By Sheer Pluck

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Sootah was the station beyond Mansue, beyond this Assin and Barracoo.
Beyond Sootah the odors of the forest became much more unpleasant,
for at Fazoo they passed the scene of the conflict between Colonel
Wood's regiment and the retiring Ashantis. In the forest beyond
this were the remains of a great camp of the enemy's, which extended
for miles, and hence to the Prah large numbers of Ashantis had
dropped by the way or had crawled into the forest to die, smitten
by disease or rifle balls.

There was a general feeling of pleasure as the party emerged from
the forest into the large open camp at Prahsue. This clearing was
twenty acres in extent, and occupied an isthmus formed by a loop
of the river. The 2d West Indians were encamped here, and huts had
been erected under the shade of some lofty trees for the naval brigade.
In the center was a great square. On one side were the range of
huts for the general and his staff. Two sides of the square were
formed by the huts for the white troops. On the fourth was the
hospital, the huts for the brigadier and his staff, and the post
office. Upon the river bank beyond the square were the tents of the
engineers and Rait's battery of artillery, and the camps of Wood's
and Russell's regiments. The river, some seventy yards wide, ran
round three sides of the camp thirty feet below its level.

The work which the engineers had accomplished was little less than
marvelous. Eighty miles of road had been cut and cleared, every
stream, however insignificant, had been bridged, and attempts made
to corduroy every swamp. This would have been no great feat through
a soft wood forest with the aid of good workmen. Here, however,
the trees were for the most part of extremely hard wood, teak and
mahogany forming the majority. The natives had no idea of using an
axe. Their only notion of felling a tree was to squat down beside
it and give it little hacking chops with a large knife or a sabre.

With such means and such men as these the mere work of cutting and
making the roads and bridging the streams was enormous. But not only
was this done but the stations were all stockaded, and huts erected
for the reception of four hundred and fifty men and officers, and
immense quantities of stores, at each post. Major Home, commanding
the engineers, was the life and soul of the work, and to him more
than any other man was the expedition indebted for its success. He
was nobly seconded by Buckle, Bell, Mann, Cotton, Skinner, Bates and
Jeykyll, officers of his own corps, and by Hearle of the marines,
and Hare of the 22d, attached to them. Long before daylight his men
were off to their work, long after nightfall they returned utterly
exhausted to camp.

Upon the 1st of January, 1874, Sir Garnet Wolseley, with his staff,
among whom Frank was now reckoned, reached the Prah. During the
eight days which elapsed before the white troops came up Frank
found much to amuse him. The engineers were at work, aided by the
sailors of the naval brigade, which arrived two days after the
general, in erecting a bridge across the Prah. The sailors worked,
stripped to the waist, in the muddy water of the river, which was
about seven feet deep in the middle. When tired of watching these
he would wander into the camp of the native regiments, and chat
with the men, whose astonishment at finding a young Englishman able
to converse in their language, for the Fanti and Ashanti dialects
differ but little, was unbounded. Sometimes he would be sent for
to headquarters to translate to Captain Buller, the head of the
intelligence department, the statements of prisoners brought in
by the scouts, who, under Lord Gifford, had penetrated many miles
beyond the Prah.

Everywhere these found dead bodies by the side of the road, showing
the state to which the Ashanti army was reduced in its retreat. The
prisoners brought in were unanimous in saying that great uneasiness
had been produced at Coomassie by the news of the advance of the
British to the Prah. The king had written to Ammon Quatia, severely
blaming him for his conduct of the campaign, and for the great loss
of life among his army.

All sorts of portents were happening at Coomassie, to the great
disturbance of the mind of the people. Some of those related
singularly resembled those said to have occurred before the capture
of Rome by the Goths. An aerolite had fallen in the marketplace of
Coomassie, and, still more strange, a child was born which was at
once able to converse fluently. This youthful prodigy was placed
in a room by itself, with guards around it to prevent anyone having
converse with the supernatural visitant. In the morning, however,
it was gone, and in its place was found a bundle of dead leaves.
The fetish men having been consulted declared that this signified
that Coomassie itself would disappear, and would become nothing but
a bundle of dead leaves. This had greatly exercised the credulous
there.

