Two days later Frank was awoke by a sudden yell. He leaped from his
bed of boughs, seized his revolver, and rushing to the door, saw that
a party of some twenty men were attacking Ammon Quatia's hut. The two
guards stationed there had already been cut down. Frank shouted to
his four guards and Ostik to follow him. The guards had been standing
irresolute, not knowing what side to take, but the example of the young
Englishman decided them. They fired their muskets into the knot of
natives, and then charged sword in hand. Ostik drew the sword which he
always carried and followed close to his master's heels. Frank did not
fire until within two yards of the Ashantis. Then his revolver spoke out
and six shots were discharged, each with deadly effect. Then, catching
up a musket which had fallen from the hands of one of the men he had
shot, he clubbed it and fell upon the surprised and already hesitating
conspirators.
These, fortunately for Frank, had not loaded their muskets. They had
intended to kill Ammon Quatia and then to disperse instantly before aid
could arrive, believing that with his death the order for retreat across
the Prah would at once be given. Several of them had been killed by the
slugs from the muskets of Frank's guard, and his pistol had completed
their confusion. The reports of the guns called up other troops, and
these came rushing in on all sides. Scarcely did Frank and his followers
fall upon the conspirators than they took to their heels and fled into
the wood.
Ammon Quatia himself, sword in hand, had just sprung to the door of
the 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 had
happened before his assailants were in full flight.
“You have saved my life,” he said to Frank. “Had it not been for you
I must have been killed. You shall not find me ungrateful. When I have
taken 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 I
shall have enough to do already to pacify him when he hears how great
have been our losses. But rest content. I will manage it somehow.”
An hour afterwards Ammon Quatia gave orders that the army should move to
the attack of Abra Crampa. The place was held by a body of marines and
sailors, 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 a
clearing. Part of this consisted of patches of cultivated ground, the
rest had been hastily cleared by the defenders. At the upper end stood a
church, and this was converted into a stronghold. The windows were high
up in the walls, and a platform had been erected inside for the sailors
to fire from the windows, which were partially blocked with sandbags.
The houses on the outside of the village had all been loopholed, and had
been connected by breastworks of earth. Other defenses had been thrown
up further back in case the outworks should be carried. The mission
house in the main street and the huts which surrounded it formed, with
the church, the last strongholds. For two or three days the bush round
the town had swarmed with Ashantis, whose tomtoms could be heard by the
garrison night and day.
Frank accompanied Ammon Quatia, and was therefore in the front, and had
an opportunity of seeing how the Ashantis commence an attack. The war
drums gave the signal, and when they ceased, ten thousand voices raised
the war song in measured cadence. The effect was very fine, rising as
it did from all parts of the forest. By this time the Ashantis had lined
the whole circle of wood round the clearing. Then three regular volleys
were fired, making, from the heavy charges used, a tremendous roar.
Scarcely had these ceased when the King of Abra, a splendid looking
negro standing nearly six feet four in height, stepped out from behind
the breastwork and shouted a taunting challenge to the Ashantis to come
on. They replied with a loud yell, and with the opening of a continuous
fire round the edge of the wood. On wall and roof of the village the
slugs pattered thickly; but the defenders were all in shelter, and in
reply, from breastwork and loophole, from the windows and roof of the
church, the answering Snider bullets flew out straight and deadly.
Several times Ammon Quatia tried to get his men to make a rush. The war
drums beat, the great horns sounded, and the men shouted, but each time
the English bullets flew so thick and deadly into the wood wherever the
sound rose loudest that the Ashantis' heart failed them, and they could
not 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 attack
recommenced. The moon was up and full. Frank feared that the Ashantis
would try and crawl a part of the distance across the clearing and
then make a sudden rush; but they appeared to have no idea of a silent
attack. Several times, indeed, they gathered and rushed forward in
large bodies, but each time their shouting and drums gave warning to
the besieged, and so tremendous a fire was opened upon them when they
emerged from the shadow of the trees into the moonlight, that each time
they fell back leaving the ground strewn with dead. Till midnight the
attack was continued, then the Ashantis fell back to their camp.
