Klinger, when he came to himself, made a great effort to rise, thinking his antagonist was still before him, but the doctor’s strong hands, applying wet bandages to a very ugly contusion over his temple, upon which he had struck in his fall, held him quiet. The count had taken a seat at his side. He wore a displeased frown as he listened to the babble about him.
“Clear them out, please,” he exclaimed irritably. The women were sent away, all but Klinger’s wife, Fanua, who waited patiently to be told what to do.
Klinger at length sat up and gazed about him. He raised a hand to his aching head and felt the great bulk of wet dressing plastered by the doctor over his cut. Then he read the displeasure evident in the count’s face.
“They did me,” he exclaimed. “One of them hit me with a black-jack.”
“You’ve made yourself the laughing stock of the town,” the count declared angrily. “I’ve heard the story. It was simply science against unwieldy beef.”
“I’ll show the young aristocrat,” the manager began to bluster, but the count cut him short impatiently.
“You’ll just drop this thing where it is,” he commanded authoritatively. “It was a childish piece of folly to put up that cartoon, and the youngster has my admiration. You should thank your stars you haven’t a broken neck instead of only a small cut in your hard head. He used jujitsu on you.”
Such words did not sound sweet to Klinger’s ears. He was unaccustomed to being taken to task thus wise, and the sullen expression on his face showed plainly his displeasure.
“Get yourself in shape,” the count added, his voice less severe in tone. “Kataafa and his chiefs have come to the consulate, and I won’t trust any of these professional native interpreters.”
Klinger rose slowly to obey the summons. The count waited impatiently on the porch of the store. He was not slow in seeing that the encounter had hurt their cause. Anything that can be held up to ridicule by so much is seriously injured. For policy’s sake he would have liked to severely punish this young, athletic American. To do so would help the prestige of the new government in the natives’ eyes, but he feared that such high-handed measures might injure the cause for which he was working by opposition from the Powers.