by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVII: THE INVASION OF FANTI LAND
The following morning Mr. Goodenough and Frank were called to the doorby the noise of a passing crowd, and to their horror saw a man beingtaken to sacrifice. He was preceded by men beating drums, his hands werepinioned behind him. A sharp thin knife was passed through his cheeks,to which his lips were noozed like the figure 8. One ear was cut off andcarried before him, the other hung to his head by a small piece of skin.There were several gashes in his back, and a knife was thrust under eachshoulder blade. He was led by a cord passed through a hole bored in hisnose. Frank ran horror stricken back into the house, and sat for a whilewith his hand over his eyes as if to shut out the ghastly spectacle.
"Mr. Goodenough," he said presently, "if we are to be killed, at leastlet us die fighting to the last, and blow out our own brains with thelast shots we have left. I don't think I'm afraid of being killed, butto be tortured like that would be horrible."
The next day a message was brought them that their retaining privateguards was an insult to the king, and that the Houssas must removeto another part of the town. Resistance was evidently useless. Mr.Goodenough called his four men together and told them what had happened.
"I am sorry I have brought you into this plight, my poor fellows,"he said. "There are now but two things open to you. You can eithervolunteer to join the king's army and then try to make your escape as anopportunity may offer, or slip away at once. You are accustomed to thewoods, and in native costume might pass without notice. You can allswim, and it matters not where you strike the Prah. If you travel atnight and lie in the woods by day you should be able to get through. Atany rate you know that if you try to escape and are caught you will bekilled. If you stop here it is possible that no harm may happen to you,but on the other hand you may at any moment be led out to sacrifice. Donot tell me your decision; I shall be questioned, and would rather beable to say that I was ignorant that you intended to escape. There isone other thing to settle. There is a long arrear of pay due to you foryour good and faithful service. It would be useless for me to pay younow, as the money might be found on you and taken away, and if youshould be killed it would be lost to your friends. I have written herefour orders on my banker in England, which the agents down at Cape Coastwill readily cash for you. Each order is for twice the sum due to you.As you have come into such great danger in my service, and have behavedso faithfully, it is right that you should be well rewarded. Give me thenames of your wives or relatives whom you wish to have the money. Shouldany of you fall and escape, I will, on my arrival at Cape Coast, sendmoney, double the amount I have written here, to them."
The men expressed themselves warmly grateful for Mr. Goodenough'skindness, gave him the names and addresses of their wives, and then,with tears in their eyes, took their leave.
"Now, Ostik, what do you say?" Mr. Goodenough asked, turning to him.
"I stay here, sar," Ostik said. "Houssas fighting men, creep throughwood, crawl on stomach. Dey get through sure enough. Ostik stay withmassa. If dey kill massa dey kill Ostik. Ostik take chance."
"Very well, Ostik, if we get through safe together you shall not havereason to regret your fidelity. Now, Frank, I think it would be a goodthing if you were to spend some hours every day in trying to pick up asmuch of the language here as you can. You are quick at it, and were ableto make yourself understood by our bearers far better than I could do.You already know a great many words in four or five of these dialects.They are all related to each other, and with what you know you would ina couple of months be able to get along very well in Ashanti. Itwill help to pass your time and to occupy your mind. There will be nodifficulty in finding men here who have worked down on the coast andknow a little English. If we get away safely you will not regret thatyour time has been employed. If we have trouble your knowledge of thelanguage may in some way or other be of real use to you. We can go roundto the Germans, who will, no doubt, be able to put you in the way ofgetting a man."
The next day they were again sent for to the king, who was in a highstate of anger at having heard that the Houssas had escaped.
"I know nothing about it," Mr. Goodenough said. "They were contentedwhen they were with me, and had no wish to go. Your soldiers took themaway yesterday afternoon, and I suppose they were frightened. It wasfoolish of them. They should have known that a great king does notinjure travelers who come peacefully into his country. They should haveknown better. They were poor, ignorant men, who did not know that thehospitality of a king is sacred, and that when a king invites travelersto enter his country they are his guests, and under his protection."
When the interpreter translated this speech the king was silent for twoor three minutes. Then he said, "My white friend is right, They werefoolish men. They could not know these things. If my warriors overtakethem no harm shall come to them."