At Accroful, a village on the main road some four miles distant, the
attack had been heard, and a messenger sent off to Cape Coast to inform
Sir Garnet Wolseley.
In the morning fifty men of the 2d West India regiment marched from
Accroful into Abra Crampa without molestation. Later on some Abra scouts
approached the Ashanti camp and shouted tauntingly to know when the
Ashantis were coming into Abra Crampa.
They shouted in return, “After breakfast,” and soon afterwards, a rocket
fired from the roof of the church falling into the camp, they again
sallied out and attacked. It was a repetition of the fight of the day
before. Several times Major Russell withheld his fire altogether, but
the Ashantis could not be tempted to show in force beyond the edge of
the wood. So inspirited were the defenders that they now made several
sorties and penetrated some distance into the wood.
At eight in the morning Sir Garnet Wolseley had marched from Cape
Coast with three hundred marines and blue jackets to the relief of the
position, but so tremendous was the heat that nearly half the men fell
exhausted by the way, and were ordered when they recovered to march back
to Cape Coast. The remainder, when they arrived at Assaibo, five
miles from Abra Crampa, were so utterly exhausted that a long halt was
necessary, although a faint but continuous fire could be heard from the
besieged place.
Chocolate and cold preserved meat were served out to the men, and in the
course 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 hold
the village, the rest of the force with the fifty West Indians stationed
there marched forward to Buteana, where they were joined by fifty more
men from Accroful. Just as they started from this place they met the
King of Abra, who had come out with a small body of warriors; from him
Sir Garnet learned that this road, which wound round and came in at the
back 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. The
firing round the town continued, but Ammon Quatia, when he saw the
reinforcements enter, at once began to fall back with the main body
of his troops, and although the firing was kept up all night, when the
besieged in the morning advanced to attack the Ashanti camp they found
it altogether deserted.
“It is of no use,” the Ashanti general said to Frank. “My men cannot
fight in the open against the English guns. Besides, they do not know
what they are fighting for here; but if your general should ever cross
the Prah you will find it different. There are forests all the way to
Coomassie, as you know, and the men will be fighting in defense of their
own country, you will see what we shall do then. And now I will keep
my promise to you. Tonight your guards will go to sleep. I shall have
medicine given them which will make them sleep hard. One of the Fanti
prisoners will come to your hut and will guide you through the woods to
Assaiboo. Goodbye, my friend. Ammon Quatia has learnt that some of the
white men are good and honest, and he will never forget that he owes his
life to you. Take this in remembrance of Ammon Quatia.”
And he presented Frank with a necklace composed of nuggets of gold as
big as walnuts and weighing nearly twenty pounds.
Frank in return gave the general the only article of value which he now
possessed, his revolver and tin box of cartridges, telling him that he
hoped he would never use it against the English, but that it might be of
value to him should he ever again have trouble with his own men. Frank
made a parcel of the necklace and of the gold he had received from the
king for his goods, and warned Ostik to hold himself in readiness for
flight. The camp was silent although the roar of musketry a few hundred
yards off round Abra Crampa continued unbroken. For some time Frank
heard his guards pacing outside, and occasionally speaking to each
other. Then these sounds ceased and all was quiet. Presently the front
of the tent was opened and a voice said, “Come, all is ready.”
Frank came out and looked round. The Ashanti camp was deserted. Ammon
Quatia had moved away with the main body of his troops, although the
musketry fire round the village was kept up. A Fanti stood at the
door of the hut with Ostik. The four guards were sleeping quietly.
Noiselessly the little party stole away. A quarter of an hour later they
struck the path, and an hour's walking brought them to Assaiboo. Not an
Ashanti was met with along the path, but Frank hardly felt that he was
safe until he heard the challenge of “Who goes there?” from an English
sentry. A few minutes later he was taken before Captain Bradshaw, R.
N., who commanded the sailors and marines who had been left there. Very
hearty was the greeting which the young Englishman received from the
genial sailor, and a bowl of soup and a glass of grog were soon set
before him.
