CHAPTER XX: THE WHITE TROOPS
Two days later Frank was awoke by a sudden yell. He leaped from hisbed of boughs, seized his revolver, and rushing to the door, saw thata party of some twenty men were attacking Ammon Quatia's hut. The twoguards stationed there had already been cut down. Frank shouted tohis four guards and Ostik to follow him. The guards had been standingirresolute, not knowing what side to take, but the example of the youngEnglishman decided them. They fired their muskets into the knot ofnatives, and then charged sword in hand. Ostik drew the sword which healways carried and followed close to his master's heels. Frank did notfire until within two yards of the Ashantis. Then his revolver spoke outand six shots were discharged, each with deadly effect. Then, catchingup a musket which had fallen from the hands of one of the men he hadshot, he clubbed it and fell upon the surprised and already hesitatingconspirators.
These, fortunately for Frank, had not loaded their muskets. They hadintended to kill Ammon Quatia and then to disperse instantly before aidcould arrive, believing that with his death the order for retreat acrossthe Prah would at once be given. Several of them had been killed by theslugs from the muskets of Frank's guard, and his pistol had completedtheir confusion. The reports of the guns called up other troops, andthese came rushing in on all sides. Scarcely did Frank and his followersfall upon the conspirators than they took to their heels and fled intothe wood.
Ammon Quatia himself, sword in hand, had just sprung to the door ofthe hut prepared to sell his life dearly, when Frank's guard fired.The affair was so momentary that he had hardly time to realize what hadhappened before his assailants were in full flight.
"You have saved my life," he said to Frank. "Had it not been for youI must have been killed. You shall not find me ungrateful. When I havetaken Abra Crampa I will manage that you shall return to your friends.I dare not let you go openly, for the king would not forgive me, and Ishall have enough to do already to pacify him when he hears how greathave been our losses. But rest content. I will manage it somehow."
An hour afterwards Ammon Quatia gave orders that the army should move tothe attack of Abra Crampa. The place was held by a body of marines andsailors, a hundred West Indians, and the native troops of the king.Major Russell was in command. The village stood on rising ground,and was surrounded for a distance of a hundred and fifty yards by aclearing. Part of this consisted of patches of cultivated ground, therest had been hastily cleared by the defenders. At the upper end stood achurch, and this was converted into a stronghold. The windows were highup in the walls, and a platform had been erected inside for the sailorsto fire from the windows, which were partially blocked with sandbags.The houses on the outside of the village had all been loopholed, and hadbeen connected by breastworks of earth. Other defenses had been thrownup further back in case the outworks should be carried. The missionhouse in the main street and the huts which surrounded it formed, withthe church, the last strongholds. For two or three days the bush roundthe town had swarmed with Ashantis, whose tomtoms could be heard by thegarrison night and day.
Frank accompanied Ammon Quatia, and was therefore in the front, and hadan opportunity of seeing how the Ashantis commence an attack. The wardrums gave the signal, and when they ceased, ten thousand voices raisedthe war song in measured cadence. The effect was very fine, rising asit did from all parts of the forest. By this time the Ashantis had linedthe whole circle of wood round the clearing. Then three regular volleyswere fired, making, from the heavy charges used, a tremendous roar.
Scarcely had these ceased when the King of Abra, a splendid lookingnegro standing nearly six feet four in height, stepped out from behindthe breastwork and shouted a taunting challenge to the Ashantis to comeon. They replied with a loud yell, and with the opening of a continuousfire round the edge of the wood. On wall and roof of the village theslugs pattered thickly; but the defenders were all in shelter, and inreply, from breastwork and loophole, from the windows and roof of thechurch, the answering Snider bullets flew out straight and deadly.Several times Ammon Quatia tried to get his men to make a rush. The wardrums beat, the great horns sounded, and the men shouted, but each timethe English bullets flew so thick and deadly into the wood wherever thesound rose loudest that the Ashantis' heart failed them, and they couldnot be got to make the rush across the hundred yards of cleared ground.
