e
stockade. In their centre was the half-caste, eager and confident, in
complete command of his men, and though they were now farther away our
hero could distinctly hear and understand his directions. The circle
was indeed to be complete. Men were told off to occupy the summit of
the rocky crest, from which they could look down upon the stockade. It
would be a full moon that night, so that these natives could watch the
surrounding country almost as completely as in the daytime. Others were
ordered to occupy certain scraps of cover, with directions to fire at
any one who showed above the stockade. And lastly, a second ring would
encompass the inner one, for James Langdon would leave nothing to
chance.

"We have a crafty fellow to deal with, and a big stake to win," he
cried, as he glared across at the stockade. "There is gold there, my
comrades, and there are men, too, to repay for the death of your
brothers. True, they are of your own country, but they have defied you.
They are not fighters. They live for wealth, and run when their
country has need of them. Think, too, of the white man. He would be a
prize indeed in Kumasi."

How much longer he would have continued to talk it would be unwise to
guess, though there was little doubt that these natives under his
leadership required no further encouragement. They were warriors of
Ashanti, cruel-minded and blood-thirsty, and it was nothing to them whom
they fought if they imagined they had a grievance. But there were
others paying attention to that gathering. As the half-caste turned to
see what effect his words had had, a single shot rang out crisply from
the stockade, and a native standing beside him sprang into the air and
fell dead on his face. There was a stampede at once, the gathering
broke up and melted into the forest, leaving Dick alone, breathing more
freely now that the danger was lessened.

"There is some one alert at the stockade," he said, with satisfaction.
"Some one who can shoot, too. Then I need not worry myself for the
present. They will do well till I join them. But how is that to be
done? Regain the stockade I must, but how, that is the question?"

It was a sufficiently knotty one, and not to be settled in a moment.
Dick reflected that he could still make for the launch and steam down
the river, for it was hardly likely that she had been discovered, so
well were the creek and the tiny tributary hidden. But then--

"Can't," he s