His arrival created quite a sensation, and for some hours he sat talking
with the officers, while Ostik was an equal subject of curiosity among
the sailors. The news that the Ashanti army was in full retreat relieved
the garrison of the place from all further fear of attack, and Frank
went to sleep before morning, and was only roused at noon when a
messenger arrived with the news that the Ashanti camp had been found
deserted, and that the road in its rear was found to be strewn
with chairs, clothes, pillows, muskets, and odds and ends of every
description. Few Ashanti prisoners had been taken, but a considerable
number of Fantis, who had been prisoners among them, had come in, having
escaped in the confusion of the retreat. Among these were many women,
several of whom had been captured when the Ashantis had first crossed
the Prah ten months before. In the afternoon Sir Garnet Wolseley, with
the greater portion of the force from Abra Crampa, marched in, and Frank
was introduced by Captain Bradshaw to the general. As the latter was
anxious to press on at once to Cape Coast, in order that the sailors
and marines might sleep on board ship that night, he asked Frank to
accompany him, and on the road heard the story of his adventures. He
invited him to sleep for the night at Government House, an invitation
which Frank accepted; but he slept worse than he had done for a long
time. It was now nearly two years since he had landed in Africa, and
during all that time he had slept, covered with a rug, on the canvas of
his little camp bed. The complete change, the stillness and security,
and, above all, the novelty of a bed with sheets, completely banished
sleep, and it was not until morning was dawning that, wrapping himself
in a rug, and lying on the ground, he was able to get a sleep. In the
morning at breakfast Sir Garnet asked him what he intended to do, and
said that if he were in no extreme hurry to return to England he could
render great services as guide to the expedition, which would start for
Coomassie as soon as the white troops arrived. Frank had already thought
the matter over. He had had more than enough of Africa, but two or three
months longer would make no difference, and he felt that his knowledge
of the Ashanti methods of war, of the country to be traversed, the
streams to be crossed, and the points at which the Ashantis would
probably make a stand, would enable him to render really valuable
assistance to the army. He therefore told Sir Garnet Wolseley that he
had no particular business which called him urgently back, and that he
was willing to guide the army to Coomassie. He at once had quarters as
an officer assigned to him in the town, with rations for himself and
servant.
His first step was to procure English garments, for although he had
before starting laid aside his Ashanti costume, and put on that he
had before worn, his clothes were now so travel worn as to be scarce
wearable. He had no difficulty in doing this. Many of the officers were
already invalided home, and one who was just sailing was glad to dispose
of his uniform, which consisted of a light brown Norfolk shooting
jacket, knickerbockers, and helmet, as these would be of no use to him
in England.
Frank's next step was to go to the agent of Messrs. Swanzy, the
principal African merchants of the coast. This gentleman readily cashed
one of the orders on the African bank which Mr. Goodenough had, before
his death, handed over to Frank, and the latter proceeded to discharge
the long arrears of wages owing to Ostik, adding, besides, a handsome
present. He offered to allow his faithful servant to depart to join
his family on the Gaboon at once, should he wish to do so, but Ostik
declared 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 family
should anything happen to him during the expedition.
Three days later Frank was attacked by fever, the result of the reaction
after so many dangers. He was at once sent on board the Simoon, which
had 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 nursing
which he received, he was convalescent. As soon as the fever passed
away, and he was able to sit on deck and enjoy the sea breezes, he had
many visits from the officers of the ships of war. Among these was the
captain of the Decoy gunboat.
After chatting with Frank for some time the officer said: “I am going
down the coast as far as the mouth of the Volta, where Captain Glover is
organizing another expedition. You will not be wanted on shore just at
present, and a week's rest will do you good; what do you say to coming
down with me--it will give you a little change and variety?”
Frank accepted the invitation with pleasure. An hour later the Decoy's
boat came alongside, and Frank took his place on board it, Ostik
following with his clothes. An hour later the Decoy got up her anchor
and steamed down the coast. It was delightful to Frank, sitting in a
large wicker work chair in the shade of the awning, watching the distant
shore and chatting with the officers. He had much to hear of what
had taken place in England since he left, and they on their part were
equally eager to learn about the road along which they would have to
march--at least those of them who were fortunate enough to be appointed
to the naval brigade--and the wonders of the barbarian capital. The
Decoy 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 the
troops arrived from England; and to all, a trip down the coast was a
pleasant change after the long monotony of rolling at anchor. For some
distance from Cape Coast the shore was flat, but further on the country
became hilly. Some of the undulations reached a considerable height, the
highest, Mamquady, being over two thousand feet.
