By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XVIII: THE ATTACK ON ELMINA

  On the 14th the Fantis took the initiative, and attacked the Ashantis.The fight was a mere repetition of that of a week before, and aboutmidday the Fantis, having used up all their ammunition, fell back againto Cape Coast.

  "Now," the general said to Frank, "that we have beaten the Fantis weshall march down to Elmina."

  Leaving the main road at Dunquah the army moved slowly through the bushtowards Elmina, thirty miles distant, halting in the woods some eightmiles from the town, and twelve from Cape Coast.

  "I am going," the general said, "to look at the English forts. My whitefriend will go with me."

  With fifty of his warriors Ammon Quatia left the camp, and crossing astream 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 campto welcome the Ashantis. They approached to within three or four hundredyards of the fort, which was separated from them by a river.

  The forts on the west coast of Africa, not being built to resistartillery, are merely barracks surrounded by high walls sufficientlythick to allow men to walk in single file along the top, to fire overthe parapet. The tops of the walls being castellated, the buildings havean appearance of much strength. The fort of Elmina is of considerablesize, with a barrack and officers' quarters within it. One side facesthe river, and another the sea.

  "It is a wonderful fort," the Ashanti general said, much impressed byits appearance.

  "Yes," Frank replied. "And there are cannon on the top, those greatblack things you see sticking out. Those are guns, and each carriesballs enough to kill a hundred men with each shot."

  The general looked for some time attentively. "But you have castles inthe white men's country, how do you take them?"

  "We bring a great many cannon throwing balls of iron as big as my head,"Frank answered, "and so knock a great hole in the wall and then rushin."

  "But if there are no cannon?" the general urged.

  "We never attack a castle without cannon," Frank said. "But if we hadno cannon we might try to starve the people out; but you cannot do thathere, 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 mancannot 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 useremaining here."

  "We will let him do no trade," the general said, brightening up. "If wecannot take the forts we will surround them closely, and no trade cancome in and out. Then the white man will have to go away. As to theFantis we will destroy them, and the white men will have no one to fightfor them."

  "But there are white troops," Frank said.

  "White soldiers?" the Ashanti asked surprised. "I thought it was onlyblack soldiers that fought for the whites. The whites are few, they aretraders."

  "The English are many," Frank said earnestly. "For every man that theKing of Ashanti could send to fight, England could send ten. There arewhite soldiers, numbers of them, but they are not sent here. They arekept at home to fight other white nations, the French and the Dutch andthe Danes, and many others, just as the kings of Africa fight againsteach other. They are not sent here because the climate kills the whites,so to guard the white traders here we hire black soldiers; but, whenit is known in England that the King of Ashanti is fighting against ourforts, they will send white troops."

  Ammon Quatia was thoughtful for some time. "If they come," he said atlength, "the fevers will kill them, The white man cannot live in theswamps. Your friend, the white guest of the king, died at Coomassie."

  "Yes," Frank asserted, "but he had been nearly a year in the countrybefore he died. Three weeks will be enough for an English army to marchfrom Cape Coast to Coomassie. A few might die, but most of them wouldget there."

  "Coomassie!" the general exclaimed in surprise. "The white men would bemad to think of marching against the city of the great king. We shouldmake great fetish, and they would all die when they had crossed theriver."

  "I don't think, General," Frank said dryly, "that the fetishes of theblack man have any effect upon the white men. A fetish has power when itis believed in. A man who knows that his enemy has made a fetish againsthim is afraid. His blood becomes like water and he dies. But the whitesdo not believe in fetishes. They laugh at them, and then the fetishescannot hurt them."

  The general said no more, but turned thoughtfully and retired to hiscamp. It was tantalizing to Frank to see the Union Jack waving withinsight, and to know that friends were so near and yet to be unable tostretch out his hand to them.

  He was now dressed in all respects like a native, the king having, soonafter his arrival at Coomassie, sent a present of clothes such as wereworn by his nobles, saying that the people would not notice them so muchif they were dressed like themselves. Consequently, had the party beenseen from the castle walls the appearance of an Englishman among themwould have been unobserved.

  Three days later the general with a similar party crossed the Sweetriver at night, and proceeded along the sea coast to within a fewhundred yards of Cape Coast Castle, whose appearance pleased him no morethan that of Elmina had done.