At five o'clock the fire slackened, but shortly after dark the attackrecommenced. The moon was up and full. Frank feared that the Ashantiswould try and crawl a part of the distance across the clearing andthen make a sudden rush; but they appeared to have no idea of a silentattack. Several times, indeed, they gathered and rushed forward inlarge bodies, but each time their shouting and drums gave warning tothe besieged, and so tremendous a fire was opened upon them when theyemerged from the shadow of the trees into the moonlight, that each timethey fell back leaving the ground strewn with dead. Till midnight theattack was continued, then the Ashantis fell back to their camp.
At Accroful, a village on the main road some four miles distant, theattack had been heard, and a messenger sent off to Cape Coast to informSir Garnet Wolseley.
In the morning fifty men of the 2d West India regiment marched fromAccroful into Abra Crampa without molestation. Later on some Abra scoutsapproached the Ashanti camp and shouted tauntingly to know when theAshantis were coming into Abra Crampa.
They shouted in return, "After breakfast," and soon afterwards, a rocketfired from the roof of the church falling into the camp, they againsallied out and attacked. It was a repetition of the fight of the daybefore. Several times Major Russell withheld his fire altogether, butthe Ashantis could not be tempted to show in force beyond the edge ofthe wood. So inspirited were the defenders that they now made severalsorties and penetrated some distance into the wood.
At eight in the morning Sir Garnet Wolseley had marched from CapeCoast with three hundred marines and blue jackets to the relief of theposition, but so tremendous was the heat that nearly half the men fellexhausted by the way, and were ordered when they recovered to march backto Cape Coast. The remainder, when they arrived at Assaibo, fivemiles from Abra Crampa, were so utterly exhausted that a long halt wasnecessary, although a faint but continuous fire could be heard from thebesieged place.
Chocolate and cold preserved meat were served out to the men, and in thecourse of another three hours a large number of the stragglers came in.At three o'clock, a hundred of the most exhausted men being left to holdthe village, the rest of the force with the fifty West Indians stationedthere marched forward to Buteana, where they were jointed by fifty moremen from Accroful. Just as they started from this place they met theKing of Abra, who had come out with a small body of warriors; from himSir Garnet learned that this road, which wound round and came in at theback of Abra Crampa, was still open.
The Ashantis were too busy with their own operations to watch the path,and the relieving force entered the place without firing a shot. Thefiring round the town continued, but Ammon Quatia, when he saw thereinforcements enter, at once began to fall back with the main bodyof his troops, and although the firing was kept up all night, when thebesieged in the morning advanced to attack the Ashanti camp they foundit altogether deserted.
"It is of no use," the Ashanti general said to Frank. "My men cannotfight in the open against the English guns. Besides, they do not knowwhat they are fighting for here; but if your general should ever crossthe Prah you will find it different. There are forests all the way toCoomassie, as you know, and the men will be fighting in defense of theirown country, you will see what we shall do then. And now I will keepmy promise to you. Tonight your guards will go to sleep. I shall havemedicine given them which will make them sleep hard. One of the Fantiprisoners will come to your hut and will guide you through the woods toAssaiboo. Goodbye, my friend. Ammon Quatia has learnt that some of thewhite men are good and honest, and he will never forget that he owes hislife to you. Take this in remembrance of Ammon Quatia."
And he presented Frank with a necklace compo
sed of nuggets of gold asbig as walnuts and weighing nearly twenty pounds.
Frank in return gave the general the only article of value which he nowpossessed, his revolver and tin box of cartridges, telling him that hehoped he would never use it against the English, but that it might be ofvalue to him should he ever again have trouble with his own men. Frankmade a parcel of the necklace and of the gold he had received from theking for his goods, and warned Ostik to hold himself in readiness forflight. The camp was silent although the roar of musketry a few hundredyards off round Abra Crampa continued unbroken. For some time Frankheard his guards pacing outside, and occasionally speaking to eachother. Then these sounds ceased and all was quiet. Presently the frontof the tent was opened and a voice said, "Come, all is ready."
