These commanders had ordered fresh meat and vegetables to be brought on board their vessels at half-past seven, and when no native lighters came out with the things they grew very angry.
"We are not to be disobeyed!" stormed one Chinese commander. "If that food is not forthcoming quickly, I will go ashore and fire the accursed city."
Similar threats were made by the other commanders, and by quarter to eight some of them prepared to leave their ships, to put their threats into execution.
"We will let them get ashore," said Oscar to his companions. "They will make good prisoners."
The foreign commanders went ashore with much pomp, and hurried to the Custom House to see why their commands had not been obeyed.
Oscar had ordered that any foreigners ashore should be made prisoners, yet as the warships still rode unmolested in the harbor, the Americans at the Government Building knew not what to do.
If they made the commanders prisoners, and the plan of those on board of the Holland failed, it would go bad with the city people.
But at ten minutes to eight came what appeared to be a terrific earthquake.
There was a noise like a sharp crash of thunder, followed by broad sheets of fire playing across Honolulu harbor, and then those at a distance saw several of the foreign warships flying skyward and townward, blown into atoms.
The air was filled with debris and the streets of Honolulu and the housetops were covered with bits of wreckage. In some instances the wreckage was on fire and produced other fires in the city, but these were rapidly extinguished.