By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XV: THE AMAZONS OF DAHOMET

  A spacious and comfortable hut was placed at the disposal of the whitemen, with a small one adjoining for the Houssas. That evening Frankasked Mr. Goodenough to tell him what he knew concerning the people ofDahomey.

  "The word Dahomey, or more properly Da-omi, means Da's belly. Da was,two hundred and fifty years ago, the king of the city of Abomey. It wasattacked by Tacudona the chief of the Fois. It resisted bravely, andTacudona made a vow that if he took it he would sacrifice the king tothe gods. When he captured the town he carried out his vow by rippingopen the king, and then called the place Daomi. Gradually the conquerorsextended their power until the kingdom reached to the very foot of theAtlas range, obtaining a port by the conquest of Whydah. The King ofDahomey is a despot, and even his nobility crawl on the ground in hispresence. The taxes are heavy, every article sold in the market payingabout one eighteenth to the royal exchequer. There are besides manyother taxes. Every slave is taxed, every article that enters thekingdom. If a cock crow it is forfeited, and, as it is the nature ofcocks to crow, every bird in the kingdom is muzzled. The property ofevery one who dies goes to the king; and at the Annual Custom, a grandreligious festival, every man has to bring a present in proportion tohis rank and wealth. The royal pomp is kept up by receiving strangerswho visit the country with much state, and by regaling the populace withspectacles of human sacrifices. The women stand high in Dahomey.Among other negro nations they till the soil. In Dahomey they fight assoldiers, and perform all the offices of men. Dahomey is principallycelebrated for its army of women, and its human sacrifices. These lasttake place annually, or even more often. Sometimes as many as a thousandcaptives are slain on these occasions. In almost all the pagan nationsof Africa human sacrifices are perpetrated, just as they were by theDruids and Egyptians of old. Nowhere, however, are they carried to sucha terrible extent as in Dahomey. Even Ashanti, where matters are badenough, is inferior in this respect. The victims are mostly captivestaken in war, and it is to keep up the supply necessary for thesewholesale sacrifices that Dahomey is constantly at war with herneighbors."

  "But are we going to fight against women, then?" Frank asked horrified.

  "Assuredly we are," Mr. Goodenough answered. "The Amazons, as white menhave christened the force, are the flower of the Dahomey army, and fightwith extraordinary bravery and ferocity."

  "But it will seem dreadful to fire at women!" Frank said.

  "That is merely an idea of civilization, Frank. In countries where womenare dependent upon men, leaving to them the work of providing for thefamily and home, while they employ themselves in domestic duties and inbrightening the lives of the men, they are treated with respect. But astheir work becomes rougher, so does the position which they occupy inmen's esteem fall. Among the middle and upper classes throughout Europea man is considered a brute and a coward who lifts his hand against awoman. Among the lower classes wife and woman beating is by no meansuncommon, nor is such an assault regarded with much more reprobationthan an attack upon a man. When women leave their proper sphere and putthemselves forward to do man's work they must expect man's treatment;and the foolish women at home who clamor for women's rights, that isto say, for an equality of work, would, if they had their way, inflictenormous damage upon their sex."

  "Still," Frank said, "I shan't like having to fire at women."

  "You won't see much difference between women and men when the fightbegins, Frank. These female furies will slay all who fall into theirhands, and therefore in self defense you will have to assist in slayingthem."

  The following day the sound of beating of drums and firing of guns washeard, and soon afterwards the head of the army of Dahomey was seenapproaching. It moved with considerable order and regularity.

  "Those must be the Amazons," Mr. Goodenough said. "They are proud oftheir drill and discipline. I do not think that any other African troopscould march so regularly and solidly."

  The main body of the army now came in view, marching as a loose andscattered mob. Then twelve objects were seen dragged by oxen. These werethe cannon of the besiegers.

  "How many do you think there are?" Frank asked.

