serving in the German General staff in Berlin and Herzberg had cleared out on his schooner. At the end of his tether, he tried to reach Herzberg by radio once more.


'Situation serious, Samoans and Hoffmann preparing to fight English. Must return to avoid disaster.' The message finished with a personal touch from Schapinski, 'your friends need you. Schapinski.'


"Bastard!" said Jakob when he saw the message. He brushed past Julia into his cabin and slammed the door.


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Two hours later he was still holed up in the cabin. The crew were standing around uncertain what they should do. Julia had asked the Master mate to belay the order to sail until Jakob had re-appeared.


Her husband had gone back to the island in the meantime, but returned just before lunch time. The local chief, he said, had invited everyone for a feast and canoes would shortly put out to bring everyone to shore.


His master mate, Waisake the engineer, Qing Li, Asmira and Julia held a brief meeting on deck to decide what to do. The Samoans were, oddly, for accepting the invitation. In their culture it was seriously disrespectful not to go and may cause lasting problems. It would be true to say, however, that they weren't particularly enthusiastic. Jakob's mistresses refused to go without Jakob, but Julia wanted one last attempt at persuading her husband to leave with them. In the end Asmira and Qing Li decided to wait for Jakob to snap out of his depression while the others piled into the waiting canoes.


Jakob was sitting in his cabin when Asmira knocked on the door softly once more. 


"Master Jakob?" Asmira called. The door unlocked and she entered. "Are you alright?" she asked, quietly. A half empty vodka bottle sat on the table. Jakob stared at it while sitting on the bed.



"Sit!" he told her and patted the bed. "What do you think, Asmira?" he said eventually, "I never ask your opinion, do I? Funny... never have. Always assumed you would do what I decide. You, who wait so patiently, raise my children... never question. What, my dear, would you do?"


"Master?" she looked puzzled.


"Master?" Jakob said, shaking his head. "Master, never Jakob? Are you happy, Asmira? Happy with a life in service, bearing children... foregoing your own life for me... foregoing love? Perhaps love does not mean the same for you, I don't know...." Asmira continued to look at him questioningly. "Do you understand?"


"I love you Master Jakob," she said quietly.


"But how can you, Asmira? I have never been faithful, to anyone. I've only ever judged someone on the basis of what use they are to me. I never think about what they want, feel..." he tapered off and took another swig of the vodka. "I should have married you, Asmira. You were my first, my truest... stood by me... always... You taught me about the bedroom... how to please women.... always opened your legs when I asked. Why? I don't deserve... have never deserved you, Asmira. You have been my rock, my saviour. How can you have tolerated me all these years?"


"I love you, Master Jakob," she repeated.


"You're only saying that because I pay you," Jakob said bitterly, "if I sold you to that idiot Hoffmann, you would say the same thing to him."


"I don't love idiot Hoffmann," she said, "only love you, Master Jakob."


"Oh bullshit!" Jakob spat, throwing his bottle against the wall.


"You unhappy? I make you happy, Master Jakob." 


Jakob turned and looked her up and down. Her big breasts were unfettered under her shirt, he could see her nipples clearly through the fabric. Asmira was now over 40 years old. Her precise age was unknown to him, she couldn't remember what year she was born. Her dark Tamil features were now a little worn from age and child-rearing fatigue. Silver threads now intruded into her long dark mane of hair. But her eyes still danced with life and spirit. The same eyes that had always captivated him when other women had come to fill his life, and bed.


Jakob sat back down next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. He turned her face to his and rested his forehead on her's. He brushed her cheek with his hand, she smiled.


"You must tell me what I should do," he told her, "should I sail away, or go back?"


"You know what to do," she replied, "you always know what to do." Her eyes were moist. Jakob asked her what was wrong. "You are unhappy," she explained, "and want to sell me to idiot Hoffmann."