Frank came out and looked round. The Ashanti camp was deserted. AmmonQuatia had moved away with the main body of his troops, although themusketry fire round the village was kept up. A Fanti stood at thedoor of the hut with Ostik. The four guards were sleeping quietly.Noiselessly the little party stole away. A quarter of an hour later theystruck the path, and an hour's walking brought them to Assaiboo. Not anAshanti was met with along the path, but Frank hardly felt that he wassafe until he heard the challenge of "Who goes there?" from an Englishsentry. A few minutes later he was taken before Captain Bradshaw, R.N., who commanded the sailors and marines who had been left there. Veryhearty was the greeting which the young Englishman received from thegenial sailor, and a bowl of soup and a glass of grog were soon setbefore him.
His arrival created quite a sensation, and for some hours he sat talkingwith the officers, while Ostik was an equal subject of curiosity amongthe sailors. The news that the Ashanti army was in full retreat relievedthe garrison of the place from all further fear of attack, and Frankwent to sleep before morning, and was only roused at noon when amessenger arrived with the news that the Ashanti camp had been founddeserted, and that the road in its rear was found to be strewnwith chairs, clothes, pillows, muskets, and odds and ends of everydescription. Few Ashanti prisoners had been taken, but a considerablenumber of Fantis, who had been prisoners among them, had come in, havingescaped in the confusion of the retreat. Among these were many women,several of whom had been captured when the Ashantis had first crossedthe Prah ten months before. In the afternoon Sir Garnet Wolseley, withthe greater portion of the force from Abra Crampa, marched in, and Frankwas introduced by Captain Bradshaw to the general. As the latter wasanxious to press on at once to Cape Coast, in order that the sailorsand marines might sleep on board ship that night, he asked Frank toaccompany him, and on the road heard the story of his adventures. Heinvited him to sleep for the night at Government House, an invitationwhich Frank accepted; but he slept worse than he had done for a longtime. It was now nearly two years since he had landed in Africa, andduring all that time he had slept, covered with a rug, on the canvas ofhis little camp bed. The complete change, the stillness and security,and, above all, the novelty of a bed with sheets, completely banishedsleep, and it was not until morning was dawning that, wrapping himselfin a rug, and lying on the ground, he was able to get a sleep. In themorning at breakfast Sir Garnet asked him what he intended to do, andsaid that if he were in no extreme hurry to return to England he couldrender great services as guide to the expedition, which would start forCoomassie as soon as the white troops arrived. Frank had already thoughtthe matter over. He had had more than enough of Africa, but two or threemonths longer would make no difference, and he felt that his knowledgeof the Ashanti methods of war, of the country to be traversed, thestreams to be crossed, and the points at which the Ashantis wouldprobably make a stand, would enable him to tender really valuableassistance to the army. He therefore told Sir Garnet Wolseley that hehad no particular business which called him urgently back, and that hewas willing to guide the army to Coomassie. He at once had quarters asan officer assigned to him in the town, with rations for himself andservant.
His first step was to procure English garments, for although he hadbefore starting laid aside his Ashanti costume, and put on that hehad before worn, his clothes were now so travel worn as to be scarcewearable. He had no difficulty in doing this. Many of the officers werealready invalided home, and one who was just sailing was glad to disposeof his uniform, which consisted of a light brown Norfolk shootingjacket, knickerbockers, and helmet, as these would be of no use to himin England.
Frank's next step was to go to the agent of Messrs. Swanzy, theprincipal African merchants of the coast. This gentleman readily cashedone of the orders on the African bank which Mr. Goodenough had, beforehis death, handed over to Frank, and the latter proceeded to dischargethe long arrears of wages owing to Ostik, adding, besides, a handsomepresent. He offered to allow his faithful servant to depart to joinhis family on the Gaboon at once, should he wish to do so, but Ostikdeclared that he would remain with him as long as he stopped in Africa.On Frank's advice, however, he deposited his money, for safe keeping,with Messrs. Swanzy's agent, with orders to transmit it to his familyshould anything happen to him during the expedition.