Pleased with the impression that his words had evidently made Mr.Goodenough returned to Frank, who had not been ordered to accompany himto the palace. In the afternoon the king sent a sheep and a presentof five ounces of gold, and a message that he did not wish his whitefriends to remain always in the town, but that they might walk to anyof the villages within a circle of three or four miles, and that fourof his guards would always accompany them to see that no one interferedwith or insulted them. They were much pleased with this permission, asthey were now enabled to renew their work of collecting. It took them,too, away from the sight of the horrible human sacrifices which wenton daily. Through the German missionaries they obtained a man who hadworked for three years down at Cape Coast. He accompanied them on theirwalks, and in the evening sat and talked with Frank, who, from theknowledge of native words which he had picked up in his nine months'residence in Africa, was able to make rapid progress in Ashanti. Hehad one or two slight attacks of fever, but the constant use of quinineenabled him to resist their effect, and he was now to some degreeacclimatized, and thought no more of the attacks of fever than he wouldhave done at home of a violent bilious attack.
This was not the case with Mr. Goodenough. Frank observed with concernthat he lost strength rapidly, and was soon unable to accompany him inhis walks. One morning he appeared very ill.
"Have you a touch of fever, sir?"
"No, Frank, it is worse than fever, it is dysentery. I had an attacklast time I was on the coast, and know what to do with it. Get themedicine chest and bring me the bottle of ipecacuanha. Now, you mustgive me doses of this just strong enough not to act as an emetic, everythree hours."
Frank nursed his friend assiduously, and for the next three days hopedthat he was obtaining a mastery over the illness. On the fourth day anattack of fever set in.
"You must stop the ipecacuanha, now," Mr. Goodenough said, "and Frank,send Ostik round to the Germans, and say I wish them to come here atonce."
When these arrived Mr. Goodenough asked Frank to leave him alone withthem. A quarter of an hour later they went out, and Frank, returning,found two sealed envelopes on the table beside him.
"My boy," he said, "I have been making my will. I fear that it is allover with me. Fever and dysentery together are in nine cases out of tenfatal. Don't cry, Frank," he said, as the lad burst into tears. "I wouldgladly have lived, but if it is God's will that it should be otherwise,so be it. I have no wife or near relatives to regret my loss--none, mypoor boy, who will mourn for me as sincerely as I know that you will do.In the year that we have been together I have come to look upon you asmy son, and you will find that I have not forgotten you in my will. Ihave written it in duplicate. If you have an opportunity send one ofthese letters down to the coast. Keep the other yourself, and I trustthat you will live to carry it to its destination. Should it not be so,should the worst come to the worst, it will be a consolation to you toknow that I have not forgotten the little sister of whom you have spokento me so often, and that in case of your death she will be providedfor."
An hour later Mr. Goodenough was in a state of delirium, in which heremained all night, falling towards mo
rning into a dull coma, graduallybreathing his last, without any return of sensibility, at eight in themorning.
Frank was utterly prostrated with grief, from which he roused himself tosend to the king to ask permission to bury his friend.
The king sent down to say how grieved he was to hear of the white man'sdeath. He had ordered many of his warriors to attend his funeral. Frankhad a grave dug on a rising spot of ground beyond the marsh. In theevening a great number of the warriors gathered round the house, andupon the shoulders of four of them Mr. Goodenough was conveyed to hislast resting place, Frank and the German missionaries following witha great crowd of warriors. The missionaries read the service over thegrave, and Frank returned heart broken to his house, with Ostik, whoalso felt terribly the loss of his master.
Two days later a wooden cross was erected over the grave. Upon thisFrank carved the name of his friend. Hearing a week afterwards that theking was sending down a messenger to Cape Coast, Frank asked permissionto send Mr. Goodenough's letter by him. The king sent for him.
"I do not wish any more troubles," he said, "or that letters should besent to the governor. You are my guest. When the troubles are settled Iwill send you down to the coast; but we have many things to write about,and I do not want more subjects for talk."
Frank showed the letter and read the address, and told the king that itwas only a letter to the man of business of Mr. Goodenough in England,giving directions for the disposal of his property there.
The king then consented that his messenger should take the letter.
At the end of December, when Frank had been nearly three months atCoomassie, one of the Germans said to him:
"The king speaks fairly, and seems intent upon his negotiations; but heis preparing secretly for war. An army is collecting on the Prah. I hearthat twelve thousand men are ordered to assemble there."
"I have noticed," Frank said, "that there have been fewer men about thanusual during the last few days. What will happen to us, do you think?"
The missionary shook his head.
"No one can say," he said. "It all depends upon the king's humor. Ithink, however, that he is more likely to keep us as hostages, and toobtain money for us at the end of the war, than to kill us. If all goeswell with his army we are probably safe; but if the news comes of anydefeat, he may in his rage order us to be executed."
"What do you think are the chances of defeat?" Frank asked.