“That ought to be a very healthy place,” Frank said. “I should think
that a sanatorium established there would be an immense boon to the
whites all along the coasts.”
“One would think so,” an officer replied “but I'm told that those hills
are particularly unhealthy. That fellow you see jutting out is said to
be extremely rich in gold. Over and over again parties have been formed
to dig there, but they have always suffered so terribly from fever that
they have had to relinquish the attempt. The natives suffer as well
as the whites. I believe that the formation is granite, the surface of
which is much decomposed; and it is always found here that the turning
up of ground that has not been disturbed for many years is extremely
unhealthy, and decomposing granite possesses some element particularly
obnoxious to health. The natives, of course, look upon the mountain as
a fetish, and believe that an evil spirit guards it. The superstition
of the negroes is wonderful, and at Accra they are, if possible, more
superstitious than anywhere else. Every one believes that every malady
under the sun is produced by fetish, and that some enemy is casting
spells upon them.”
“There is more in it than you think,” the doctor joined in; “although it
is not spells, but poison, which they use against each other. The use of
poison is carried to an incredible extent here. I have not been much on
shore; but the medical men, both civilian and military, who have been
here any time are convinced that a vast number of the deaths that take
place are due to poison. The fetish men and women who are the vendors of
these drugs keep as a profound secret their origin and nature, but it is
certain that many of them are in point of secrecy and celerity equal to
those of the middle ages.”
“I wonder that the doctors have never discovered what plants they get
them from,” Frank said.
“Some of them have tried to do so,” the doctor replied; “but have
invariably died shortly after commencing their experiments; it is
believed they have been poisoned by the fetish men in order to prevent
their secrets being discovered.”
The hours passed pleasurably. The beautiful neatness and order
prevailing on board a man of war were specially delightful to Frank
after the rough life he had so long led, and the silence and discipline
of the men presented an equally strong contrast to the incessant
chattering and noise kept up by the niggers.
The next morning the ship was off Accra. Here the scenery had entirely
changed. The hills had receded, and a wide and slightly undulating plain
extended to their feet, some twelve miles back. The captain was going to
land, as he had some despatches for the colony, and he invited Frank to
accompany him. They did not, as Frank expected, land in a man of war's
boat, but in a surf boat, which, upon their hoisting a signal, came out
to them. These surf boats are large and very wide and flat. They are
paddled by ten or twelve negroes, who sit upon the gunwale. These men
work vigorously, and the boats travel at a considerable pace. Each boat
has a stroke peculiar to itself. Some paddle hard for six strokes and
then easy for an equal number. Some will take two or three hard and then
one easy. The steersman stands in the stern and steers with an oar. He
or one of the crew keeps up a monotonous song, to which the crew reply
in chorus, always in time with their paddling.
The surf is heavy at Accra and Frank held his breath, as, after waiting
for a favorable moment, the steersman gave the sign and the boat darted
in at lightning speed on the top of a great wave, and ran up on the
beach in the midst of a whirl of white foam.
While the captain went up to Government House, Frank, accompanied by one
of the young officers who had also come ashore, took a stroll through
the town. The first thing that struck him was the extraordinary number
of pigs. These animals pervaded the whole place. They fed in threes and
fours in the middle of the streets. They lay everywhere in the road,
across the doors, and against the walls. They quarreled energetically
inside lanes and courtyards, and when worsted in their disputes galloped
away grunting, careless whom they might upset. The principal street of
Accra was an amusing sight. Some effort had been made to keep it free
of the filth and rubbish which everywhere else abounded. Both sides were
lined by salesmen and women sitting on little mats upon the low wooden
stools used as seats in Africa. The goods were contained in wooden
trays. Here were dozens of women offering beads for sale of an unlimited
variety of form and hue. They varied from the tiny opaque beads of all
colors used by English children for their dolls, to great cylindrical
beads 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 them
round the wrists, the neck, and the ankles. The occupation of threading
the little beads is one of their greatest pleasures. The threads used
are narrow fibers of palm leaves, which are very strong. The beads,
however, are of unequal sizes, and no African girl who has any respect
for 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 and
water until all the projecting beads are ground down, and the whole are
perfectly 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 for
the head. These three articles--beads, cotton cloth, and colored
handkerchiefs--complete the list of articles required for the attire and
adornment of males and females in Africa. Besides these goods, tobacco,
in dried leaves, short clay pipes, knives, small looking glasses, and
matches were offered for sale. The majority of the saleswomen, however,
were dealers in eatables, dried fish, smoked fish, canki--which is a
preparation of ground corn wrapped up in palm leaves in the shape of
paste--eggs, fowls, kids, cooked meats in various forms, stews, boiled
pork, fried knobs of meat, and other native delicacies, besides an
abundance of seeds, nuts, and other vegetable productions.
