In this tale Stevenson gives an eyewitness account of the battle of the three great Western nations of the time (Britain, Germany, and the United States) for control of Samoa. Stevenson romantically sided with the islands' traditional ruler against the Western powers, an unpopular position, particularly with the British. This book is both an excellent analysis of late-nineteenth-century colonialism, and just a plain good yarn in the best Stevenson tradition.