"We know not," the missionary said; "but it seems probable that theAshantis will turn the English out of the coast. The Fantis are ofno use. They were a brave people once, and united might have made asuccessful resistance to the Ashantis; but you English have made womenof them. You have forbidden them to fight among themselves, you havediscouraged them in any attempts to raise armies, you have reducedthe power of the chiefs, you have tried to turn them into a race ofcultivators and traders instead of warriors, and you can expect nomaterial aid from them now. They will melt away like snow before theAshantis. The king's spies tell him that there are only a hundredand fifty black troops at Cape Coast. These are trained and led byEnglishmen, but, after all, they are only negroes, no braver than theAshantis. What chance have they of resisting an army nearly a hundred toone stronger than themselves?"
"Is the fort at Cape Coast strong?" Frank asked.
"Yes, against savages without cannon. Besides, the guns of the ships ofwar would cover it."
"Well," Frank said, "if we can hold that, they will send out troops fromEngland."
"They may do so," the missionary asserted; "but what could white troopsdo in the fever haunted forests, which extend from Coomassie to thecoast?"
"They will manage somehow," Frank replied confidently. "Besides, afterall, as I hear that the great portion of Ashanti lying beyond this isplain and open country, the Ashantis themselves cannot be all accustomedto bush fighting, and will suffer from fever in the low, swamp land."
Three days later the king sent for Frank.
"The English are not true," he said angrily. "They promised the peopleof Elmina that they should be allowed to retain all their customs asunder the Dutch. They have broken their word. They have forbidden thecustoms. The people of Elmina have written to me to ask me to deliverthem. I am going to do so."
Frank afterwards learned that the king's words were true. ColonelHarley, the military commandant, having, with almost incredible fatuity,and in spite of the agreement which had been made with the Elminas,summoned their king and chiefs to a council, and abruptly told them thatthey would not be allowed henceforth to celebrate their customs,which consisted of firing of guns, waving of flags, dancing, and otherharmless rites. The chiefs, greatly indignant at this breach of theagreement, solemnly entered into with them, at once, on leaving thecouncil, wrote to the King of Ashanti, begging him to cross the Prah andattack the English. Frank could only say that he knew nothing of whatwas going on at the coast, and could only think that his majesty musthave been misinformed, as the English wished to be friendly with theAshantis.
"They do not wish it," the king said furiously; "they are liars."
A buzz of approval sounded among the cabooceers and captains standinground. Frank thought that he was about to be ordered to instantexecution, and grasped a revolver, which he held in his pocket,resolving to shoot the king first, and then to blow out his own brains,rather than to be put to the horrible tortures which in Ashanti alwaysprecede death.
Presently the king said suddenly to him:
"My people tell me that you can talk to them in their own tongue."
"I have learnt a little Ashanti," Frank said in that language. "I cannottalk well, but I can make myself understood."
"Very well," the king said. "Then I shall send you down with my general.You know the ways of English fighting, and will tell him what is bestto do against them. When the war is over and I have driven the Englishaway, I will send you away also. You are my guest, and I do not wish toharm you. Tomorrow you will start. Your goods will be of no more use toyou. I have ordered my treasurer to count the cloth, and the powder, andthe other things which you have, and to pay you for them in gold. Youmay go."
Frank retired, vowing in his heart that no information as to the bestway of attacking the English should be obtained from him. Upon the wholehe was much pleased at the order, for he thought that some way of makinghis escape might present itself. Such was also the opinion of Ostik whenFrank told him what had taken place at the palace.
An hour later the king's treasurer arrived. The whole of the trade goodswere appraised at fair prices, and even the cases were paid for, as thetreasurer said that these would be good for keeping the king's staterobes. Frank only retained his own portmanteau with clothes, his bed andrugs, and the journals of the expedition, a supply of ammunition for hisrevolver, his medicine chest, tent, and a case with chocolate, preservedmilk, tea, biscuits, rice, and a couple of bottles of brandy.
In the morning there was a great beating of drums.
Four carriers had been told off for Frank's service, and these came in,took up his baggage, and joined the line. Frank waited till the general,Ammon Quatia, whom he had several times met at the palace, came along,carried in a hammock, with a paraphernalia of attendants bearing chairs,umbrellas, and flags. Frank fell in behind these accompanied byOstik. The whole population of Coomassie turned out and shouted theirfarewells.
There was a pause in the marketplace while a hundred victims weresacrificed to the success of the expedition. Frank kept in the thick ofthe warriors so as to avoid witnessing the horrible spectacle.
As they passed the king he said to the general, "Bring me back thehead of the governor. I will place it on my drum by the side of that ofMacarthy."