After walking for some time through the streets Frank and his companions
returned to the boat, where, half an hour later, the captain joined
them, and, putting off to the Decoy, they continued the voyage down the
coast.
The next morning they weighed anchor off Addah, a village at the mouth
of the Volta. They whistled for a surf boat, but it was some time before
one put out. When she was launched it was doubtful whether she would
be able to make her way through the breaking water. The surf was much
heavier here than it had been at Accra, and each wave threw the boat
almost perpendicularly into the air, so that only a few feet of the end
of the keel touched the water. Still she struggled on, although so long
was she in getting through the surf that those on board the ship thought
several times that she must give it up as impracticable. At last,
however, she got through; the paddlers waited for a minute to recover
from their exertions, and then made out to the Decoy. None of the
officers had ever landed here, and several of them obtained leave to
accompany the captain on shore. Frank was one of the party. After what
they had seen of the difficulty which the boat had in getting out, all
looked somewhat anxiously at the surf as they approached the line where
the great smooth waves rolled over and broke into boiling foam. The
steersman 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, looking
attentively seaward, while the boat lay at rest just outside the line of
breakers. Suddenly he waved his cap and gave a shout. It was answered by
the crew. Every man dashed his paddle into the water. Desperately they
rowed, the steersman encouraging them by wild yells. A gigantic wave
rolled in behind the boat, and looked for a moment as if she would break
into it, but she rose on it just as it turned over, and for an instant
was swept along amidst a cataract of white foam, with the speed of an
arrow. The next wave was a small one, and ere a third reached it the
boat grounded on the sand. A dozen men rushed out into the water. The
passengers threw themselves anyhow on to their backs, and in a minute
were standing perfectly dry upon the beach.
They learned that Captain Glover's camp was half a mile distant, and at
once set out for it. Upon the way up to the camp they passed hundreds of
negroes, who had arrived in the last day or two, and had just received
their arms. Some were squatted on the ground cooking and resting
themselves. Others were examining their new weapons, oiling and removing
every spot of rust, and occasionally loading and firing them off. The
balls whizzed through the air in all directions. The most stringent
orders had been given forbidding this dangerous nuisance; but nothing
can repress the love of negroes for firing off guns. There were large
numbers of women among them; these had acted as carriers on their
journey 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 the
women should not permit them to carry anything except their guns until
they approach the neighborhood of the enemy.
The party soon arrived at the camp, which consisted of some bell tents
and the little huts of a few hundred natives. This, indeed, was only the
place where the latter were first received and armed, and they were then
sent up the river in the steamboat belonging to the expedition, to the
great 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. Goldsworthy
and Captain Sartorius as his assistants. There were four other officers,
two doctors, and an officer of commissariat. This little body had the
whole work of drilling and keeping in order some eight or ten
thousand men. They were generals, colonels, sergeants, quartermasters,
storekeepers, and diplomatists, all at once, and from daybreak until
late at night were incessantly at work. There were at least a dozen
petty kings in camp, all of whom had to be kept in a good temper, and
this was by no means the smallest of Captain Glover's difficulties, as
upon the slightest ground for discontent each of these was ready at once
to march away with his followers. The most reliable portion of Captain
Glover's force were some 250 Houssas, and as many Yorabas. In addition
to all their work with the native allies, the officers of the expedition
had succeeded in drilling both these bodies until they had obtained a
very fair amount of discipline.
