Carruthers informed him that he was my
solicitor and could not accept the case against
me ; and before A. B. C. had time to get hold
of Mr. Cooper, the only other solicitor in
the place, I had retained him on behalf of
Stevenson. Now the strange part about it
is that the only copy of the Footnote to
History in Samoa was in the possession of
A. B. C, who had obtained it while he was
away. No copy had up to that time reached
the author, as we find him complaining to his



"LIBELLING'' A MISSIONARY 137

publishers in these terms : " It is now as
you see the 19th of October, and there has
not reached the island of Upolu one single
copy or rag of a copy. I lie ; there has come
one, and that in the pocket of a missionary man
who is at daggers drawn with me, who lends
it to all my enemies, conceals it from all my
friends, and is bringing a law suit against
me on the strength of the expression in the
same, which I have forgotten, and now can-
not see. This is pretty tragic, I think you
will allow I"

Two of the missionaries called on me one
afternoon, and at their request I told them
all I knew about the matter. They hated
the idea of going into court if it could pos-
sibly be avoided. I told them I believed
the story to be true and held the view that
Mr. A. B. C. was not the class of man to
be a missionary. I would not take anything
back, and I told them I did not think Mr.
