By Sheer Pluck

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"My boy," he said, "I have been making my will. I fear that it is
all over with me. Fever and dysentery together are in nine cases
out of ten fatal. Don't cry, Frank," he said, as the lad burst into
tears. "I would gladly have lived, but if it is God's will that
it should be otherwise, so be it. I have no wife or near relatives
to regret my loss--none, my poor boy, who will mourn for me as
sincerely as I know that you will do. In the year that we have been
together I have come to look upon you as my son, and you will find
that I have not forgotten you in my will. I have written it in
duplicate. If you have an opportunity send one of these letters
down to the coast. Keep the other yourself, and I trust that you
will live to carry it to its destination. Should it not be so,
should the worst come to the worst, it will be a consolation to
you to know that I have not forgotten the little sister of whom
you have spoken to me so often, and that in case of your death she
will be provided for."

An hour later Mr. Goodenough was in a state of delirium, in which
he remained all night, falling towards morning into a dull coma,
gradually breathing his last, without any return of sensibility,
at eight in the morning.

Frank was utterly prostrated with grief, from which he roused
himself to send to the king to ask permission to bury his friend.

The king sent down to say how grieved he was to hear of the white
man's death. He had ordered many of his warriors to attend his
funeral. Frank had a grave dug on a rising spot of ground beyond
the marsh. In the evening a great number of the warriors gathered
round the house, and upon the shoulders of four of them Mr.
Goodenough was conveyed to his last resting place, Frank and the
German missionaries following with a great crowd of warriors. The
missionaries read the service over the grave, and Frank returned
heart broken to his house, with Ostik, who also felt terribly the
loss of his master.

Two days later a wooden cross was erected over the grave. Upon this
Frank carved the name of his friend. Hearing a week afterwards that
the king was sending down a messenger to Cape Coast, Frank asked
permission to send Mr. Goodenough's letter by him. The king sent
for him.

"I do not wish any more troubles," he said, "or that letters should
be sent to the governor. You are my guest. When the troubles are
settled I will send you down to the coast; but we have many things
to write about, and I do not want more subjects for talk."

Frank showed the letter and read the address, and told the king
that it was only a letter to the man of business of Mr. Goodenough
in England, giving directions for the disposal of his property
there.

The king then consented that his messenger should take the letter.

At the end of December, when Frank had been nearly three months at
Coomassie, one of the Germans said to him:

"The king speaks fairly, and seems intent upon his negotiations;
but he is preparing secretly for war. An army is collecting on
the Prah. I hear that twelve thousand men are ordered to assemble
there."

"I have noticed," Frank said, "that there have been fewer men about
than usual during the last few days. What will happen to us, do
you think?"

The missionary shook his head.

"No one can say," he said. "It all depends upon the king's humor.
I think, however, that he is more likely to keep us as hostages,
and to obtain money for us at the end of the war, than to kill us.
If all goes well with his army we are probably safe; but if the
news comes of any defeat, he may in his rage order us to be executed."

"What do you think are the chances of defeat?" Frank asked.

"We know not," the missionary said; "but it seems probable that the
Ashantis will turn the English out of the coast. The Fantis are of
no use. They were a brave people once, and united might have made
a successful resistance to the Ashantis; but you English have made
women of them. You have forbidden them to fight among themselves,
you have discouraged them in any attempts to raise armies, you have
reduced the power of the chiefs, you have tried to turn them into
a race of cultivators and traders instead of warriors, and you can
expect no material aid from them now. They will melt away like snow
before the Ashantis. The king's spies tell him that there are only
a hundred and fifty black troops at Cape Coast. These are trained
and led by Englishmen, but, after all, they are only negroes, no
braver than the Ashantis. What chance have they of resisting an
army nearly a hundred to one stronger than themselves?"

"Is the fort at Cape Coast strong?" Frank asked.

"Yes, against savages without cannon. Besides, the guns of the
ships of war would cover it."

"Well," Frank said, "if we can hold that, they will send out troops
from England."

"They may do so," the missionary asserted; "but what could white
troops do in the fever haunted forests, which extend from Coomassie
to the coast?"