  "It is very difficult to judge accurately," Mr. Goodenough said. "ButDahomey is said to be able to put fifty thousand fighting men and womenin the field, that is to say her whole adult population, exceptthose too old to bear arms. I should think that there are twenty ortwenty-five thousand now in sight."

  The enemy approached within musket shot of the walls, and numbers ofthem running up, discharged their muskets. The Abeokuta people firedback; but Mr. Goodenough ordered the Houssas on no account to fire, ashe did not wish the enemy to know the power of their rifles.

  The first step of the besiegers was to cut down all the plantationsround the town and to erect great numbers of little huts. A largecentral hut with several smaller ones surrounding it was erected for theking and his principal nobles. The Dahomans spread round the town andby the gesticulation and pointing at the gates it was clear that thedefenses raised to cover these excited great surprise.

  The wall was thick enough for men to walk along on the top, but beingbuilt of clay it would withstand but little battering. Mr. Goodenoughset a large number of people to work, making sacks from the rough cloth,of which there was an abundance in the place. These were filled withearth and piled in the center of the town ready for conveyance toany point threatened. He likewise had a number of beams, used inconstruction of houses, sharpened at one end; stakes of five or six feetlong were also prepared and sharpened at both ends. That day the enemyattempted nothing against the town. The next morning the twelve cannonwere planted at a distance of about five hundred yards and opened fireon the walls. The shooting was wild in the extreme; many of the ballswent over the place altogether; others topped the wall and fell in thetown; some hit the wall and buried themselves in the clay.

  "We will give them a lesson," Mr. Goodenough said, "in the modern rifle.Frank, you take my double barrel rifle and I will take the heavy, largebored one. Your Winchester will scarcely make accurate firing at fivehundred yards."

  The Houssas were already on the wall, anxious to open fire. Mr.Goodenough saw that their rifles were sighted to five hundred yards.The cannon offered an easy mark. They were ranged along side by side,surrounded by a crowd of negroes, who yelled and danced each time a shotstruck the wall.

  "Now," Mr. Goodenough said to the Houssas, "fire steadily, and, aboveall, fire straight. I want every shot to tell."

  Mr. Goodenough gave the signal, and at once Frank and the Houssasopened fire. The triumphant yells of the Dahomans at once changed theircharacter, and a cry of wrath and astonishment broke from them. SteadilyMr. Goodenough and his party kept up their fire. They could see thatgreat execution was being done, a large proportion of the shots telling.Many wounded were carried to the rear, and black forms could be seenstretched everywhere on the ground. Still the enemy's fire continuedwith unabated vigor.

  "They fight very pluckily," Frank said.

  "They are plucky," Mr. Goodenough answered; "and as cowardice ispunished with death, and human life has scarcely any value among them,they will be killed where they stand rather than retreat."

  For three or four hours the fight continued. Several officers, evidentlyof authority, surrounded by groups of attendants, came down to the guns;but as Frank and Mr. Goodenough always selected these for their mark,and--firing with their guns resting on the parapet--were able to makevery accurate shooting, most of them were killed within a few minutes oftheir arriving on the spot.

  At the end of four hours the firing ceased, and the Dahomans retiredfrom their guns. The Abeokuta people raised a cry of triumph.

  "I imagine they have only fallen back," Mr. Goodenough said, "to givethe guns time to cool."

  While the cannonade had been going on a brisk attack had been kept up onseveral other points of the wall, the enemy advancing within fifty yardsof this and firing their muskets, loaded with heavy charges of s
lugs, atthe defenders, who replied vigorously to them. Their cannonade wasnot resumed that afternoon, the Dahomans contenting themselves withskirmishing round the walls.

  "They are disappointed with the result of their fire," Mr. Goodenoughsaid. "No doubt they anticipated they should knock the wall down withoutdifficulty. You will see some change in their tactics tomorrow."

  That night Mr. Goodenough had a number of barrels of palm oil carried onto the wall, with some of the great iron pots used for boiling down theoil, and a supply of fuel.