Two days after his arrival Frank went down at sunset to bathe in
the river. He had just reached the bank when he heard a cry among
some white soldiers bathing there, and was just in time to see one
of them pulled under water by an alligator, which had seized him
by the leg. Frank had so often heard what was the best thing to
do that he at once threw off his Norfolk jacket, plunged into the
stream, and swam to the spot where the eddy on the surface showed
that a struggle was going on beneath. The water was too muddy to
see far through it, but Frank speedily came upon the alligator,
and finding its eyes, shoved his thumbs into them. In an instant
the creature relaxed his hold of his prey and made off, and Frank,
seizing the wounded man, swam with him to shore amid the loud
cheers of the sailors. The soldier, who proved to be a marine,
was insensible, and his leg was nearly severed above the ankle. He
soon recovered consciousness, and, being carried to the camp, his
leg was amputated below the knee, and he was soon afterwards taken
down to the coast.

It had been known that there were alligators in the river, a young
one about a yard long having been captured and tied up like a dog
in the camp, with a string round its neck. But it was thought that
the noise of building the bridge, and the movement on the banks,
would have driven them away. After this incident bathing was for
the most part abandoned.

The affair made Frank a great favorite in the naval brigade, and
of a night he would, after dinner, generally repair there, and sit
by the great bonfires, which the tars kept up, and listen to the
jovial choruses which they raised around them.

Two days after the arrival of Sir Garnet, an ambassador came down
from the king with a letter, inquiring indignantly why the English
had attacked the Ashanti troops, and why they had advanced to the
Prah. An opportunity was taken to impress him with the nature of
the English arms. A Gatling gun was placed on the river bank, and
its fire directed upon the surface, and the fountain of water which
rose as the steady stream of bullets struck its surface astonished,
and evidently filled with awe, the Ashanti ambassador. On the
following day this emissary took his departure for Coomassie with
a letter to the king.

On the 12th the messengers returned with an unsatisfactory answer
to Sir Garnet's letter; they brought with them Mr. Kuhne, one of
the German missionaries. He said that it was reported in Coomassie
that twenty thousand out of the forty thousand Ashantis who had
crossed the Prah had died. It is probable that this was exaggerated,
but Mr. Kuhne had counted two hundred and seventy-six men carrying
boxes containing the bones of chiefs and leading men. As these would
have fared better than the common herd they would have suffered less
from famine and dysentery. The army had for the most part broken
up into small parties and gone to their villages. The wrath of the
king was great, and all the chiefs who accompanied the army had
been fined and otherwise punished. Mr. Kuhne said that when Sir
Garnet's letter arrived, the question of peace or war had been
hotly contested at a council. The chiefs who had been in the late
expedition were unanimous in deprecating any further attempt to
contend with the white man. Those who had remained at home, and who
knew nothing of the white man's arms, or white man's valor, were
for war rather than surrender.

Mr. Kuhne was unable to form any opinion what the final determination
would be. The German missionary had no doubt been restored as
a sort of peace offering. He was in a bad state of health, and as
his brother and his brother's wife were among the captives, the
Ashanti monarch calculated that anxiety for the fate of his relatives
would induce him to argue as strongly as possible in favor of peace.

Frank left the camp on the Prah some days before the arrival of
the white troops, having moved forward with the scouts under Lord
Gifford, to whom his knowledge of the country and language proved
very valuable. The scouts did their work well. The Ashantis were
in considerable numbers, but fell back gradually without fighting.
Russell's regiment were in support, and they pressed forward until
they neared the foot of the Adansee Hills. On the 16th Rait's
artillery and Wood's regiment were to advance with two hundred men
of the 2d West Indians. The Naval Brigade, the Rifle Brigade, the
42d, and a hundred men of the 23d would be up on the Prah on the
17th.

News came down that fresh portents had happened at Coomassie. The
word signifies the town under the tree, the town being so called
because its founder sat under a broad tree, surrounded by his warriors,
while he laid out the plan of the future town. The marketplace was
situated round the tree, which became the great fetish tree of the
town, under which human sacrifices were offered. On the 6th, the
day upon which Sir Garnet sent his ultimatum to the king, a bird
of ill omen was seen to perch upon it, and half an hour afterwards
a tornado sprang up and the fetish tree was levelled to the ground.
This caused an immense sensation in Coomassie, which was heightened
when Sir Garnet's letter arrived, and proved to be dated upon the
day upon which the fetish tree had fallen.