"No! I would never sell you, Asmira." She brightened. Jakob sealed it with a peck on the lips. "But what are we to do about idiot Hoffmann? And the chiefs? What are we to do about them? It will be a bloodbath, the 'Australia' against warriors with spears and a few fat planters with Mausers. Apia will be demolished, my stores destroyed... we can't have that, now, can we?"


"You will know what to do," she told him, "you give some orders, tell everyone to go back to house... and village."


"Hmm, I have no official authority... but, what if..."


"Master Jakob?" Asmira was puzzled.


"I have an idea," he said.


"See? You always know..."


"Yes, yes. I'm such a clever Zhid," he interrupted. "By the way, where the hell has everyone gone? There appears to be no-one on deck up there."


"Gone to village ashore for feast," Asmira told him, "gone to see spearmen and big udders," she added, giggling.


"I see. Well they won't be back for a long while. I know how long these feasts can last. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see them before tomorrow."


"You going ashore, Master Jakob?" she asked.


"Later perhaps... no hurry. I wish to lay with you awhile."


"Of course, Master Jakob," Asmira grinned and pulled up her shirt.


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At the Samoan village, preparations were underway for the traditional banquet. An 'umu' oven was smoking away happily. It was a large pit full of stones in which they built a fire. When the fire died they put the food in the pit then covered it with earth. Meanwhile they passed around a fiery brew distilled from fermented coconut milk.


The guests from the 'Borodino' were placed at the 'top' of the 'malae' in the 'honoured' place. An orator gave the official speech of welcome, Jakob's Master Mate gave the response. Women were forbidden to make speeches, however Julia was allowed a place among the men, a significant break from tradition. The afternoon wore on with entertainment from fire dancers and hypnotic rhythms from log drummers.


On the 'malae', wives sat behind their husbands, children sat or played behind them. Julia noted that Dr Bentine was accompanied by two women. They could be nothing else but his 'companions.' She found herself appraising these women, wondering what was about them that the anthropologist found attractive.


For on the surface they didn't appear particularly special. She thought they looked like sisters, stocky, with thick manes of hair half-concealing their faces. They wore a mixture of European and native dress, cotton shawls, woven lavalavas and palm leaves. She saw no sign of the 'big udders' the crew were talking about.


The women brought the Doctor bowls of fresh fruit. Julia was convinced of an intimacy between them, a secret 'look' here, a smile there. Although it made her own situation easier, she felt a little prick of jealousy.


The food had been laid out on grass matting as the sun began to go down. Still Jakob hadn't appeared and Julia grew concerned. The men were served first, then the women and children. Julia was served along with the men because of her 'guest' status.


After the meal out came the 'ava. Now this is known by a variety of names throughout the Pacific Islands but basically it's made from the pounded root of the 'piper methisticum'. Many claims have been made about its curative properties, but it is mildly narcotic, takes a long time to prepare and is said to be an aphrodisiac. It is considered bad manners to refuse, but it is, however, an acquired taste.


Urged on by her companions, Julia took a sip. She thought it the most disgusting tasting concoction she had ever encountered. Soon however, she felt faint, the torches surrounding the 'malae' seem to sway and dance before her eyes and the log drummers incessant beat appeared to penetrate into her mind. She made an excuse then departed to lie down in a fale prepared for her use.


The round fale was of woven matting lashed together. The conical roof was thatched grass, piled layer upon layer to make it watertight. It overhung the walls to provide shade. The floor was raised, planked and covered with mats. The beds themselves were nothing more than tapa cloths stuffed with grass. It was soft and comfortable.


Julia wasn't sure how long she dozed, but she was woken by the presence of others in the fale. She was aware the drums had stopped outside and the sound was replaced by laughter, shouting and general carousing. Her head was still spinning from the effects of the liquor and the vile 'ava.


Close by, however, she could hear women giggling and the drone of a man's voice. She wished the intrusion away and waited patiently so she could go back to sleep. It became obvious, though, that the intruders intended to stay.