Three days later Frank was attacked by fever, the result of the reactionafter so many dangers. He was at once sent on board the Simoon, whichhad been established as a hospital ship; but the attack was a mild one,and in a few days, thanks to the sea air, and the attention and nursingwhich he received, he was convalescent. As soon as the fever passedaway, and he was able to sit on deck and enjoy the sea breezes, he hadmany visits from the officers of the ships of war. Among these was thecaptain of the Decoy gunboat.
After chatting with Frank for some time the officer said: "I am goingdown the coast as far as the mouth of the Volta, where Captain Glover isorganizing another expedition. You will not be wanted on shore just atpresent, and a week's rest will do you good; what do you say to comingdown with me--it will give you a little change and variety?"
Frank accepted the invitation with pleasure. An hour later the Decoy'sboat came alongside, and Frank took his place on board it, Ostikfollowing with his clothes. An hour later the Decoy got up her anchorand steamed down the coast. It was delightful to Frank, sitting in alarge wicker work chair in the shade of the awning, watching the distantshore and chatting with the officers. He had much to hear of whathad taken place in England since he left, and they on their part wereequally eager to learn about the road along which they would have tomarch--at least those of them who were fortunate enough to be appointedto the naval brigade--and the wonders of the barbarian capital. TheDecoy was not fast, about six knots being her average pace of steaming;however, no one was in a hurry; there would be nothing to do until thetroops arrived from England; and to all, a trip down the coast was apleasant change after the long monotony of rolling at anchor. For somedistance from Cape Coast the shore was flat, but further on the countrybecame hilly. Some of the undulations reached a considerable height, thehighest, Mamquady, being over two thousand feet.
"That ought to be a very healthy place," Frank said. "I should thinkthat a sanatorium established there would be an immense boon to thewhites all along the coasts."
"One would think so," an officer replied "but I'm told that those hillsare particularly unhealthy. That fellow you see jutting out is said tobe extremely rich in gold. Over and over again parties have been formedto dig there, but they have always suffered so terribly from fever thatthey have had to relinquish the attempt. The natives suffer as wellas the whites. I believe that the formation is granite, the surface ofwhich is much decomposed; and it is always found here that the turningup of ground that has not been disturbed for many years is extremelyunhealthy, and decomposing granite possesses some element particularlyobnoxious to health. The natives, of course, look upon the mountain asa fetish, and believe that an evil spirit guards it. The superstitionof the negroes is wonderful, and at Accra they are, if possible, moresuperstitious than anywhere else. Every one believes that every maladyunder the sun is produced by fetish, and that some enemy is castingspells upon them."
"There is more in it th
an you think," the doctor joined in; "although itis not spells, but poison, which they use against each other. The use ofpoison is carried to an incredible extent here. I have not been much onshore; but the medical men, both civilian and military, who have beenhere any time are convinced that a vast number of the deaths that takeplace are due to poison. The fetish men and women who are the vendors ofthese drugs keep as a profound secret their origin and nature, but it iscertain that many of them are in point of secrecy and celerity equal tothose of the middle ages."
"I wonder that the doctors have never discovered what plants they getthem from," Frank said.
"Some of them have tried to do so," the doctor replied; "but haveinvariably died shortly after commencing their experiments; it isbelieved they have been poisoned by the fetish men in order to preventtheir secrets being discovered."
The hours passed pleasurably. The beautiful neatness and orderprevailing on board a man of war were specially delightful to Frankafter the rough life he had so long led, and the silence and disciplineof the men presented an equally strong contrast to the incessantchattering and noise kept up by the niggers.