The Adansee Hills are very steep and covered with trees, but
without undergrowth. It had been supposed that the Ashantis would
make their first stand here. Lord Gifford led the way up with the
scouts, Russell's regiment following behind. Frank accompanied Major
Russell. When Gifford neared the crest a priest came forward with
five or six supporters and shouted to him to go back, for that five
thousand men were waiting there to destroy them. Gifford paused
for a moment to allow Russell with his regiment to come within
supporting distance, and then made a rush with his scouts for the
crest. It was found deserted, the priest and his followers having
fled hastily, when they found that neither curses nor the imaginary
force availed to prevent the British from advancing.

The Adansee Hills are about six hundred feet high. Between them
and the Prah the country was once thick with towns and villages
inhabited by the Assins. These people, however, were so harassed
by the Ashantis that they were forced to abandon their country and
settle in the British protectorate south of the Prah.

Had the Adansee Hills been held by European troops the position
would have been extremely strong. A hill if clear of trees is of
immense advantage to men armed with rifles and supported by artillery,
but to men armed only with guns carrying slugs a distance of fifty
yards, the advantage is not marked, especially when, as is the case
with the Ashantis, they always fire high. The crest of the hill
was very narrow, indeed a mere saddle, with some eight or ten yards
only of level ground between the steep descents on either side. From
this point the scouts perceived the first town in the territory of
the King of Adansee, one of the five great kings of Ashanti. The
scouts and Russell's regiment halted on the top of the hill, and
the next morning the scouts went out skirmishing towards Queesa.
The war drum could be heard beating in the town, but no opposition
was offered. It was not, however, considered prudent to push
beyond the foot of the hill until more troops came up. The scouts
therefore contented themselves with keeping guard, while for the
next four days Russell's men and the engineers labored incessantly,
as they had done all the way from the Prah, in making the road over
the hill practicable.

During this time the scouts often pushed up close to Queesa, and
reported that the soldiers and population were fast deserting the
town. On the fifth day it was found to be totally deserted, and
Major Russell moved the headquarters of his regiment down into it.
The white officers were much surprised with the structure of the
huts of this place, which was exactly similar to that of those
of Coomassie, with their red clay, their alcoved bed places, and
their little courts one behind the other. Major Russell established
himself in the chief's palace, which was exactly like the other
houses except that the alcoves were very lofty, and their roofs
supported by pillars. These, with their red paint, their arabesque
adornments, and their quaint character, gave the courtyard the
precise appearance of an Egyptian temple.

The question whether the Ashantis would or would not fight was
still eagerly debated. Upon the one hand it was urged that if the
Ashantis had meant to attack us they would have disputed every
foot of the passage through the woods after we had once crossed
the Prah. Had they done so it may be confidently affirmed that we
could never have got to Coomassie. Their policy should have been to
avoid any pitched battle, but to throng the woods on either side,
continually harassing the troops on their march, preventing the men
working on the roads, and rendering it impossible for the carriers
to go along unless protected on either side by lines of troops. Even
when unopposed it was difficult enough to keep the carriers, who
were constantly deserting, but had they been exposed to continuous
attacks there would have been no possibility of keeping them
together.

It was then a strong argument in favor of peace that we had been
permitted to advance thirty miles into their country without a shot
being fired. Upon the other hand no messengers had been sent down
to meet us, no ambassadors had brought messages from the king. This
silence was ominous; nor were other signs wanting. At one place a
fetish, consisting of a wooden gun and several wooden daggers all
pointing towards us, was placed in the middle of the road. Several
kids had been found buried in calabashes in the path pierced through
and through with stakes; while a short distance outside Queesa the
dead body of a slave killed and mutilated but a few hours before
we entered it was hanging from a tree. Other fetishes of a more
common sort were to be met at every step, lines of worsted and
cotton stretched across the road, rags hung upon bushes, and other
negro trumperies of the same kind.

