By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War Part 22

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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 Cooma.s.sie, 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 a.s.sims, whose territory was first invaded, sent down for a.s.sistance, 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 a.s.sim 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 b.u.t.terflies, except in the clearings, were scarce.

The army depended for food partly upon the cultivated patches around the a.s.sim 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage 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 circ.u.mstances.

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 quant.i.ty 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 repet.i.tion 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 Cooma.s.sie."

"Yes," Frank a.s.serted, "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 Cooma.s.sie. A few might die, but most of them would get there."

"Cooma.s.sie!" 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."