  "If they try to storm," he said, "it will most likely be at the pointwhich they have been firing at. The parapet is knocked down in severalplaces, and the defenders there would be more exposed to their fire."

  It was at this point, therefore, that the provision of oil was placed.Mr. Goodenough ordered fires to be lighted under the boilers an hourbefore daybreak, in order that all should be in readiness in case anattack should be made the first thing in the morning. The Abeokutanswere in high spirits at the effect of the fire of their white allies,and at the comparative failure of the cannon, at whose power they hadbefore been greatly alarmed. Soon after daylight the Dahomans were seengathering near the guns. Their drums beat furiously, and presently theyadvanced in a solid mass against the wall.

  "They have got ladders," Mr. Goodenough said. "I can see numbers of themcarrying something."

  The Houssas at once opened fire, and as the enemy approached closer,first the Abeokutans who had muskets, then the great mass with bows andarrows, began to fire upon the enemy, while these answered with theirmusketry. The central body, however, advanced without firing a shot,moving like the rest at a quick run.

  Mr. Goodenough and Frank were not firing now, as they were devotingthemselves to superintending the defence. Ostik kept close to them,carrying Frank's Winchester carbine and a double barreled shotgun.

  "This is hot," Mr. Goodenough said, as the enemy's slugs and bulletswhizzed in a storm over the edge of the parapet, killing many of thedefenders, and rendering it difficult for the others to take accurateaim. This, however, the Abeokutans did not try to do. Stooping belowthe parapet, they fitted their arrows to the string, or loaded theirmuskets, and then, standing up, fired hastily at the approaching throng.

  The walls were about twenty-five feet high inside, but the parapet gavean additional height of some four feet outside. They were about threefeet thick at the top, and but a limited number of men could take postthere to oppose the storming party. Strong bodies were placed fartheralong on the wall to make a rush to sweep the enemy off should they gaina footing. Others were posted below to attack them should they leap downinto the town, while men with muskets were on the roofs of the housesnear the walls, in readiness to open fire should the enemy get a footingon the wall. The din was prodigious.

  The Dahomans, having access to the sea coast, were armed entirely withmuskets, these being either cheap Birmingham trade guns or old convertedmuskets, bought by traders for a song at the sale of disused governmentstores. It is much to be regretted that the various governments ofEurope do not insist that their old guns shall be used only as old iron.The price obtained for them is so trifling as to be immaterial, andthe great proportion of them find their way to Africa to be used inthe constant wars that are waged there, and to enable rich and powerfultribes to enslave and destroy their weaker neighbors. The Africans usevery much heavier charges of powder than those in used in civilizednations, ramming down a handful of slugs, of half a dozen small bullets,upon the powder. This does not conduce to good shooting, but the noisemade is prodigious. The Abeokutans, on the other hand, were principallyarmed with bows and arrows, as, having no direct access to the seacoast, it was difficult for them to procure guns.

  The Dahomans poured up in a mass to the foot of the wall, and then ascore of rough ladders, constructed of bamboo, and each four feet wide,were placed against the walls. Directly the point to be attacked wasindicated, Mr. Goodenough had distributed his cauldrons of boiling oilalong the walls, and had set men to work to pierce holes through theparapet at distances of a couple of feet apart, and at a height of sixinches from the ground. A line of men with long spears wore told to liedown upon the ground, and to thrust through the holes at those climbingthe ladders. Another line of holes was pierced two feet higher, throughwhich those armed with muskets and bows were to fire, for when theenemy reached the foot of the walls their fire was so heavy that it wasimpossible to return it over the top of the parapet.

  Immediately the ladders were placed, men with ladles began to throwthe boiling oil over the parapet. Shrieks and yells from below at oncetestified to its effect, but it was only just where the cauldrons wereplaced that the besiegers were prevented by this means from mountingthe ladders, and even here many, in spite of the agony of their burns,climbed desperately upward.

