By Sheer Pluck

G >> G. A. Henty >> By Sheer Pluck

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At six o'clock in the morning the advanced guard of the baggage
began to move out of the town. The main body was off by seven. The
42d remained as rearguard to cover the Engineers and burning party.

Frank stayed behind to see the destruction of the town. A hundred
engineer laborers were supplied with palm leaf torches, and in
spite of the outer coats of thatch being saturated by the tremendous
rains, the flames soon spread. Volumes of black smoke poured up, and
soon a huge pile of smoke resting over the town told the Ashantis
of the destruction of their blood stained capital. The palace was
blown up, and when the Engineers and 42d marched out from the town
scarce a house remained untouched by the flames.

The troops had proceeded but a short distance before they had reason
to congratulate themselves on their retreat before the rains began
in earnest, and to rejoice over the fact that the thunderstorms did
not set in three days earlier than they did. The marsh round the
town had increased a foot in depth, while the next stream, before
a rivulet two feet and a half deep, had now swollen its banks for
a hundred and fifty yards on either side, with over five feet and
a half of water in the old channel.

Across this channel the Engineers had with much difficulty thrown
a tree, over which the white troops passed, while the native carriers
had to wade across. It was laughable to see only the eyes of the
taller men above the water, while the shorter disappeared altogether,
nothing being seen but the boxes they carried. Fortunately the
deep part was only three or four yards wide. Thus the carriers by
taking a long breath on arriving at the edge of the original channel
were able to struggle across.

This caused a terrible delay, and a still greater one occurred at
the Dah. Here the water was more than two feet above the bridge
which the Engineers had made on the passage up. The river was as
deep as the previous one had been, and the carriers therefore waded
as before; but the deep part was wider, so wide, indeed, that it
was impossible for the shorter men to keep under water long enough
to carry their burdens across. The tall men therefore crossed and
recrossed with the burdens, the short men swimming over.

The passage across the bridge too was slow and tedious in the extreme.
Some of the cross planks had been swept away, and each man had to
feel every step of his way over. So tedious was the work that at
five in the afternoon it became evident that it would be impossible
for all the white troops to get across--a process at once slow
and dangerous--before nightfall. The river was still rising, and
it was a matter of importance that none should be left upon the
other side at night, as the Ashantis might, for anything they could
tell, be gathering in force in the rear. Consequently Sir Archibald
Alison gave the order for the white troops to strip and to wade
across taking only their helmets and guns. The clothes were made
up in bundles and carried over by natives swimming, while others
took their places below in case any of the men should be carried
off their feet by the stream. All passed over without any accident.

One result, however, was a laughable incident next morning, an
incident which, it may be safely asserted, never before occurred in
the British army. It was quite dark before the last party were over,
and the natives collecting the clothes did not notice those of one
of the men who had undressed at the foot of a tree. Consequently he
had to pass the night, a very wet one, in a blanket, and absolutely
paraded with his regiment in the morning in nothing but a helmet and
rifle. The incident caused immense laughter, and a native swimming
across the river found and brought back his clothes.

As the journeys were necessarily slow and tedious, owing to the
quantity of baggage and sick being carried down, Frank now determined
to push straight down to the coast, and, bidding goodbye to Sir
Garnet and the many friends he had made during the expedition, he
took his place for the first time in the hammock, which with its
bearers had accompanied him from Cape Coast, and started for the
sea. There was some risk as far as the Prah, for straggling bodies
of the enemy frequently intercepted the convoys. Frank, however,
met with no obstacle, and in ten days after leaving the army reached
Cape Coast.

Ostik implored his master to take him with him across the sea; but
Frank pointed out to him that he would not be happy long in England,
where the customs were so different from his own, and where in winter
he would feel the cold terribly. Ostik yielded to the arguments,
and having earned enough to purchase for years the small comforts
and luxuries dear to the negro heart, he agreed to start for the
Gaboon immediately Frank left for England.

On his first arrival at Cape Coast he had to his great satisfaction
found that the Houssas who had escaped from Coomassie had succeeded
in reaching the coast in safety, and that having obtained their
pay from the agent they had sailed for their homes.

Three days after Frank's arrival at Cape Coast the mail steamer
came along, and he took passage for England. Very strange indeed
did it feel to him when he set foot in Liverpool. Nearly two years
and a half had elapsed since he had sailed, and he had gone through
adventures sufficient for a lifetime. He was but eighteen years
old now, but he had been so long accustomed to do man's work that
he felt far older than he was. The next day on arriving in town he
put up at the Charing Cross Hotel and then sallied out to see his
friends.

He determined to go first of all to visit the porter who had been
the earliest friend he had made in London, and then to drive to
Ruthven's, where he was sure of a hearty welcome. He had written
several times, since it had been possible for him to send letters,
to his various friends, first of all to his sister, and the doctor,
to Ruthven, to the porter, and to the old naturalist. He drove to
London Bridge Station, and there learned that the porter had been
for a week absent from duty, having strained his back in lifting a
heavy trunk. He therefore drove to Ratcliff Highway. The shop was
closed, but his knock brought the naturalist to the door.

