nearly six hours from the time our advance began
until the rear-guard had gained the village, a distance of only a mile
and a half. Coomassie was still six miles off, and had the Ashantis
continued to fight with the same desperation, we should not have reached
Coomassie that night.

The instant the baggage was all in the village, the advance again began.

At first the Ashantis fought with great determination. But our men
pushed steadily forward, and then, advancing at a double, the foes,
scared by the onslaught, gave way, and fled at the top of their speed.
The whole force now pushed forward, and without further opposition
crossed the pestilential swamp which surrounds Coomassie, and entered
the town.

The king and the greater portion of his fighting men had retired, and as
the provisions were running short, and the force greatly weakened by the
number of wounded and of men who had dropped with fever, it was
impossible to pursue him in the bush. After a day's halt, the
blood-stained capital was burnt, and the army retired to the coast.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

SPIRITED AND GALLANT EXPLOITS.

A REMARKABLE RESCUE.

The following account is given in the words of Admiral Castle:--

"In the year 1837, I commanded HMS _Pylades_, on the East India station.
We were on our return home, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, when,
on the 8th of May of that year, we were off Cape L'Agulhus. It was
blowing a heavy gale of wind, with a tremendous sea running, such a sea
as one rarely meets with anywhere but off the Cape, when just at
nightfall, as we were taking another reef in the topsails, a fine young
seaman, a mizen-topman, James Miles by name, fell from the
mizen-topsail-yard, and away he went overboard. In his descent he came
across the chain-span of the weather-quarter davits, and with such force
that he actually broke it. I could scarcely have supposed that he would
have escaped being killed in his fall; but, as the ship flew away from
him, he was seen rising on the crest of a foaming wave, apparently
unhurt. The life-buoy was let go as soon as possible, but by that time
the ship had already got a considerable distance from him; and even
could he reach it, I felt that the prospect of saving him was small
indeed, as I had no hope, should we find him, of being able to pick him
out of that troubled sea; and I had strong fears that a boat would be
unable to swim, to go to his rescue, should I determine to lower o