  When they neared the top the fight began in earnest. Those without werenow obliged to cease firing, and the besieged were able to stand up andwith sword and spear defend their position. The breech loaders of Mr.Goodenough and the Houssas and Frank's repeating carbine now came intoplay. The Dahomans fought with extraordinary bravery, hundreds fell shotor cut down from above or pierced by the spears and arrows through theholes in the parapet. Fresh swarms of assailants took their places onthe ladders. The drums kept up a ceaseless rattle, and the yells ofthe mass of negroes standing inactive were deafening. Their efforts,however, were in vain. Never did the Amazons fight with more recklessbravery; but the position was too strong for them, and at last, afterupwards of a thousand of the assailants had fallen, the attack was givenup, and the Dahomans retired from the wall followed by the exultingshouts of the men of Abeokuta.

  The loss of the defenders was small. Some ten or twelve had been killedwith slugs. Three or four times that number were more or less severelywounded about the head or shoulders with the same missiles. Frank had anasty cut on the cheek, and Firewater and Bacon were both streaming withblood.

  There was no chance of a renewal of the attack that day. Sentries wereplaced on the walls, and a grand thanksgiving service was held in theopen space in the center of the town which the whole populace attended.

  "What will be their next move, do you think?" Frank asked Mr.Goodenough.

  "I cannot say," Mr. Goodenough said; "but these people know somethingof warfare, and finding that they cannot carry the place by assault,I think you will find that they will try some more cautious move nexttime."

  For two days there was no renewal of the attack. At Mr. Goodenough'ssuggestion the Abeokutans on the wall shouted out that the Dahomansmight come and carry off their dead, as he feared that a pestilencemight arise from so great a number of decomposing bodies at the footof the wall. The Dahomans paid no attention to the request, and, at Mr.Goodenough's suggestion, on the second day the whole populace set towork carrying earth in baskets to the top of the wall, and throwing thisover so as to cover the mass of bodies at its foot. As to those lyingfarther off nothing could be done. On the third morning it was seen thatduring the night a large number of sacks had been piled in a line uponthe ground, two hundred yards away from the wall. The pile was eightfeet in height and some fifty yards long.

  "I thought they were up to something," Mr. Goodenough said. "They havebeen sending back to Dahomey for sacks."

  In a short time the enemy brought up their cannon, behind the shelterof the sacks, regardless of the execution done by the rifles of Mr.Goodenough's party during the movement. The place chosen was two orthree hundred yards to the left of that on which the former attack hadbeen made. Then a swarm of men set to work removing some of the sacks,and in a short time twelve rough embrasures were made just wide enoughfor the muzzles of the guns, the sacks removed being piled on theothers, raising them to the height of ten feet and sheltering the menbehind completely from the fire from the walls.

  "They will make a breach now," Mr. Goodenough said. "We must prepare toreceive them inside."

  The populace were at once set to work digging holes and securelyplantin
g the beams already prepared in a semicircle a hundred feetacross, behind the wall facing the battery. The beams when fixedprojected eight feet above the ground, the spaces between being filledwith bamboos twisted in and out between them. Earth was thrown up behindto the height of four foot for the defenders to stand upon. The spacebetween the stockade and the wall was filled with sharp pointed bamboosand stakes stuck firmly in the ground with their points projectingoutwards. All day the townspeople labored at these defenses, while thewall crumbled fast under the fire of the Dahomey artillery, every shotof which, at so short a distance, struck it heavily. By five in theafternoon a great gap, fifty feet wide, was made in the walls, and thearmy of Dahomey again gathered for the assault. Mr. Goodenough with twoof the Houssas took his place on the wall on one side of the gap, Frankwith the other two faced him across the chasm. A large number of theAbeokuta warriors also lined the walls, while the rest gathered on thestockade.