"What can I do for you, sir?" he asked civilly.

"Well, in the first place, you can shake me by the hand."

The old man started at the voice.

"Why, 'tis Frank!" he exclaimed, "grown and sunburnt out of all
recollection. My dear boy, I am glad indeed to see you. Come in,
come in; John is inside."

Frank received another hearty greeting, and sat for a couple of
hours chatting over his adventures. He found that had he arrived
a fortnight later he would not have found either of his friends.
The porter was in a week about to be married again to a widow who
kept a small shop and was in comfortable circumstances. The naturalist
had sold the business, and was going down into the country to live
with a sister there.

After leaving them Frank drove to the residence of Sir James Ruthven
in Eaton Square. Frank sent in his name and was shown up to the
drawing room. A minute later the door opened with a crash and his
old schoolfellow rushed in.

"My dear, dear, old boy," he said wringing Frank's hand, "I am
glad to see you; but, bless me, how you have changed! How thin you
are, and how black! I should have passed you in the street without
knowing you; and you look years older than I do. But that is no
wonder after all you've gone through. Well, when did you arrive,
and where are your things? Why have you not brought them here?"

Frank said that he had left them at the hotel, as he was going down
early the next morning to Deal. He stayed, however, and dined with
his friend, whose father received him with the greatest cordiality
and kindness.

On leaving the hotel next morning he directed his portmanteau to
be sent in the course of the day to Sir James Ruthven's. He had
bought a few things at Cape Coast, and had obtained a couple of
suits of clothes for immediate use at Liverpool.

On arriving at Deal he found his sister much grown and very well
and happy. She was almost out of her mind with delight at seeing
him. He stayed two or three days with her and then returned to town
and took up his abode in Eaton Square.

"Well, my dear boy, what are you thinking of doing?" Sir James
Ruthven asked next morning at breakfast. "You have had almost enough
of travel, I should think."

"Quite enough, sir," Frank said. "I have made up my mind that
I shall be a doctor. The gold necklace which I showed you, which
Ammon Quatia gave me, weighs over twenty pounds, and as it is of
the purest gold it is worth about a thousand pounds, a sum amply
sufficient to keep me and pay my expenses till I have passed.
Besides, Mr. Goodenough has, I believe, left me something in his
will. I sent home one copy to his lawyer and have brought the other
with me. I must call on the firm this morning. I have also some
thirty pounds' weight in gold which was paid me by the king for
the goods he took, but this, of course, belongs to Mr. Goodenough's
estate."

Upon calling upon the firm of lawyers, and sending in his name, he
was at once shown in to the principal.

"I congratulate you on your safe return, sir," the gentleman said.
"You have called, of course, in reference to the will of the late
Mr. Goodenough."

"Yes," Frank replied. "I sent home one copy from Coomassie and have
brought another with me."

"We received the first in due course," the gentleman said, taking
the document Frank held out to him. "You are, of course, acquainted
with its contents."

"No," Frank answered, "beyond the fact that Mr. Goodenough told me
he had left me a legacy."

"Then I have pleasant news to give you," the lawyer said. "Mr.
Goodenough died possessed of about sixty thousand pounds. He left
fifteen thousand each to his only surviving nephew and niece.
Fifteen thousand pounds he has divided among several charitable
and scientific institutions. Fifteen thousand pounds he has left
to you."

Frank gave a little cry of surprise.

"The will is an eminently just and satisfactory one," the lawyer
said, "for Mr. Goodenough has had but little intercourse with his
relations, who live in Scotland, and they had no reason to expect
to inherit any portion of his property. They are, therefore, delighted
with the handsome legacy they have received. I may mention that Mr.
Goodenough ordered that in the event of your not living to return
to England, five thousand pounds of the portion which would have
come to you was to be paid to trustees for the use of your sister,
the remaining ten thousand to be added to the sum to be divided
among the hospitals."

"This is indeed a surprise," Frank said; "and I shall be obliged,
sir, if you will at once draw out a paper for me to sign settling
the five thousand pounds upon my sister. Whatever may happen then
she will be provided for."

The accession of this snug and most unexpected fortune in no way
altered Frank's views as to his future profession. He worked hard
and steadily and passed with high honors. He spent another three
years in hospital work, and then purchased a partnership in an
excellent West End practice. He is now considered one of the most
rising young physicians of the day. His sister keeps house for him
in Harley Street; but it is doubtful whether she will long continue
to do so. The last time Dick Ruthven was at home on leave he persuaded
her that it was her bounden duty to endeavor to make civilian life
bearable to him when he should attain captain's rank, and, in
accordance with his father's wish, retire from the army, events
which are expected to take place in a few months' time.

Ruthven often laughs and tells Frank that he is a good soldier
spoiled, and that it is a pity a man should settle down as a doctor
who had made his way in life "by sheer pluck."

THE END

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