Five days later the Naval Brigade, with Wood's regiment and Rait's
battery, marched into Queesa, and the same afternoon the whole
marched forward to Fomana, the capital of Adansee, situated half a
mile only from Queesa. This was a large town capable of containing some
seven or eight thousand inhabitants. The architecture was similar
to that of Queesa, but the king's palace was a large structure
covering a considerable extent of ground. Here were the apartments
of the king himself, of his wives, the fetish room, and the room
for execution, still smelling horribly of the blood with which
the floor and walls were sprinkled. The first and largest court of
the palace had really an imposing effect. It was some thirty feet
square with an apartment or alcove on each side. The roofs of these
alcoves were supported by columns about twenty-five feet high. As
in all the buildings the lower parts were of red clay, the upper
of white, all being covered with deep arabesque patterns.

Fomana was one of the most pleasant stations which the troops had
reached since leaving the coast. It lay high above the sea, and
the temperature was considerably lower than that of the stations
south of the hills. A nice breeze sprung up each day about noon.
The nights were comparatively free from fog, and the town itself
stood upon rising ground resembling in form an inverted saucer. The
streets were very wide, with large trees at intervals every twenty
or thirty yards along the middle of the road.

CHAPTER XXII: THE BATTLE OF AMOAFUL

Two days after the arrival at Fomana the remaining members of the
German mission, two males, a female, and two children, were sent in
by the king with a letter containing many assurances of his desire
for peace, but making no mention of the stipulations which Sir
Garnet Wolseley had laid down. The advance was therefore to continue.
The rest of the troops came up, and on the 25th Russell's regiment
advanced to Dompiassee, Wood's regiment and Rait's battery joining
him the next day. That afternoon the first blood north of the Prah
was shed. It being known that a body of the enemy were collecting
at a village a little off the road the force moved against them.
Lord Gifford led the way, as usual, with his scouts. The enemy
opened fire as soon as the scouts appeared; but these, with the
Houssa company of Russell's regiment, rushed impetuously into the
village, and the Ashantis at once bolted. Two of them were killed
and five taken prisoners.

The next halting places of the advance troops were Kiang Bossu
and Ditchiassie. It was known now that Ammon Quatia was lying with
the Ashanti army at Amoaful, but five miles away, and ambassadors
arrived from the king finally declining to accept the terms of
peace. Russell's and Wood's regiments marched forward to Quarman,
within half a mile of the enemy's outposts. The white troops came
on to Insafoo, three miles behind. Quarman was stockaded to resist
an attack. Gordon with the Houssa company lay a quarter of a mile
in advance of the village, Gifford with his scouts close to the
edge of the wood. Major Home with the engineers cut a wide path for
the advance of the troops to within a hundred yards of the village
which the enemy held.

Every one knew that the great battle of the war would be fought
next morning. About half past seven on the morning of the 81st of
January the 42d Regiment entered the village of Quarman, and marched
through without a halt. Then came Rait's artillery, followed by the
company of the 23d and by the Naval Brigade. The plan of operations
was as follows. The 42d Regiment would form the main attacking
force. They were to drive the enemy's scouts out of Agamassie,
the village in front, and were then to move straight on, extending
to the right and left, and, if possible, advance in a skirmishing
line through the bush. Rait's two little guns were to be in their
center moving upon the road itself. The right column, consisting
of half the Naval Brigade, with Wood's regiment, now reduced by
leaving garrisons at various posts along the road to three companies,
was to cut a path out to the right and then to turn parallel with
the main road, so that the head of the column should touch the right
of the skirmishing line of the 42d. The left column, consisting
of the other half of the Naval Brigade with the four companies of
Russell's regiment, was to proceed in similar fashion on the left.
These columns would therefore form two sides of a hollow square,
protecting the 42d from any of those flanking movements of which
the Ashantis are so fond. The company of the 23d was to proceed
with the headquarter staff. The Rifle Brigade were held in reserve.

Early in the morning Major Home cut the road to within thirty yards
of the village of Agamassie, and ascertained by listening to the
voices that there were not more than a score or so of men in the
village. Gifford had made a circuit in the woods, and had ascertained
that the Ashanti army was encamped on rising ground across a stream
behind the village.

Frank had been requested by Sir Garnet Wolseley to accompany the
42d, as his knowledge of Ashanti tactics might be of value, and
he might be able by the shouts of the Ashantis to understand the
orders issued to them. The head of the 42d Regiment experienced no
opposition whatever until they issued from the bush into the little
clearing surrounding the village, which consisted only of four or
five houses. The Ashantis discharged their muskets hastily as the
first white men showed themselves, but the fire of the leading
files of the column quickly cleared them away. The 42d pushed on
through the village, and then forming in skirmishing line, advanced.
For the first two or three hundred yards they encountered no serious
opposition, and they were then received by a tremendous fire from
an unseen foe in front. The left column had not gone a hundred yards
before they too came under fire. Captain Buckle of the Engineers,
who was with the Engineer laborers occupied in cutting the path
ahead of the advancing column, was shot through the heart. A similar
opposition was experienced by the right.