The next morning the ship was off Accra. Here the scenery had entirelychanged. The hills had receded, and a wide and slightly undulating plainextended to their feet, some twelve miles back. The captain was going toland, as he had some despatches for the colony, and he invited Frank toaccompany him. They did not, as Frank expected, land in a man of war'sboat, but in a surf boat, which, upon their hoisting a signal, came outto them. These surf boats are large and very wide and flat. They arepaddled by ten or twelve negroes, who sit upon the gunwale. These menwork vigorously, and the boats travel at a considerable pace. Each boathas a stroke peculiar to itself. Some paddle hard for six strokes andthen easy for an equal number. Some will take two or three hard and thenone easy. The steersman stands in the stern and steers with an oar. Heor one of the crew keeps up a monotonous song, to which the crew replyin chorus, always in time with their paddling.
The surf is heavy at Accra and Frank held his breath, as, after waitingfor a favorable moment, the steersman gave the sign and the boat dartedin at lightning speed on the top of a great wave, and ran up on thebeach in the midst of a whirl of white foam.
While the captain went up to Government House, Frank, accompanied by oneof the young officers who had also come ashore, took a stroll throughthe town. The first thing that struck him was the extraordinary numberof pigs. These animals pervaded the whole place. They fed in threes andfours in the middle of the streets. They lay everywhere in the road,across the doors, and against the walls. They quarreled energeticallyinside lanes and courtyards, and when worsted in their disputes gallopedaway grunting, careless whom they might upset. The principal street ofAccra was an amusing sight. Some effort had been made to keep it freeof the filth and rubbish which everywhere else abounded. Both sides werelined by salesmen and women sitting on little mats upon the low woodenstools used as seats in Africa. The goods were contained in woodentrays. Here were dozens of women offering beads for sale of an unlimitedvariety of form and hue. They varied from the tiny opaque beads of allcolors used by English children for their dolls, to great cylindricalbeads of variegated hues as long and as thick as the joint of a finger.The love of the Africans for beads is surprising. The women wear themround the wrists, the neck, and the ankles. The occupation of threadingthe little beads is one of their greatest pleasures. The threads usedare narrow fibers of palm leaves, which are very strong. The beads,however, are of unequal sizes, and no African girl who has any respectfor her personal appearance will put on a string of beads until she has,with great pains and a good deal of skill, rubbed them with sand andwater until all the projecting beads are ground down, and the whole areperfectly smooth and even.
Next in number to the dealers in beads were those who sold calico, or,as it is called in Africa, cloth, and gaudily colored kerchiefs forthe head. These three articles--beads, cotton cloth, and coloredhandkerchiefs--complete the list of articles required for the attire andadornment of males and females in Africa. Besides these goods, tobacco,in dried leaves, short clay pipes, knives, small looking glasses, andmatches were offered for sale. The majority of the saleswomen, however,were dealers in eatables, dried fish, smoked fish, canki--which is apreparation of ground corn wrapped up in palm leaves in the shape ofpaste--eggs, fowls, kids, cooked meats in various forms, stews, boiledpork, fried knobs of meat, and other native delicacies, besides anabundance of seeds, nuts, and other vegetable productions.
After walking for some time through the streets Frank and his companionsreturned to the boat, where, half an hour later, the captain joinedthem, and, putting off to the Decoy, they continued the voyage down thecoast.
