After Yapese attack trader Walter Amery, Holcomb leads foreign traders to burn three men’s houses; O’Keefe refuses to join.

What happened

Walter Amery, a trader for a German firm, had failed to deliver a rifle he promised Yapese in payment for copra, and they held his head under water until he was half-drowned. When the villagers refused to give up the men, the foreign traders burned three men’s houses and fired into the bush; O’Keefe’s refusal to join earned him a reputation for fairness among Yapese.