n in the misty regions of King Fever, and at the summit of a
low grass-covered hill our captors halted for two days to allow us to
recuperate, fearing, we supposed, that our starved and weak condition
might be made an excuse for low prices.

Soon, however, we were goaded forward again, and ere long, having
traversed Mampon's country, entered the capital of King Prempeh, slaves
to be sacrificed at the great annual custom.

No chance of escape had been afforded us. We were driven forward to the
doom to which the inhuman enemy of the Naya of Mo had so ruthlessly
consigned us.

CHAPTER XI.

THE HUMAN SACRIFICE.

KUMASSI, the capital of the Ashanti kingdom, was, we found, full of
curious contrasts. We approached it through dense high elephant grass,
along a little beaten foot-path strewn with fetish dolls. It was evening
when we entered it, and drums could be heard rumbling and booming far and
near. Presently we passed a cluster of the usual mud huts, then another;
several other clusters were in sight with patches of high jungle grass
between. Then in a bare open space some two hundred yards across, were
huts, and more thatched roofs in the hollow beyond. This was Kumassi.

During that day three of our fellow-sufferers, knowing the horrible fate
in store for them, managed to snatch knives from the belts of our captors
and commit suicide before our eyes, preferring death by their own hands
to decapitation by the executioners of Prempeh, that bloodthirsty monarch
who has now happily been deposed by the British Government, but who at
that time was sacrificing thousands of human lives annually, defiant and
heedless of the remonstrances of civilized nations.

In size Kumassi came up to the standard I had formed of it. The streets
were numerous, some half-dozen were broad and uniform, the main avenue
being some seventy yards wide, and here and there along its length a
great patriarchal tree spread its branches. The houses were wattled
structures with alcoves and stuccoed facades, embellished with Moorish
designs and coloured with red ochre. Red seemed the prevailing colour.
Indeed it is stated on good authority that on one occasion Prempeh
desired to stain the walls of his palace a darker red, and used the blood
of a thousand victims for that purpose. Behind each of the pretentious
buildings which fronted the streets were grouped the huts of the
domestics, inclosing small courtyards.

Passing down this main avenue