Then the army passed the swamp knee deep in water, and started on theirway down to the Prah. Three miles further they crossed the river Dah atAgogo, where the water was up to their necks. The road was littlemore than a track through the forest, and many small streams had to becrossed.
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 thirtymiles. Fomanse was a large town. Many of the houses were built in thesame style as those at Coomassie, and the king's palace was a stonebuilding. That night Frank slept in a native house which the generalallotted to him close to the palace. The army slept on the ground.
The next morning they crossed a lofty hill, and then descending againkept along through the forest until, late in the afternoon, they arrivedon the Prah. This river was about sixty yards wide, and here, in roughlymade 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 camedown with provisions. Then on the 22d of January the army crossed thePrah in great canoes of cottonwood tree, which the troops who firstarrived had prepared.
Had the Ashanti army now pushed forward at full speed, Cape Coast andElmina must have fallen into their hands, for there were no preparationswhatever for their defence. The Assims, whose territory was firstinvaded, sent down for assistance, but Mr. Hennessey refused to believethat there was any invasion at all, and when the King of Akim, themost powerful of the Fanti potentates, sent down to ask for arms andammunition, Mr. Hennessey refused so curtly that the King of Akim wasgrievously offended, and sent at once to the Ashantis to say that heshould remain neutral in the war.
About this time Mr. Hennessey, whose repeated blunders had in no slightdegree contributed to the invasion, was relieved by Mr. Keate, who atonce wholly alienated the Fantis by telling them that they must defendthemselves, as the English had nothing more to do with the affairthan to defend their forts. Considering that the English had taken thenatives under their protection, and that the war was caused entirely bythe taking over of Elmina by the English and by their breach of faith tothe natives there, this treatment of the Fantis was as unjust as it wasimpolitic.
Ammon Quatia, however, seemed to be impressed with a spirit of prudenceas soon as he crossed the river. Parties were sent out, indeed, whoattacked and plundered the Assim villages near the Prah, but the mainbody moved forward with the greatest caution, sometimes halting forweeks.
The Ashanti general directed Frank always to pitch his tent next to thehut occupied by himself. Four guards were appointed, nominally to do himhonor, 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 ifhe moved out all followed him. He never attempted to leave the camp.The forest was extremely dense with thick underwood and innumerablecreepers, through which it would be almost impossible to make a way.The majority of the trees were of only moderate height, but above themtowered the cotton trees and other giants, rising with straight stems tofrom two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet high. Many of the treeshad shed their foliage, and some of these were completely covered withbrilliant flowers of different colors. The woods resounded with thecries of various birds, but butterflies, except in the clearings, werescarce.
The army depended for food partly upon the cultivated patches aroundthe Assim villages, partly on supplies brought up from the rear. In theforest, too, they found many edible roots and fruits. In spite of theefforts to supply them with food, Frank saw ere many weeks had passedthat the Ashantis were suffering much from hunger. They fell away inflesh. Many were shaking with fever, and the enthusiasm, which wasmanifest at the passage of the Prah, had entirely evaporated.
The first morning after crossing the river Frank sent Ostik into thehut of the general with a cup of hot chocolate, with which Ammon Quatiaexpressed himself so much gratified that henceforth Frank sent in acup every morning, having still a large supply of tins of preservedchocolate and milk, the very best food which a traveler can take withhim. In return the Ashanti general showed Frank many little kindnesses,sending him in birds or animals when any were shot by his men, andkeeping him as well provided with food as was possible under thecircumstances.
It was not until the 8th of April that any absolute hostilities tookplace. Then the Fantis, supported by fifty Houssas under LieutenantHopkins, barred the road outside the village of Dunquah. The Ashantisattacked, but the Fantis fought bravely, having great confidence in theHoussa contingent. The battle was one of the native fashion, neitherside attempting any vigorous action, but contenting themselves with aheavy fire at a distance of a hundred yards. All the combatants tookshelter behind trees, and the consequence was that at the end of the daya great quantity of powder and slugs had been fired away, and a very fewmen hit on either side. At nightfall both parties drew off.
"Is that the way your English soldiers fight?" the general asked Frankthat night.
"Yes," Frank said vaguely; "they fire away at each other."
"And then I suppose," the general said, "when one party has exhaustedits ammunition it retires."
"Certainly it would retire," Frank said. "It could not resist withoutammunition you know."
Frank carefully abstained from mentioning that one side or the otherwould advance even before the ammunition of its opponents was expended,for he did not wish the Ashantis to adopt tactics which, from theirgreatly superior numbers, must at once give them a victory. The Ashantiswere not dissatisfied with the day's work, as they considered that theyhad proved themselves equal to the English troops.