"They will manage somehow," Frank replied confidently. "Besides,
after all, as I hear that the great portion of Ashanti lying beyond
this is plain and open country, the Ashantis themselves cannot be
all accustomed to bush fighting, and will suffer from fever in the
low, swamp land."

Three days later the king sent for Frank.

"The English are not true," he said angrily. "They promised the
people of Elmina that they should be allowed to retain all their
customs as under the Dutch. They have broken their word. They have
forbidden the customs. The people of Elmina have written to me to
ask me to deliver them. I am going to do so."

Frank afterwards learned that the king's words were true. Colonel
Harley, the military commandant, having, with almost incredible
fatuity, and in spite of the agreement which had been made with the
Elminas, summoned their king and chiefs to a council, and abruptly
told them that they would not be allowed henceforth to celebrate
their customs, which consisted of firing of guns, waving of flags,
dancing, and other harmless rites. The chiefs, greatly indignant
at this breach of the agreement, solemnly entered into with them,
at once, on leaving the council, wrote to the King of Ashanti,
begging him to cross the Prah and attack the English. Frank could
only say that he knew nothing of what was going on at the coast,
and could only think that his majesty must have been misinformed,
as the English wished to be friendly with the Ashantis.

"They do not wish it," the king said furiously; "they are liars."

A buzz of approval sounded among the cabooceers and captains
standing round. Frank thought that he was about to be ordered to
instant execution, and grasped a revolver, which he held in his
pocket, resolving to shoot the king first, and then to blow out his
own brains, rather than to be put to the horrible tortures which
in Ashanti always precede death.

Presently the king said suddenly to him:

"My people tell me that you can talk to them in their own tongue."

"I have learnt a little Ashanti," Frank said in that language. "I
cannot talk well, but I can make myself understood."

"Very well," the king said. "Then I shall send you down with my
general. You know the ways of English fighting, and will tell him
what is best to do against them. When the war is over and I have
driven the English away, I will send you away also. You are my
guest, and I do not wish to harm you. Tomorrow you will start. Your
goods will be of no more use to you. I have ordered my treasurer
to count the cloth, and the powder, and the other things which you
have, and to pay you for them in gold. You may go."

Frank retired, vowing in his heart that no information as to the
best way of attacking the English should be obtained from him. Upon
the whole he was much pleased at the order, for he thought that
some way of making his escape might present itself. Such was also
the opinion of Ostik when Frank told him what had taken place at
the palace.

An hour later the king's treasurer arrived. The whole of the trade
goods were appraised at fair prices, and even the cases were paid
for, as the treasurer said that these would be good for keeping the
king's state robes. Frank only retained his own portmanteau with
clothes, his bed and rugs, and the journals of the expedition, a
supply of ammunition for his revolver, his medicine chest, tent,
and a case with chocolate, preserved milk, tea, biscuits, rice,
and a couple of bottles of brandy.

In the morning there was a great beating of drums.

Four carriers had been told off for Frank's service, and these came
in, took up his baggage, and joined the line. Frank waited till
the general, Ammon Quatia, whom he had several times met at the
palace, came along, carried in a hammock, with a paraphernalia
of attendants bearing chairs, umbrellas, and flags. Frank fell in
behind these accompanied by Ostik. The whole population of Coomassie
turned out and shouted their farewells.

There was a pause in the marketplace while a hundred victims were
sacrificed to the success of the expedition. Frank kept in the thick
of the warriors so as to avoid witnessing the horrible spectacle.

As they passed the king he said to the general, "Bring me back the
head of the governor. I will place it on my drum by the side of
that of Macarthy."

Then the army passed the swamp knee deep in water, and started on
their way down to the Prah. Three miles further they crossed the
river Dah at Agogo, where the water was up to their necks. The road
was little more than a track through the forest, and many small
streams had to be crossed.

It was well that Frank had not had an attack of fever for some time,
for they marched without a stop to Fomanse, a distance of nearly
thirty miles. Fomanse was a large town. Many of the houses were built
in the same style as those at Coomassie, and the king's palace was
a stone building. That night Frank slept in a native house which
the general allotted to him close to the palace. The army slept on
the ground.