  With the usual tumult of drumming and yells the Dahomans rushed tothe assault. The fire from the walls did not check the onset in theslightest, and with yells of anticipated victory they swarmed over thebreach. A cry of astonishment broke from them as they saw the formidabledefense within, the fire of whose defenders was concentrated upon them.Then, with scarce a pause, they leaped down and strove to remove theobstructions. Regardless of the fire poured upon them they hewed awayat the sharp stakes, or strove to pull them up with their hands. Theriflemen on the walls directed their fire now exclusively upon theleaders of the column, the breech loaders doing immense execution, andsoon the Dahomans in their efforts to advance had to climb over lines ofdead in their front. For half an hour the struggle continued, and thenthe Dahomans lost heart and retired, leaving fifteen hundred of theirnumber piled deep in the space between the breach and the stockade.

  "This is horrible work," Frank said when he rejoined Mr. Goodenough.

  "Horrible, Frank; but there is at least the consolation that by thisfearful slaughter of their bravest warriors we are crippling thepower of Dahomey as a curse and a scourge to its neighbors. After thiscrushing repulse the Abeokutans may hope that many years will elapsebefore they are again attacked by their savage neighbors, and thelessons which they have now learned in defense will enable them to makeas good a stand on another occasion as they have done now."

  "Do you think the attack will be renewed?"

  "I should hardly think so. The flower of their army must have fallen,and the Amazon guard must have almost ceased to exist. I told you,Frank, you would soon get over your repugnance to firing at women."

  "I did not think anything about women," Frank said. "We seemed to befighting a body of demons with their wild screams and yells. Indeed, Icould scarce distinguish the men from the women."

  A strong guard was placed at night at the stockade, and Mr. Goodenoughand Frank lay down close at hand in case the assault should be renewed.At daybreak the sound of a cannon caused them to start to their feet.

  "They are not satisfied yet," Mr. Goodenough exclaimed, hurrying to thewall. In the night the Dahomans had either with sacks or earth raisedtheir cannon some six feet, so that they were able to fire over themound caused by the fallen wall at the stockade behind it, at which theywere now directing their fire.

  "Now for the sacks," Mr. Goodenough said. Running down, he directed thesacks laden with earth, to whose necks ropes had been attached, tobe brought up. Five hundred willing hands seized them, and they werelowered in front of the center of the stockade, which was alone exposedto the enemy's fire, until they hung two deep over the whole face.As fast as one bag was injured by a shot it was drawn up and anotherlowered to its place. In the meantime the rifles from the walls hadagain opened fire, and as the gunners were now more exposed their shotsdid considerable execution. Seeing the uselessness of their efforts theDahomans gradually slackened their fire.

  When night came Mr. Goodenough gathered two hundred of the best troopsof Abeokuta. He caused plugs to be made corresponding to the size ofthe various cannonballs which were picked up within the stockade, whichvaried from six to eighteen pounders.

  About midnight the gate nearest to the breach was thrown open, and theparty sallied out and made their way towards the enemy's battery.The Dahomans had placed sentries in front facing the breach, butanticipating no attack in any other direction had left the flanksunguarded. Mr. Goodenough had enjoined the strictest silence on hisfollowers, and their approach was unobserved until they swept roundinto the battery. Large numbers of the enemy were lying asleep here, butthese, taken by surprise, could offer no resistance, and were cut downor driven away instantly by the assailants.

  Mr. Goodenough and Frank, with a party who had been told off speciallyfor the purpose, at once set to work at the cannon. These were fillednearly to the muzzle with powder, and the plugs were driven with malletstight into the muzzles. Slow matches, composed of strips of calicodipped in saltpetre, were placed in the touch holes. Then the word wasgiven, and the whole party fell back to the gate just as the Dahomans ingreat numbers came running up. In less than a minute after leaving thebattery twelve tremendous reports, following closely one upon anotherwere heard. The cannon were blown into fragments, killing numbers of theDahomey men who had just crowded into the battery.