guard neared the village
of Treda. It was a large place, with a very holy fetish tree. It
stood on the top of a slope and, long before the rear guard had
fallen out at Pekki, it was carried by a brilliant bayonet charge,
by the Yorubas and the Sierra Leone frontier police. The enemy
fought stubbornly, in the village; but were driven out with only
some half-dozen casualties on our part.

Thirty sheep were found in the village, and they were a Godsend,
indeed, to the troops. As in every other place, too, numbers of
Lee-Metfords, Martinis, and Sniders were found.

Treda was burnt by the rear guard. The Ju-ju house, which was the
scene of the native incantations, was pulled down, and the sacred
trees felled. The enemy, however, were not discouraged; but hung
upon the rear, keeping up a constant fire. Some of them proceeded
to attack the Pekki people.

Fighting went on at intervals throughout the day, and it was
decided to spend the night in a village that had been taken, after
some resistance. This place was less than halfway on the road from
Pekki to Coomassie. During the night a tropical deluge fell, and
the troops and carriers were, all the time, without shelter.

Late that evening Colonel Willcocks called the white officers
together and, for the first time, told them of the plan formed for
the advance. He said that, after marching for an hour and a half,
they would reach a strong fetish stronghold, where a fierce
resistance might be looked for; but the final battle would be
fought at the stockades, two hundred yards from the fort. He
intended to attack these without encumbrance. A halt would
therefore be called, at a spot some distance from the stockades;
which would be hastily fortified, with a zereba and a portion of
the troops. Here all the carriers and stores would be placed. Then
the fighting force would take the stockades, return for the
transport, and enter Coomassie. By this means there would be no
risk of losing the precious stores and ammunition.

So determined was Colonel Willcocks to reach the forts, at all
costs, that he gave orders that, if necessary, all soldiers killed
should be left where they fell.

At four o'clock next morning the bugle sounded and, at the first
streak of dawn, the column moved off. The march was maintained
under a heavy skirmishing fire but, to the general surprise, the
fetish town of which Colonel Willcocks had spoken was found
deserted. Night was approaching, so that the p