The next morning they crossed a lofty hill, and then descending
again kept along through the forest until, late in the afternoon,
they arrived on the Prah. This river was about sixty yards wide,
and here, in roughly made huts of boughs, were encamped the main
army, who had preceded them. Here there was a pause for a week
while large numbers of carriers came down with provisions. Then
on the 22d of January the army crossed the Prah in great canoes of
cottonwood tree, which the troops who first arrived had prepared.

Had the Ashanti army now pushed forward at full speed, Cape Coast
and Elmina must have fallen into their hands, for there were no
preparations whatever for their defence. The Assims, whose territory
was first invaded, sent down for assistance, but Mr. Hennessey
refused to believe that there was any invasion at all, and when
the King of Akim, the most powerful of the Fanti potentates, sent
down to ask for arms and ammunition, Mr. Hennessey refused so
curtly that the King of Akim was grievously offended, and sent at
once to the Ashantis to say that he should remain neutral in the
war.

About this time Mr. Hennessey, whose repeated blunders had in
no slight degree contributed to the invasion, was relieved by Mr.
Keate, who at once wholly alienated the Fantis by telling them
that they must defend themselves, as the English had nothing more
to do with the affair than to defend their forts. Considering that
the English had taken the natives under their protection, and that
the war was caused entirely by the taking over of Elmina by the
English and by their breach of faith to the natives there, this
treatment of the Fantis was as unjust as it was impolitic.

Ammon Quatia, however, seemed to be impressed with a spirit of
prudence as soon as he crossed the river. Parties were sent out,
indeed, who attacked and plundered the Assim villages near the
Prah, but the main body moved forward with the greatest caution,
sometimes halting for weeks.

The Ashanti general directed Frank always to pitch his tent next to
the hut occupied by himself. Four guards were appointed, nominally
to do him honor, but really, as Frank saw, to prevent him from
making his escape. These men kept guard, two at a time, night and
day over the tent, and if he moved out all followed him. He never
attempted to leave the camp. The forest was extremely dense with
thick underwood and innumerable creepers, through which it would
be almost impossible to make a way. The majority of the trees were
of only moderate height, but above them towered the cotton trees
and other giants, rising with straight stems to from two hundred
and fifty to three hundred feet high. Many of the trees had shed
their foliage, and some of these were completely covered with
brilliant flowers of different colors. The woods resounded with the
cries of various birds, but butterflies, except in the clearings,
were scarce.

The army depended for food partly upon the cultivated patches
around the Assim villages, partly on supplies brought up from the
rear. In the forest, too, they found many edible roots and fruits.
In spite of the efforts to supply them with food, Frank saw ere
many weeks had passed that the Ashantis were suffering much from
hunger. They fell away in flesh. Many were shaking with fever, and
the enthusiasm, which was manifest at the passage of the Prah, had
entirely evaporated.

The first morning after crossing the river Frank sent Ostik into
the hut of the general with a cup of hot chocolate, with which
Ammon Quatia expressed himself so much gratified that henceforth
Frank sent in a cup every morning, having still a large supply of
tins of preserved chocolate and milk, the very best food which a
traveler can take with him. In return the Ashanti general showed
Frank many little kindnesses, sending him in birds or animals when
any were shot by his men, and keeping him as well provided with
food as was possible under the circumstances.

It was not until the 8th of April that any absolute hostilities took
place. Then the Fantis, supported by fifty Houssas under Lieutenant
Hopkins, barred the road outside the village of Dunquah. The Ashantis
attacked, but the Fantis fought bravely, having great confidence
in the Houssa contingent. The battle was one of the native fashion,
neither side attempting any vigorous action, but contenting
themselves with a heavy fire at a distance of a hundred yards. All
the combatants took shelter behind trees, and the consequence was
that at the end of the day a great quantity of powder and slugs
had been fired away, and a very few men hit on either side. At
nightfall both parties drew off.

"Is that the way your English soldiers fight?" the general asked
Frank that night.

"Yes," Frank said vaguely; "they fire away at each other."

"And then I suppose," the general said, "when one party has exhausted
its ammunition it retires."

"Certainly it would retire," Frank said. "It could not resist
without ammunition you know."

Frank carefully abstained from mentioning that one side or the
other would advance even before the ammunition of its opponents was
expended, for he did not wish the Ashantis to adopt tactics which,
from their greatly superior numbers, must at once give them a
victory. The Ashantis were not dissatisfied with the day's work,
as they considered that they had proved themselves equal to the
English troops.