The next morning they weighed anchor off Addah, a village at the mouthof the Volta. They whistled for a surf boat, but it was some time beforeone put out. When she was launched it was doubtful whether she wouldbe able to make her way through the breaking water. The surf was muchheavier here than it had been at Accra, and each wave threw the boatalmost perpendicularly into the air, so that only a few feet of the endof the keel touched the water. Still she struggled on, although so longwas she in getting through the surf that those on board the ship thoughtseveral times that she must give it up as impracticable. At last,however, she got through; the paddlers waited for a minute to recoverfrom their exertions, and then made out to the Decoy. None of theofficers had ever landed here, and several of them obtained leave toaccompany the captain on shore. Frank was one of the party. After whatthey had seen of the difficulty which the boat had in getting out, alllooked somewhat anxiously at the surf as they approached the line wherethe great smooth waves rolled over and broke into boiling foam. Thesteersman stood upon the seat in the stern, in one hand holding his oar,in the other his cap. For some time he stood half turned round, lookingattentively seaward, while the boat lay at rest just outside the line ofbreakers. Suddenly he waved his cap and gave a shout. It was answered bythe crew. Every man dashed his paddle into the water. Desperately theyrowed, the steersman encouraging them by wild yells. A gigantic waverolled in behind the boat, and looked for a moment as if she would breakinto it, but she rose on it just as it turned over, and for an instantwas swept along amidst a cataract of white foam, with the speed of anarrow. The next wave was a small one, and ere a third reached it theboat grounded on the sand. A dozen men rushed out into the water. Thepassengers threw themselves anyhow on to their backs, and in a minutewere standing perfectly dry upon the beach.
They learned that Captain Glover's camp was half a mile distant, and atonce set out for it. Upon the way up to the camp they passed hundreds ofnegroes, who had arrived in the last day or two, and had just receivedtheir arms. Some were squatted on the ground cooking and restingthemselves. Others were examining their new weapons, oiling and removingevery spot of rust, and occasionally loading and firing them off. Theballs whizzed through the air in all directions. The most stringentorders had been given forbidding this dangerous nuisance; but nothingcan repress the love of negroes for firing off guns. There were largenumbers of women among them; these had acted as carriers on theirjourney to the camp; for among the coast tribes, as among the Ashantis,it is the proper thing when the warriors go out on the warpath, that thewomen should not permit them to carry anything except their guns untilthey approach the neighborhood of the enemy.
The party soon arrived at the camp, which consisted of some bell tentsand the little huts of a few hundred natives. This, indeed, was only theplace where the latter were first received and armed, and they were thensent up the river in the steamboat belonging to the expedition, to thegreat camp some thirty miles higher.
The expedition consisted only of some seven or eight English officers.Captain Glover of the royal navy was in command, with Mr. Goldsworthyand Captain Sartorius as his assistants. There were four other officers,two doctors, and an officer of commissariat. This little body had thewhole work of drilling and keeping in order some eight or tenthousand men
. They were generals, colonels, sergeants, quartermasters,storekeepers, and diplomatists, all at once, and from daybreak untillate at night were incessantly at work. There were at least a dozenpetty kings in camp, all of whom had to be kept in a good temper, andthis was by no means the smallest of Captain Glover's difficulties, asupon the slightest ground for discontent each of these was ready at onceto march away with his followers. The most reliable portion of CaptainGlover's force were some 250 Houssas, and as many Yorabas. In additionto all their work with the native allies, the officers of the expeditionhad succeeded in drilling both these bodies until they had obtained avery fair amount of discipline.
After strolling through the camp the visitors went to look on at thedistribution of arms and accouterments to a hundred freshly arrivednatives. They were served out with blue smocks, made of serge, and bluenightcaps, which had the result of transforming a fine looking body ofnatives, upright in carriage, and graceful in their toga-like attire,into a set of awkward looking, clumsy negroes. A haversack, waterbottle, belts, cap pouch, and ammunition pouch, were also handed to eachto their utter bewilderment, and it was easy to foresee that at the endof the first day's march the whole of these, to them utterly uselessarticles, would be thrown aside. They brightened up, however, when theguns were delivered to them. The first impulse of each was to examinehis piece carefully, to try its balance by taking aim at distantobjects, then to carefully rub off any little spot of rust that could bedetected, lastly to take out the ramrod and let it fall into the barrel,to judge by the ring whether it was clean inside.