She carefully moved a corner of her screen aside and peered out. It was dark, but she could detect movement. Suddenly someone placed a blazing torch just outside and the intruders took shape. They were a man and two women though she couldn't recognise them, just a cluster of brown skin linked together with arms and legs. Presently they fell in a tangle onto the bed across from hers. The screen isolating the other sleeping place partially collapsed amid much laughter. Julia wished they'd shut up and go away.


One woman looked nothing more than a girl. She had narrow hips and a flat chest. The other woman, though, was curved, rounded, wide-hipped and her large breasts wobbled like they were made of gelatine. 'So there are the udders' Julia thought to herself. The man was big-boned and tall, very athletic-looking. He was lying on his back with his head behind that part of the screen that remained upright.


The bigger woman lay down on top of the man and from the slurping sounds, they were kissing. The younger girl sat on her haunches beside them stroking the other woman's back. She was smiling and giggling.


Julia couldn't tear herself away from the scene. She felt like a naughty girl peering through a neighbour's window. The torch outside, however, waxed and waned in the breeze causing the little scene to flicker like an undercranked cinema movie. Eventually the torch blew out completely and they were plunged into darkness once more. She could still hear, though, the slurps, giggles, gasps and moans. 


She began feeling the hunger of strong sexual desire. Be it fueled by the trio rutting two metres away, or her dreamlike state, she wasn't sure. All she realised was that she longed to be with a man, with Jakob. She missed his hands, his embrace, his prick and the comfort of his sweaty body lying next to her. From an itch, her pussy began to grow in sensitivity, in heat and in lubrication. Julia touched herself with her fingers, held her hand between her legs and pressed.


Across the fale, she could hear a rhythmic thumping of bodies against each other. The whoosh of air being squeezed out of the loose island mattress. A woman squeeled, a man groaned. Julia peeked and got an impression of legs in the air and an arse rising and falling. A girl's bottom stared at her, faintly luminous in some filtered moonlight. She was on her hands and knees, her head and the upper part of her body was obscured behind the screen.


Julia's practiced fingers began to work between her legs. She spread her legs just a little wider for better access. She had manipulated her clitoris, fucked herself with her middle finger countless times as she lived a lonely life in Apia. She thought it helped her sleep during those times when her walls seemed like a prison. The only person she'd ever told was Jakob, who'd coaxed it out of her one night on the boat. He'd laughingly asked her to demonstrate, she'd tried, covering her face, but it wasn't the same as his fingers and cock.


She stroked herself slowly, pushing herself at her fingers in the same way she pushed at Jakob. The woman began to make a lot of noise and Julia concluded she was having an orgasm. The thump, thumping was now very fast, the man grunted. The little sparks came and she stifled a moan between clenched teeth. She craved the release, but somehow the feeling flattened out and she was left disappointed. She drifted back off to sleep amid the whispering from next door.


Julia woke up with a start. She could hear movement in the fale, a visitor. Her senses were instantly on alert. Hurriedly she tried to push the covers down over her splayed legs. Suddenly the screen was thrust aside and a man crawled in.


"Who's there?" she asked, her voice tremulous with fear. 


"Shh," the stranger said as he eased the covers back over her legs.


"What..." she attempted to say but her voice was cut off as two hands began to stroke her legs. The hands were smooth and sensuous, the touch delicate. It felt like she was being stalked by them as inexporately they inched up her thighs. "No!" Julia croaked as the cool fingertips encroached higher, "stop!"


The hands were followed by lips. She felt violated, yet aroused at the same time. She commanded her legs to close to him, but they wouldn't respond. In fact, of themselves they parted even wider to allow him access.


Julia became aware of another presence, a face, and it appeared to be watching and grinning. She opened her eyes to see the corner of her screen had been lifted up. Could things get any weirder?


His tongue was on her now, questing, probing, teasing her to open to receive him. She felt powerless, completely at the stranger's mercy. She tried again to tell him to stop, but no sound cane out. She turned her head to the face, but felt it grinning at her. The stranger continued to slide up her body, she felt his skin on hers, his prickly chest. At last his face appeared nose to nose with hers. It was a face she knew only too well.