After strolling through the camp the visitors went to look on at the
distribution of arms and accouterments to a hundred freshly arrived
natives. They were served out with blue smocks, made of serge, and blue
nightcaps, which had the result of transforming a fine looking body of
natives, upright in carriage, and graceful in their toga-like attire,
into a set of awkward looking, clumsy negroes. A haversack, water
bottle, belts, cap pouch, and ammunition pouch, were also handed to each
to their utter bewilderment, and it was easy to foresee that at the end
of the first day's march the whole of these, to them utterly useless
articles, would be thrown aside. They brightened up, however, when the
guns were delivered to them. The first impulse of each was to examine
his piece carefully, to try its balance by taking aim at distant
objects, then to carefully rub off any little spot of rust that could be
detected, 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 hot
pursuit of some bullocks, which were to be put on board the steamers
and taken up the river to the great camp. These had broken loose in the
night, and the chase was an exciting one. Although some fifty or sixty
men were engaged in the hunt it took no less than four hours to capture
the requisite number, and seven Houssas were more or less injured by
the charges of the desperate little animals, which possessed wonderful
strength 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 tie
them. They were finally got to the wharf by two men each: one went ahead
with 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 the
most determined efforts to get at the man in front, who kept on at a
run, the animal being checked when it got too close by the man behind
pulling at its hind leg. When it turned to attack him the man in front
again pulled at his rope. So most of them were brought down to the
landing place, and there with great difficulty again thrown down, tied,
and carried bodily on board. Some of them were so unmanageable that
they had to be carried all the way down to the landing place. If
English cattle possessed the strength and obstinate fury of these little
animals, Copenhagen Fields would have to be removed farther from London,
or the entrance swept by machine guns, for a charge of the cattle would
clear the streets of London.
After spending an amusing day on shore, the party returned on board
ship. Captain Glover's expedition, although composed of only seven or
eight English officers and costing the country comparatively nothing,
accomplished great things, but its doings were almost ignored by
England. Crossing the river they completely defeated the native tribes
there, who were in alliance with the Ashantis, after some hard fighting,
and thus prevented an invasion of our territory on that side. In
addition to this they pushed forward into the interior and absolutely
arrived at Coomassie two days after Sir Garnet Wolseley.
It is true that the attention of the Ashantis was so much occupied by
the advance of the white force that they paid but little attention to
that advancing from the Volta; but none the less is the credit due to
the indomitable perseverance and the immensity of the work accomplished
by Captain Glover and his officers. Alone and single handed, they
overcame all the enormous difficulties raised by the apathy, indolence,
and self importance of the numerous petty chiefs whose followers
constituted the army, infused something of their own spirit among their
followers, and persuaded them to march without white allies against the
hitherto invincible army of the Ashantis. Not a tithe of the credit due
to them has been given to the officers of this little force.
Captain Glover invited his visitors to pass the night on shore, offering
to place a tent at their disposal; but the mosquitoes are so numerous
and troublesome along the swampy shore of the Volta that the invitations
were declined, and the whole party returned on board the Decoy. Next day
the anchor was hove and the ship's head turned to the west; and two days
later, after a pleasant and uneventful voyage, she was again off Cape
Coast, and Frank, taking leave of his kind entertainers, returned on
shore and reported himself as ready to perform any duty that might be
assigned to him.
Until the force advanced, he had nothing to do, and spent a good deal
of 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 Sir
Garnet, that every able bodied man should work as a carrier, and while
parties of men were sent to the villages round to fetch in people
thence, hunts took place in Cape Coast itself. Every negro found in
the streets was seized by the police; protestation, indignation, and
resistance, were equally in vain. An arm or the loin cloth was firmly
griped, and the victim was run into the castle yard, amid the laughter
of the lookers on, who consisted, after the first quarter of an hour, of
women only. Then the search began in the houses, the chiefs indicating
the localities in which men were likely to be found. Some police were
set to watch outside while others went in to search. The women would at
once deny that anyone was there, but a door was pretty sure to be found
locked, and upon this being broken open the fugitive would be found
hiding under a pile of clothes or mats. Sometimes he would leap through
the windows, sometimes take to the flat roof, and as the houses join
together in the most confused way the roofs offered immense facilities
for escape, and most lively chases took place.
