him indisputable evidence of the proximity of the
captives. A few minutes later he was close to them, and, passing to the
two trees to which they were bound, ran his hands over their bodies.
The miserable natives had been placed some two feet from the ground
against the trunks of enormous cotton trees, and their hands and feet
had been dragged backwards by means of ropes, and so tightly that they
did not slip to the ground. The agony of such a position can be
imagined, and if to that be added the torture of two native knives
thrust right through the cheeks, some estimate can be obtained of the
barbarities practised by the Ashantis, of their insane and meaningless
cruelty, and of the urgent need there was for some more enlightened
nation to come to the town and stop the practice. Dick slid his hand up
to the cheek of the first of the unhappy men, and gently withdrew the
knives. Then he spoke to him in low tones.

"Who are you?" he asked, first in Ashanti, and then in the Fanti tongue.

"We are Assims," came the answer, low and indistinct, for the knives had
almost robbed the man of the power of speech. "We were captured months
ago and imprisoned at Kumasi. Who are you?"

"A white man from the coast, also a prisoner, till an hour ago. Will
you swear to follow me if I set you free?"

There was no mistaking the earnestness of the reply, or the man's
eagerness to be cut free of his lashings.

"Release us, and we shall owe you our lives," he answered. "We are set
here to die, and if you give us life and liberty, we will follow you and
fight for you. We are allies of the great white chiefs, and you can
trust us."

Without more ado Dick took one of the ghastly knives and cut the man
down, doing the same for his comrade a minute later. Stretching them
with all care and gentleness on the ground, he set to work to rub their
limbs, for it was not so long ago that he had experienced the cruel
result of tight lashings. He had known what it was to feel a tingling
in his extremities, and then acute pain, as if feet and hands would
burst. And later, when the cords were cut loose, the agony of returning
life to his limbs, the inability to move finger or toe or to support his
weight. And to cure him the inhuman monster who had borne the name of
James Langdon had thrashed him till strength had come. Well, the
half-caste was dead. Dick had struck him a blow which had crushed in
his skull as if it had been an egg-shell,