Thence the visitors strolled away to watch a number of Houssas in hotpursuit of some bullocks, which were to be put on board the steamersand taken up the river to the great camp. These had broken loose in thenight, and the chase was an exciting one. Although some fifty or sixtymen were engaged in the hunt it took no less than four hours to capturethe requisite number, and seven Houssas were more or less injured bythe charges of the desperate little animals, which possessed wonderfulstrength and endurance, although no larger than moderate sized donkeys.They were only captured at last by hoops being thrown over their horns,and even when thrown down required the efforts of five or six men to tiethem. They were finally got to the wharf by two men each: one went aheadwith the rope attached to the animal's horn, the other kept behind,holding a rope fastened to one of the hind legs. Every bull made themost determined efforts to get at the man in front, who kept on at arun, the animal being checked when it got too close by the man behindpulling at its hind leg. When it turned to attack him the man in frontagain pulled at his rope. So most of them were brought down to thelanding place, and there with great difficulty again thrown down, tied,and carried bodily on board. Some of them were so unmanageable thatthey had to be carried all the way down to the landing place. IfEnglish cattle possessed the strength and obstinate fury of these littleanimals, Copenhagen Fields would have to be removed farther from London,or the entrance swept by machine guns, for a charge of the cattle wouldclear the streets of London.
After spending an amusing day on shore, the party returned on boardship. Captain Glover's expedition, although composed of only seven oreight English officers and costing the country comparatively nothing,accomplished great things, but its doings were almost ignored byEngland. Crossing the river they completely defeated the native tribesthere, who were in alliance with the Ashantis, after some hard fighting,and thus prevented an invasion of our territory on that side. Inaddition to this they pushed forward into the interior and absolutelyarrived at Coomassie two days after Sir Garnet Wolseley.
It is true that the attention of the Ashantis was so much occupied bythe advance of the white force that they paid but little attention tothat advancing from the Volta; but none the less is the credit due tothe indomitable perseverance and the immensity of the work accomplishedby Captain Glover and his officers. Alone and single handed, theyovercame all the enormous difficulties raised by the apathy, indolence,and self importance of the numerous petty chiefs whose followersconstituted the army, infused something of their own spirit among theirfollowers, and persuaded them to march without white allies against thehitherto invincible army of the Ashantis. Not a tithe of the credit dueto them has been given to the officers of this little force.
Captain Glover invited his visitors to pass the night on shore, offeringto place a tent at their disposal; but the mosquitoes are so numerousand troublesome along the swampy shore of the Volta that the invitationswere declined, and the whole party returned on board the Decoy. Next daythe anchor was hove and the ship's head turned to the west; and two dayslater, after a pleasant and uneventful voyage, she was again off CapeCoast, and Frank, taking leave of his kind entertainers, returned onshore and reported himself as ready to perform any duty that might beassigned to him.
Until the force advanced, he had nothing to do, and spent a good dealof his time watching the carriers starting with provisions for the Prah,and the doings of the negroes.
The order had now been passed by the chiefs at a meeting called by SirGarnet, that every able bodied man should work as a carrier, and whileparties of men were sent to the villages round to fetch in peoplethence, hunts took place in Cape Coast itself. Every negro found inthe streets was seized by the police; protestation, indignation, andresistance, were equally in vain. An arm or the loin cloth was firmlygriped, and the victim was run into the castle yard, amid the laughterof the lookers on, who consisted, after the first quarter of an hour, ofwomen only. Then the search began in the houses, the chiefs indicatingthe localities in which men were likely to be found. Some police wereset to watch outside while others went in to search. The women would atonce deny that anyone was there, but a door was pretty sure to be foundlocked, and upon this being broken open the fugitive would be foundhiding under a pile of clothes or mats. Sometimes he would leap throughthe windows, sometimes take to the flat roof, and as the houses jointogether in the most confused way the roofs offered immense facilitiesfor escape, and most lively chases took place.
No excuses or pretences availed. A man seen limping painfully along thestreet would, after a brief examination of his leg to see if there wasany external mark which would account for the lameness, be sent at around trot down the road, amid peals of laughter from the women andgirls looking on.