  The Ashantis were now better supplied with food, as they were able todepend upon the Elmina tribes who cultivated a considerable extent ofground, and to add to the stock, the Ashanti soldiers were set to workto aid in planting a larger extent of ground than usual, a proof inFrank's mind that the general contemplated making a long stay, andblockading Elmina and Cape Coast into surrender if he could not carrythem by assault.

  The natives of Africa are capable of great exertion for a time, buttheir habitual attitude is that of extreme laziness. One week's work inthe year suffices to plant a sufficient amount of ground to supply thewants of a family. The seed only requires casting into the earth, andsoon the ground will be covered with melons and pumpkins. Sweet potatoesand yams demand no greater cultivation, and the bananas and plantainsrequire simply to be cut. For fifty-one weeks in the year the negrosimply sits down and watches his crops grow. To people like these timeis of absolutely no value. Their wants are few. Their garden furnishesthem with tobacco. They make drink from the palm or by fermenting thejuice of the cocoanut. The fowls that wander about in the clearingssuffice when carried down occasionally to the port, to pay for the fewyards of calico and strings of beads which are all that is necessary forthe clothing and decoration of a family.

  Such people are never in a hurry. To wait means to do nothing. Todo nothing is their highest joy. Their tomorrow means a month hence,directly, a week. If, then, the Ashanti army had been detained for oneyear or five before the English settlements, it would have been a matterof indifference to them, so long as they could obtain food. Their womenwere with them, for the wife and daughters of each warrior had carriedon head, with the army, his household goods, a tiny stool, a fewcalabashes for cooking, a mat to sleep on, and baskets high piled withprovisions. They were there to collect sticks, to cook food, draw water,bring fire for his pipe, minister to his pleasures. He could have nomore if he were at home, and was contented to wait as long as the kingordered, were that time years distant.

  Frank was often filled with disgust at seeing these noble savages lyingindolently from morn till night while their wives went miles in theforest searching for pineapples and fruits, bent down and prematurelyaged by toil and hardship. Many of the young girls among the negroes arepretty, with their soft eyes and skin like velvet, their merry laugh andgraceful figures. But in a very few years all this disappears, and bymiddle age they are bent, and wrinkled, and old. All loads are carriedby women, with the exception only of hammocks, which are exclusivelycarried by men.

  T
hus, then, the Ashantis settled down to what appeared to Frank to be aninterminable business, and what rendered it more tantalizing was, thatthe morning and evening guns at the English forts could be plainlyheard.

  It was on the 7th of June that Ammon Quatia reconnoitered Elmina, andthe news came next day that a hundred and ten white men in red coats hadlanded from a ship which had arrived that morning off the coast. Frankjudged from the description that these must be marines from a ship ofwar. In this he was correct, as they consisted of marines and marineartillerymen under Lieutenant Colonel Festing, who had just arrived fromEngland. Three days later the Ashanti general, with a portion of hisforce, moved down close to Elmina; Frank was told to accompany them.Shortly afterwards the news came that the Elminas were all orderedto lay down their arms. They replied by going over in a body to theAshantis. Ammon Quatia determined at once to attack the town, but as hewas advancing, the guns of the ships of war opened fire upon the nativetown of Elmina, which lay to the west of the European quarter.

  The sound of such heavy cannon, differing widely from anything they hadever heard before, caused the Ashantis to pause in astonishment. Thencame the howl of the shells, which exploded in rapid succession inthe village, from which flames began immediately to rise. After afew minutes' hesitation the Ashantis and Elminas again advanced. Thegeneral, who was carried in a chair upon the shoulders of four men, tookhis post on rising ground near the burning village.

  "There," he said, "the English soldiers are coming out of the fort. Nowyou will see."

  The little body of marines and the blue jackets of the Barracontadeployed in line as they sallied from the fort. The Ashantis opened fireupon them, but they were out of range of the slugs. As soon as the linewas formed the English opened fire, and the Ashantis were perfectlyastonished at the incessant rattle of musketry from so small a body ofmen. But it was not all noise, for the Snider bullets swept among thecrowded body of blacks, mowing them down in considerable numbers. In twominutes the Ashantis turned and ran. The general's bearers, in spite ofhis shouts, hurried away with him with the others, and Frank would havetaken this opportunity to escape had not two of his guards seized him bythe arms and hauled him along, while the other two kept close behind.