"You... absolute... blackguard!" she exhaled, "how... oh... dare you!"


"Surprise!" said Jakob.


"You came?" she asked.


"Madam?" he grinned, "but I've just arrived!"


Julia flushed with embarrassment.


"Who's this?" she asked, nodding at the strange face.


"What? Who?" Jakob said in surprise, "who are you?" Jakob lit a brand and held it up to the face. They saw it was the younger girl Julia had seen earlier. They noticed something else too, she wasn't alone for behind her was a man. "Waisake? Is that you?" he asked. A row of white teeth answered in the affirmative.


Waisake was naked, as was the girl. His penis was hard and stood straight out. The girl had her hand around it slowly stroking.


"I believe," Jakob told Julia, "that they've the same idea as we!"


Before Julia could react, however, Jakob was kissing her. His hands were on her breasts, massaging, teasing in the way only he knew how. His tongue touched a nipple and coaxed it to hardness. Julia gasped, her focus now not on the other couple, but the delightful things Jakob was doing to her.


"Dear Jakob, do it!" Julia panted, pulling on his cock, trying to get it inside of her.


"Dear Julia," he answered, "have you been having naughty dreams?"


"I missed you. Please! Now!"


Jakob bowed to the inevitable and allowed Julia to push the head of his erect penis into her hot, moist entrance. She heaved her pelvis at him, grabbed his arse and pulled him down, as far in as he could go.


As Jakob ground himself against Julia, there was a gasp from the screen. They both looked at the girl's face and found a wide grin followed by a grimace of discomfort.


"Waisake big!" she said in English, "oh... very, very... oh... big!"


She was driven forward over Julia's bed by a big thrust from behind her. Opening her mouth in surprise, she placed one hand on Jakob's shoulder the other on the top of Julia's head. Startled, Julia watched the girl's face as it jolted about in front of her, spurred on by Waisake behind her.


Julia had locked her feet over Jakob's back as he pounded away. He suddenly got off her, dislodging her feet, and twisting her onto her front. Pulling her into a kneeling position, he quickly pushed himself back into her and resumed fucking. The girl grabbed her around the neck and held on for grim death, burying her head into Julia's shoulder.


Julia could hear the girl's hard, laboured breathing right next to her cheek. She felt a sudden bond with her, a strange connection through the heat of passion. As Jakob worked on her from behind, Julia turned her head and began to kiss and nuzzle the girl's neck. As she gasped and cried with excitement, the girl pushed her lips and tongue at Julia's mouth. The Englishwoman responded, locking mouths and exploring tongues. She felt a hand on her tit squeezing. She was uncertain whose hand it was as it tweaked a nipple.


Waisake grunted and Julia felt something warm splash over her back. The girl looked surprised, looked behind her, and turned back to Julia grinning. White beads flecked her long hair. Jakob too was coming, she could feel him pulsing deep within her and it triggered her own orgasm. The little Samoan girl cuddled her while she moaned out her pleasure, grateful for the release.


Later, Jakob had rolled off to the side and was snoring peacefully. The girl lay down next to Julia and wrapped her arms around her.


"Your man?" she whispered, "he good? Got nice one?"


Breathing heavily, Julia nodded, smiling.


"He English? Our English got nice one too. He tell us to speak English talk."


"You've laid with the Englishman?" Julia asked.


"All girls have," she replied, "except those with husbands. Well maybe Vaea and a few others but you not tell, big trouble from men!"


"I'll not tell," Julia assured her.


"Sititi have baby. He white like Father," she giggled.


"Dr. Bentine's?" Julia asked. The girl nodded.


"No other English here. Is your man English?"


"Russian," Julia told her.


"He nice... maybe you share?"


"No!" she answered emphatically.