The roar of the fire was tremendous, so heavy indeed that all
sound of individual reports was lost, and the noise was one hoarse
hissing roar. Even the crack of Rait's guns was lost in the general
uproar, but the occasional rush of a rocket, of which two troughs
with parties of Rait's men accompanied each wing, was distinctly
audible.

The 42d could for a time make scarcely any way, and the flanking
columns were also brought to a stand. Owing to the extreme thickness
of the wood and their ignorance of the nature of the ground these
columns were unable to keep in their proper position, and diverged
considerably. The Ashantis, however, made no effort to penetrate between
them and the 42d. For an hour this state of things continued. The
company of the 23d advanced along the main road to help to clear
the bush, where the Ashantis still fought stubbornly not two hundred
yards from the village, while two companies of the Rifle Brigade
were sent up the left hand road to keep touch with the rear of
Russell's regiment.

When the fight commenced in earnest, and the 42d were brought to
a stand by the enemy, Frank lay down with the soldiers. Not a foe
could be seen, but the fire of the enemy broke out incessantly from
the bushes some twenty yards ahead. The air above was literally
alive with slugs and a perfect shower of leaves continued to fall
upon the path. So bewilderingly dense was the bush that the men
soon lost all idea of the points of the compass, and fired in any
direction from which the enemy's shots came. Thus it happened that
the sailors sent in complaints to the general that the 23d and 42d
were firing at them, while the 42d and 23d made the same complaint
against the Naval Brigade. Sir Garnet, who had taken up his
headquarters at the village, sent out repeated instructions to the
commanding officers to warn their men to avoid this error.

For two hours the fight went on. Then the column to the left found
that the Ashantis in front of them had fallen back; they had,
however, altogether lost touch of the 42d. They were accordingly
ordered to cut a road to the northeast until they came in contact
with them. In doing so they came upon a partial clearing, where
a sharp opposition was experienced. The Houssas carried the open
ground at a rush, but the enemy, as usual, opened a heavy fire
from the edge of the bush. The Houssas were recalled, and fire was
opened with the rockets, which soon drove the Ashantis back, and
the cutting of the path was proceeded with.

In the meantime the 42d was having a hard time of it. They had
fought their way to the edge of the swamp, beyond which lay an
immense Ashanti camp, and here the fire was so tremendously heavy
that the advance was again completely arrested. Not an enemy was to
be seen, but from every bush of the opposite side puffs of smoke
came thick and fast, and a perfect rain of slugs swept over the
ground on which they were lying. Here Rait's gun, for he was only
able from the narrowness of the path to bring one into position,
did splendid service. Advancing boldly in front of the line of the
42d, ably assisted by Lieutenant Saunders, he poured round after
round of grape into the enemy until their fire slackened a little,
and the 42d, leaping to their feet, struggled across the swamp,
which was over knee deep. Step by step they won their way through
the camp and up the hill. Everywhere the dead Ashantis lay in
heaps, attesting the terrible effect of the Snider fire and the
determination with which they had fought.

Beyond the camp, upon the hills the bush was thicker than ever, and
here, where it was impossible for the white soldiers to skirmish
through the bush, the Ashantis made a last desperate stand. The
narrow lane up which alone the troops could pass was torn as if
by hail with the shower of slugs, while a large tree which stood
nearly in the center of the path and caused it slightly to swerve,
afforded some shelter to them from the storm of bullets which the
42d sent back in return. Here Rait brought his gun up again to
the front and cleared the lane. The bush was too thick even for
the Ashantis. The gun stopped firing and with a rush the regiment
went up the narrow path and out into the open clearing beyond. For
a short time the Ashantis kept up a fire from the houses, but the
42d soon drove them out, and a single shot from the gun down the
wide street which divided the town into two portions, bursting in
the midst of a group at the further end, killed eight and drove
all further idea of resistance in that direction from their minds.

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