  As soon as they had passed over the crest of the rise, and the Britishfire had ceased, Ammon Quatia leaped from his chair and threw himselfamong his flying troops, striking them right and left with his staff,and hurling imprecations upon them.

  "If you do not stop and return against the whites," he said, "I willsend every one of you back to Coomassie, and there you will be put todeath as cowards."

  The threat sufficed. The fugitives rallied, and in a few minutes wereready to march back again. It was the surprise created by the wonderfulsustained fire of the breech loaders, rather than the actual loss theyinflicted, which caused the panic.

  In the meantime, believing that the Ashantis had retired, the navalcontingent went back to their boats, when the Dutch vice consul, havingascended a hill to look round, saw that Ammon Quatia had made a detourwith his troops, and was marching against the town from the east, wherehe would not be exposed to the fire of the fort. He instantly ran backwith the news.

  The marines and the thirty West Indian soldiers in the fort at oncemarched out, and met the Ashantis just as they were entering the town.The fight was a severe one, and for a time neither side appeared to havethe advantage, and Frank, who, under the care of his guards, was a fewhundred yards in the rear, was filled with dismay at observing that theAshantis, in spite of the heavy loss they were suffering, were gainingground and pressing forward bravely. Suddenly he gave a shout of joy,for on a rise on the flank of the Ashantis appeared the sailors of theBarraconta, who had been led round from the boats by Lieutenant Wells,R. N., who was in command. The instant these took up their position theyopened a heavy fire upon the flank of the Ashantis, who, dismayed bythis attack by fresh foes, lost heart and at once fled hastily. In thetwo engagements they had lost nearly four hundred men. Frank, of course,retired with the beaten Ashantis, and that evening Ammon Quatia toldhim that the arms of the white men were too good, and that he should notattack them again in the open.

  "Their guns shoot farther, as well as quicker, than ours," he said. "Ourslugs are no use against the heavy bullets, at a distance; but in thewoods, where you cannot see twenty feet among the trees, it will bedifferent. If I do not attack them they must attack me, or their tradewill be starved out. When they come into the woods you will see that weshall eat them up."

  Several weeks now passed quietly. There was news that there wasgreat sickness among the white soldiers, and, indeed, with scarce anexception, the marines first sent out were invalided home; but a hundredand fifty more arrived to take their place. Some detachments of the 2dWest Indian regiment came down to join their comrades from Sierra Leone,and the situation remained unchanged.

  One night towards the end of August a messenger arrived and there was animmediate stir.

  "Now," the general said to Frank, "you are going to see us fight thewhite men. Some of the big ships have gone to the mouth of the Prah,and we believe that they are going to land in boats. You will see. TheElmina tribes are going to attack, but I shall take some of my men tohelp."

  Taking fifty picked warriors Ammon Quatia started at once. They marchedall night towards the west, and at daybreak joined the Elminas. Thesetook post in the brushwood lining the river. The general with a dozenmen, taking Frank, went down near the mouth of the river to reconnoiter.The ships lay more than a mile off the shore. Presently a half dozenboats were lowered, filled with men, and taken in tow by a steam launch.It was seen that they were making for the mouth of the river.

  "Now let us go back," Ammon Quatia said. "You will see what we shalldo."

  Frank felt full of excitement. He saw the English running into anambuscade, and he determined, even if it should cost him his life, towarn them. Presently they heard the sharp puffs of the steam launch. Theboats were within three hundred yards.

  Frank stepped forward and was about to give a warning shout when AmmonQuatia's eye fell upon him. The expression of his face revealed hisintention to the Ashanti, who in an instant sprang upon him and hurledhim to the ground. Instantly a dozen hands seized him, and, in obedienceto the general's order, fastened a bandage tightly across his mouth, andthen bound him, standing against a tree, where he could observe what wasgoing on. The incident had occupied but a minute, and Frank heard thepant of the steam launch coming nearer and nearer. Presently throughthe bushes he caught a glimpse of it, and then, as it came along, of theboats towing behind. The Elminas and Ashantis were lying upon the groundwith their guns in front of them.

  The boats were but fifteen yards from the bank. When they were abreastAmmon Quatia shouted the word of command, and a stream of fire shot outfrom the bushes. In the boats all was confusion. Several were killed andmany wounded by the deadly volley, among the latter Commodore Commerellhimself, and two or three of his officers. The launch now attemptedto turn round, and the marines in the boats opened fire upon theirinvisible foes, who replied steadily. In five minutes from the firstshot being fired all was over, the launch was steaming down with theboats in tow towards the mouth of the river, the exulting shouts of thenatives ringing in the ears of those on board.