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There were many sore heads in the morning. Most of the men shambled around the village in a dream snarling at the children or laying down in the sun.


Julia came out of the fale into the blazing mid-morning sun and the sound of the crashing surf. A faint whisp of smoke drifted away from the smouldering fire.


She saw Jakob's Samoan crew sitting in a huddle not far away, Waisake had his hands over his face. Clearly, in the morning they had lots of time to reflect on last night's 'bad behaviour.' She'd imagined they'd broken a few sins and were wondering how to explain it to the Pastor upon their return to Upolu.


Jakob emerged, stretched, smiled, then complained he was hungry. He kissed Julia briefly then went in search of food. The girl was next to come out. Wearing a lavalava and cotton shirt, she smiled at Julia before wandering off into the bush to pee. Jakob presently returned munching on a piece of cold pork rib.


"We're going back," he announced.


"What? Where? Why?" Julia asked.


"To Apia. Drop me off there then get the crew to take the 'Borodino' to Pagopago under the Russian flag. You'll be safe there under the Americans."


"But..."


"I have made up my mind," Jakob said, stifling her objection. "It will only be until the war's over, just a few months. Some sort of treaty will be worked out. Samoa will be handed back to the Kaiser and life will go on, you'll see."


"You're sure Samoa will be taken?"


"I think so. A bargaining chip for the talks when war is finished. Maybe we'll stay English? Doesn't matter in any case. Their money is as good as anyone's. Whatever happens, I shall be on the winning side, you can be sure of that!" he added breezily.


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The first white men to set foot on the Samoan Islands was in 1787 when the expedition of Jean-Francois Perouse on 'Boussole' and 'Astrolabe' landed at Aasu on the Northern coast of Tutuila. A sailor was smacked on the head with a mallet and a water party from 'Astrolabe' surrounded and clubbed to death. The Samoans depise bad manners.


Consequently Samoa, or the Navigator's Isles as it was then known in Europe, was avoided by Europeans until missionaries arrived in the 1820s. At first the natives believed them to be Gods, sailing on God's ships, but it didn't take them long to be disabused of the notion.


It wasn't until the 1830s when the London Missionary Society gained some traction when the Reverend John Williams convinced one of Samoa's leading families, or 'Fanau' the 'Sa Malietoa' to adopt Christianity. Already some Samoans were beginning to see the value in White patronage.


White influence developed with that mixture of greed, religious zeal, science, discovery and national 'aggrandisement' that so typified Colonialism in the 19th century. America, Germany and Great Britain were soon vying for influence, land and an alternative source for cotton. Together these powers sponsored a series of civil wars in which they supplied the firearms in exchange for land. At the conclusion of these wars the Samoans had sold some 4 times the entire land area of the Islands. The chaos ended with a power-sharing tripartheid agreement between the Colonial powers. When this fell apart, Germany did deals with the other two and claimed Western Samoa as their 'protectorate.'


Missionary Christianity had a profound effect on the people. The LMS taught a very strict, almost Calvanistic set of values. The carefree sexual attitudes now bore the heavy burden of guilt.


It was a shamefaced crew that sailed into Apia harbour on Saturday the 15th of August 1914. The 'Borodino' hardly stopped her engine, a boat was quickly lowered over the side and two people got in. Then, as the little dinghy rowed for the shore, a cloud of smoke issued from the schooner's funnel and the yacht began to turn towards the open sea.


"Got everything?" Jakob asked Yu.


"Of course Master Jakob. In leather bag under jacket."


"Don't get it wet, you here?"


Yu nodded enthusiastically as he pulled on the oars for shore.


Elsewhere, von Spee was somewhere in the South Pacific and in Wellington, New Zealand a convoy of two troopships and three small cruisers set sail for Noumea, French New Caledonia. From there they were to rendezvous with the large French cruiser 'Montcalm' then sail on to Fiji. Somewhere along the way they were to pick up 'HMAS Australia.'


KATZMAREK (C)