CHAPTER XVIII: THE ATTACK ON ELMINA

On the 14th the Fantis took the initiative, and attacked the
Ashantis. The fight was a mere repetition of that of a week before,
and about midday the Fantis, having used up all their ammunition,
fell back again to Cape Coast.

"Now," the general said to Frank, "that we have beaten the Fantis
we shall march down to Elmina."

Leaving the main road at Dunquah the army moved slowly through the
bush towards Elmina, thirty miles distant, halting in the woods
some eight miles from the town, and twelve from Cape Coast.

"I am going," the general said, "to look at the English forts. My
white friend will go with me."

With fifty of his warriors Ammon Quatia left the camp, and crossing
a stream came down upon the sea coast, a short distance west of
Elmina. With them were several of the Elmina tribe, who had come
up to the camp to welcome the Ashantis. They approached to within
three or four hundred yards of the fort, which was separated from
them by a river.

The forts on the west coast of Africa, not being built to resist
artillery, are merely barracks surrounded by high walls sufficiently
thick to allow men to walk in single file along the top, to fire
over the parapet. The tops of the walls being castellated, the
buildings have an appearance of much strength. The fort of Elmina
is of considerable size, with a barrack and officers' quarters
within it. One side faces the river, and another the sea.

"It is a wonderful fort," the Ashanti general said, much impressed
by its appearance.

"Yes," Frank replied. "And there are cannon on the top, those
great black things you see sticking out. Those are guns, and each
carries balls enough to kill a hundred men with each shot."

The general looked for some time attentively. "But you have castles
in the white men's country, how do you take them?"

"We bring a great many cannon throwing balls of iron as big as my
head," Frank answered, "and so knock a great hole in the wall and
then rush in."

"But if there are no cannon?" the general urged.

"We never attack a castle without cannon," Frank said. "But if we
had no cannon we might try to starve the people out; but you cannot
do that here, because they would land food from the sea."

The general looked puzzled. "Why do the white men come here?

"They come to trade," he said presently.

"Yes, they come to trade," Frank replied.

"And they have no other reason?"

"No," Frank said. "They do not want to take land, because the white
man cannot work in so hot a climate."

"Then if he could not trade he would go away?" the general asked.

"Yes," Frank agreed, "if he could do no trade it would be no use
remaining here."

"We will let him do no trade," the general said, brightening up.
"If we cannot take the forts we will surround them closely, and
no trade can come in and out. Then the white man will have to go
away. As to the Fantis we will destroy them, and the white men will
have no one to fight for them."

"But there are white troops," Frank said.

"White soldiers?" the Ashanti asked surprised. "I thought it was
only black soldiers that fought for the whites. The whites are few,
they are traders."

"The English are many," Frank said earnestly. "For every man that
the King of Ashanti could send to fight, England could send ten.
There are white soldiers, numbers of them, but they are not sent
here. They are kept at home to fight other white nations, the
French and the Dutch and the Danes, and many others, just as the
kings of Africa fight against each other. They are not sent here
because the climate kills the whites, so to guard the white traders
here we hire black soldiers; but, when it is known in England that
the King of Ashanti is fighting against our forts, they will send
white troops."

Ammon Quatia was thoughtful for some time. "If they come," he said
at length, "the fevers will kill them, The white man cannot live
in the swamps. Your friend, the white guest of the king, died at
Coomassie."

"Yes," Frank asserted, "but he had been nearly a year in the country
before he died. Three weeks will be enough for an English army to
march from Cape Coast to Coomassie. A few might die, but most of
them would get there."

"Coomassie!" the general exclaimed in surprise. "The white men
would be mad to think of marching against the city of the great
king. We should make great fetish, and they would all die when they
had crossed the river."

"I don't think, General," Frank said dryly, "that the fetishes
of the black man have any effect upon the white men. A fetish has
power when it is believed in. A man who knows that his enemy has
made a fetish against him is afraid. His blood becomes like water
and he dies. But the whites do not believe in fetishes. They laugh
at them, and then the fetishes cannot hurt them."