The indignation of some of the men thus seized, loaded and sent upcountry under a strong escort, was very funny, and their astonishmentin some cases altogether unfeigned. Small shopkeepers who had neversupposed that they would be called upon to labor for the defense oftheir freedom and country, found themselves with a barrel of porkupon their heads and a policeman with a loaded musket by their sideproceeding up country for an indefinite period. A school teacher wasmissing, and was found to have gone up with a case of ammunition. Casualvisitors from down the coast had their stay prolonged.
Lazy Sierra Leone men, discharged by their masters for incurableidleness, and living doing nothing, earning nothing, kept by thekindness of friends and the aid of an occasional petty theft, foundthemselves, in spite of the European cut of their clothes, groaningunder the weight of cases of preserved provisions.
Everywhere the town was busy and animated, but it was in the castlecourtyard Frank found most amusement. Here of a morning a thousandnegroes would be gathered, most of them men sent down from Dunquah,forming part of our native allied army. Their costumes were various butscant, their colors all shades of brown up to the deepest black. Theirfaces were all in a grin of amusement. The noise of talking and laughingwas immense. All were squatted upon the ground, in front of each was alarge keg labelled "pork." Among them moved two or three commissariatofficers in gray uniforms. At the order, "Now then, off with you," thenegroes would rise, take off their cloths, wrap them into pads, liftthe barrels on to their heads, and go off at a brisk pace; the officerperhaps smartening up the last to leave with a cut with his stick, whichwould call forth a scream of laughter from all the others.
When all the men had gone, the turn of the women came, a
nd of these twoor three hundred, who had been seated chattering and laughing againstthe walls, would now come forward and stoop to pick up the bags ofbiscuit laid out for them. Their appearance was most comical when theystooped to their work, their prodigious bustles forming an apex. Atleast two out of every three had babies seated on these bustles, keptfirm against their backs by the cloth tightly wrapped round the mother'sbody. But from the attitudes of the mothers the position was nowreversed, the little black heads hanging downwards upon the dark brownbacks of the women. These were always in the highest state of goodtemper, often indulging when not at work in a general dance, andcontinually singing, and clapping their hands.
After the women had been got off three or four hundred boys and girls,of from eleven to fourteen years old, would start with small kegs ofrice or meat weighing from twenty-five to thirty-five pounds.These small kegs had upon their first arrival been a cause of greatbewilderment and annoyance to the commissariat officers, for no man orwoman, unless by profession a juggler, could balance two long narrowbarrels on the head. At last the happy idea struck an officer of thedepartment that the children of the place might be utilized for thepurpose. No sooner was it known that boys and girls could get half men'swages for carrying up light loads, than there was a perfect rush ofthe juvenile population. Three hundred applied the first morning, fourhundred the next. The glee of the youngsters was quite exuberant.All were accustomed to carry weights, such as great jars of water andbaskets of yams, far heavier than those they were now called to take upthe country; and the novel pleasure of earning money and of enjoying anexpedition up the country delighted them immensely.
Bullocks were now arriving from other parts of the coast, and althoughthese would not live for any time at Cape Coast, it was thought theywould do so long enough to afford the expedition a certain quantity offresh meat; Australian meat, and salt pork, though valuable in theirway, being poor food to men whose appetites are enfeebled by heat andexhaustion.
It was not till upwards of six weeks after the fight at Abra Crampa thatthe last of the Ashanti army crossed the Prah. When arriving within ashort distance of that river they had been met by seven thousand freshtroops, who had been sent by the king with orders that they were not toreturn until they had driven the English into the sea. Ammon Quatia'sarmy, however, although still, from the many reinforcements it hadreceived, nearly twenty thousand strong, positively refused to do anymore fighting until they had been home and rested, and their talesof the prowess of the white troops so checked the enthusiasm of thenewcomers, that these decided to return with the rest.