not a sound was to be heard in the forest.

"I tink dey run away for good dis time, sar," Ostik said. "Dey hav'
'nuf of him. Dey fight very brave, much more brave than people down near
coast. Dere in great battle only three, four men killed. Here as many
men killed as we got altogether."

This was so, nearly fifty of the natives having fallen between the trees
and the encampment. When an hour passed and all was still, it became
nearly certain that the enemy had retreated, and the Houssas, who are
splendid scouts, divested themselves of their clothing and crawled away
into the wood to reconnoiter. They returned in half an hour in high
glee, bearing the king's chair.

"Dey all run away, sar, ebery one, de king an' all, and leab his chair
behind. Dat great disgrace for him."

A council was now held. The Fans were so delighted with the victory they
had won, that they expressed their readiness to remain with their white
companions as long as they chose, providing these would guarantee that
they should be sent home on the expiration of their service. This Mr.
Goodenough readily promised. After discussing the question with Frank,
he determined to abstain from pushing farther into the interior, but to
keep along northward, and then turning west with the sweep of the coast
to travel slowly along, keeping at about the same distance as at present
from the sea, and finally to come down either upon Cape Coast or Sierra
Leone.

This journey would occupy a considerable time. They would cross
countries but little known, and would have an ample opportunity for the
collection of specimens, which they might, from time to time, send down
by the various rivers they would cross, to the trading stations at their
mouths.

It was felt that after this encounter with the natives it would be
imprudent in the extreme to push further into the interior. They would
have continual battles to fight, large numbers of the natives would
be killed, and their collecting operations would be greatly interfered
with. As a lesson to the natives the village was burnt to the ground;
the presents, which the king in the hurry of his flight had left behind
him, being recovered.

A liberal allowance of tobacco was served out as a "dash" or present to
the Fans, and a bright silk handkerchief given to each. Then they
turned off at right angles to the line they had before been pursuing and
continued their journey.

Two days later Mr. Goodenough was prostrated b