The general said no more, but turned thoughtfully and retired to
his camp. It was tantalizing to Frank to see the Union Jack waving
within sight, and to know that friends were so near and yet to be
unable to stretch out his hand to them.

He was now dressed in all respects like a native, the king having,
soon after his arrival at Coomassie, sent a present of clothes
such as were worn by his nobles, saying that the people would not
notice them so much if they were dressed like themselves. Consequently,
had the party been seen from the castle walls the appearance of an
Englishman among them would have been unobserved.

Three days later the general with a similar party crossed the Sweet
river at night, and proceeded along the sea coast to within a few
hundred yards of Cape Coast Castle, whose appearance pleased him
no more than that of Elmina had done.

The Ashantis were now better supplied with food, as they were able
to depend upon the Elmina tribes who cultivated a considerable extent
of ground, and to add to the stock, the Ashanti soldiers were set
to work to aid in planting a larger extent of ground than usual, a
proof in Frank's mind that the general contemplated making a long
stay, and blockading Elmina and Cape Coast into surrender if he
could not carry them by assault.

The natives of Africa are capable of great exertion for a time,
but their habitual attitude is that of extreme laziness. One week's
work in the year suffices to plant a sufficient amount of ground to
supply the wants of a family. The seed only requires casting into
the earth, and soon the ground will be covered with melons and
pumpkins. Sweet potatoes and yams demand no greater cultivation, and
the bananas and plantains require simply to be cut. For fifty-one
weeks in the year the negro simply sits down and watches his crops
grow. To people like these time is of absolutely no value. Their
wants are few. Their garden furnishes them with tobacco. They make
drink from the palm or by fermenting the juice of the cocoanut.
The fowls that wander about in the clearings suffice when carried
down occasionally to the port, to pay for the few yards of calico
and strings of beads which are all that is necessary for the clothing
and decoration of a family.

Such people are never in a hurry. To wait means to do nothing. To
do nothing is their highest joy. Their tomorrow means a month hence,
directly, a week. If, then, the Ashanti army had been detained
for one year or five before the English settlements, it would have
been a matter of indifference to them, so long as they could obtain
food. Their women were with them, for the wife and daughters of each
warrior had carried on head, with the army, his household goods, a
tiny stool, a few calabashes for cooking, a mat to sleep on, and
baskets high piled with provisions. They were there to collect
sticks, to cook food, draw water, bring fire for his pipe, minister
to his pleasures. He could have no more if he were at home, and
was contented to wait as long as the king ordered, were that time
years distant.

Frank was often filled with disgust at seeing these noble savages
lying indolently from morn till night while their wives went miles
in the forest searching for pineapples and fruits, bent down and
prematurely aged by toil and hardship. Many of the young girls
among the negroes are pretty, with their soft eyes and skin like
velvet, their merry laugh and graceful figures. But in a very few
years all this disappears, and by middle age they are bent, and
wrinkled, and old. All loads are carried by women, with the exception
only of hammocks, which are exclusively carried by men.

Thus, then, the Ashantis settled down to what appeared to Frank to
be an interminable business, and what rendered it more tantalizing
was, that the morning and evening guns at the English forts could
be plainly heard.

It was on the 7th of June that Ammon Quatia reconnoitered Elmina,
and the news came next day that a hundred and ten white men in red
coats had landed from a ship which had arrived that morning off
the coast. Frank judged from the description that these must be
marines from a ship of war. In this he was correct, as they consisted
of marines and marine artillerymen under Lieutenant Colonel Festing,
who had just arrived from England. Three days later the Ashanti
general, with a portion of his force, moved down close to Elmina;
Frank was told to accompany them. Shortly afterwards the news came
that the Elminas were all ordered to lay down their arms. They replied
by going over in a body to the Ashantis. Ammon Quatia determined
at once to attack the town, but as he was advancing, the guns of
the ships of war opened fire upon the native town of Elmina, which
lay to the west of the European quarter.

The sound of such heavy cannon, differing widely from anything they
had ever heard before, caused the Ashantis to pause in astonishment.
Then came the howl of the shells, which exploded in rapid succession
in the village, from which flames began immediately to rise. After
a few minutes' hesitation the Ashantis and Elminas again advanced.
The general, who was carried in a chair upon the shoulders of four
men, took his post on rising ground near the burning village.

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