No excuses or pretences availed. A man seen limping painfully along the
street would, after a brief examination of his leg to see if there was
any external mark which would account for the lameness, be sent at a
round trot down the road, amid peals of laughter from the women and
girls looking on.
The indignation of some of the men thus seized, loaded and sent up
country under a strong escort, was very funny, and their astonishment
in some cases altogether unfeigned. Small shopkeepers who had never
supposed that they would be called upon to labor for the defense of
their freedom and country, found themselves with a barrel of pork
upon their heads and a policeman with a loaded musket by their side
proceeding up country for an indefinite period. A school teacher was
missing, and was found to have gone up with a case of ammunition. Casual
visitors from down the coast had their stay prolonged.
Lazy Sierra Leone men, discharged by their masters for incurable
idleness, and living doing nothing, earning nothing, kept by the
kindness of friends and the aid of an occasional petty theft, found
themselves, in spite of the European cut of their clothes, groaning
under the weight of cases of preserved provisions.
Everywhere the town was busy and animated, but it was in the castle
courtyard Frank found most amusement. Here of a morning a thousand
negroes would be gathered, most of them men sent down from Dunquah,
forming part of our native allied army. Their costumes were various but
scant, their colors all shades of brown up to the deepest black. Their
faces were all in a grin of amusement. The noise of talking and laughing
was immense. All were squatted upon the ground, in front of each was a
large keg labelled “pork.” Among them moved two or three commissariat
officers in gray uniforms. At the order, “Now then, off with you,” the
negroes would rise, take off their cloths, wrap them into pads, lift
the barrels on to their heads, and go off at a brisk pace; the officer
perhaps smartening up the last to leave with a cut with his stick, which
would call forth a scream of laughter from all the others.
When all the men had gone, the turn of the women came, and of these two
or three hundred, who had been seated chattering and laughing against
the walls, would now come forward and stoop to pick up the bags of
biscuit laid out for them. Their appearance was most comical when they
stooped to their work, their prodigious bustles forming an apex. At
least two out of every three had babies seated on these bustles, kept
firm against their backs by the cloth tightly wrapped round the mother's
body. But from the attitudes of the mothers the position was now
reversed, the little black heads hanging downwards upon the dark brown
backs of the women. These were always in the highest state of good
temper, often indulging when not at work in a general dance, and
continually 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 of
rice or meat weighing from twenty-five to thirty-five pounds.
These small kegs had upon their first arrival been a cause of great
bewilderment and annoyance to the commissariat officers, for no man or
woman, unless by profession a juggler, could balance two long narrow
barrels on the head. At last the happy idea struck an officer of the
department that the children of the place might be utilized for the
purpose. No sooner was it known that boys and girls could get half men's
wages for carrying up light loads, than there was a perfect rush of
the juvenile population. Three hundred applied the first morning, four
hundred the next. The glee of the youngsters was quite exuberant.
All were accustomed to carry weights, such as great jars of water and
baskets of yams, far heavier than those they were now called to take up
the country; and the novel pleasure of earning money and of enjoying an
expedition up the country delighted them immensely.
Bullocks were now arriving from other parts of the coast, and although
these would not live for any time at Cape Coast, it was thought they
would do so long enough to afford the expedition a certain quantity of
fresh meat; Australian meat, and salt pork, though valuable in their
way, being poor food to men whose appetites are enfeebled by heat and
exhaustion.
It was not till upwards of six weeks after the fight at Abra Crampa that
the last of the Ashanti army crossed the Prah. When arriving within a
short distance of that river they had been met by seven thousand fresh
troops, who had been sent by the king with orders that they were not to
return until they had driven the English into the sea. Ammon Quatia's
army, however, although still, from the many reinforcements it had
received, nearly twenty thousand strong, positively refused to do any
more fighting until they had been home and rested, and their tales
of the prowess of the white troops so checked the enthusiasm of the
newcomers, that these decided to return with the rest.