  The position of Frank had not been a pleasant one while the fighthad lasted, for the English rifle bullets sang close to him in quicksuccession, one striking the tree only a few inches above his head. Hewas doubtful, too, as to what his fate would be at the termination ofthe fight.

  Fortunately Ammon Quatia was in the highest spirits at his victory. Heordered Frank to be at once unbound.

  "There, you see," he said, "the whites are of no use. They cannot fight.They run with their eyes shut into danger. So it will be if they attackus on the land. You were foolish. Why did you wish to call out? Are younot well treated? Are you not the king's guest? Am I not your friend?"

  "I am well treated, and you are my friend," Frank said, "
but the Englishare my countrymen. I am sure that were you in the hands of the English,and you saw a party of your countrymen marching into danger, you wouldcall out and warn them, even if you knew that you would be killed fordoing so."

  "I do not know," the Ashanti said candidly. "I cannot say what I shoulddo, but you were brave to run the risk, and I'm not angry with you.Only, in future when we go to attack the English, I must gag you toprevent your giving the alarm."

  "That is fair enough," Frank said, pleased that the matter had passedoff so well, "only another time do not stick me upright against a treewhere I may be killed by English bullets. I had a narrow escape of itthis time, you see," and he pointed to the hole in the trunk of thetree.

  "I am sorry," the Ashanti general said, with an air of real concern. "Idid not think of your being in danger, I only wished you to have a goodsight of the battle; next time I will put you in a safer place."

  They then returned to the camp.

  The next day a distant cannonade was heard, and at nightfall the newscame that the English fleet had bombarded and burnt several Elminavillages at the mouth of the Prah.

  "Ah," the general said, "the English have great ships and great guns.They can fight on the seaside and round their forts, but they cannotdrag their guns through the forests and swamps."

  "No," Frank agreed. "It would not be possible to drag heavy artillery."

  "No," Ammon Quatia repeated exultingly. "When they are beyond theshelter of their ships they are no good whatever. We will kill themall."

  The wet season had now set in, in earnest, and the suffering of theAshantis were very great. Accustomed as many of them were to high lyinglands free of trees, the miasma from the swamps was well nigh as fatalto them as it would be to Europeans. Thousands died, and many of therest were worn by fever to mere shadows.

  "Do you think," Ammon Quatia said to Frank one day, "that it is possibleto blow up a whole town with powder?"

  "It would be possible if there were powder enough," Frank said,wondering what could be the motive of the question.

  "They say that the English have put powder in holes all over Cape Coast,and my people are afraid to go. The guns of the fort could not shootover the whole town, and there are few white soldiers there; but my menfear to be blown up in the air."

  "Yes," Frank said gravely. "The danger might be great. It is better thatthe Ashantis should keep away from the town. But if the fever goes on asat present the army will melt away."

  "Ten thousand more men are coming down when the rains are over. The kingsays that something must be done. There is talk in the English fortsthat more white troops are coming out from England. If this is so Ishall not attack the towns, but shall wait for them to come into thewoods for me. Then you will see."

  "Do they say there are many troops?" Frank asked anxiously.

  "No; they say only some white officers, but this is foolishness. Whatcould white officers do without soldiers? As for the Fantis they arecowards, they are only good to carry burdens and to hoe the ground. Theyare women and not men."

  During this time, when the damp rose so thick and steaming thateverything was saturated with it, Frank had a very sharp attack offever, and was for a fortnight, just after the repulse of the attack onElmina, completely prostrated. Such an attack would at his first landinghave carried him off, but he was now getting acclimatized, and hissupply of quinine was abundant. With its aid he saved a great many livesamong the Ashantis, and many little presents in the way of fruit andbirds did he receive from his patients.

  "I wish I could let you go," the general said to him one day. "You area good white man, and my soldiers love you for the pains you take goingamongst them when they are sick, and giving them the medicine of thewhites. But I dare not do it. As you know when the king is wroth thegreatest tremble, and I dare not tell the king that I have let yougo. Were it otherwise I would gladly do so. I have written to the kingtelling him that you have saved the lives of many here. It may be thathe will order you to be released."