o far as they knew everything was being done by the English
to satisfy the king, and they looked upon the establishment of peace as
certain. They described the horrible rites and sacrifices which they had
been compelled to witness, and said that at least three thousand persons
were slaughtered annually in Coomassie.

"You noticed," one of them said, "the great tree in the marketplace
under which the king sat. That is the great fetish tree. A great
many victims are sacrificed in the palace itself, but the wholesale
slaughters take place there. The high brushwood comes up to within
twenty yards of it, and if you turn in there you will see thousands of
dead bodies or their remains putrefying together."

"I thought I felt a horribly offensive smell as I was talking to the
king," Frank said shuddering. "What monsters these people must be! Who
would have thought that all that show of gold and silver and silks and
bright colors covered such horrible barbarism!"

After chatting for some time longer, and offering to do anything in
their power to assist the captives, the Germans took their leave.

CHAPTER XVII: THE INVASION OF FANTI LAND

The following morning Mr. Goodenough and Frank were called to the door
by the noise of a passing crowd, and to their horror saw a man being
taken to sacrifice. He was preceded by men beating drums, his hands were
pinioned behind him. A sharp thin knife was passed through his cheeks,
to which his lips were noozed like the figure 8. One ear was cut off and
carried before him, the other hung to his head by a small piece of skin.
There were several gashes in his back, and a knife was thrust under each
shoulder blade. He was led by a cord passed through a hole bored in his
nose. Frank ran horror stricken back into the house, and sat for a while
with his hand over his eyes as if to shut out the ghastly spectacle.

"Mr. Goodenough," he said presently, "if we are to be killed, at least
let us die fighting to the last, and blow out our own brains with the
last shots we have left. I don't think I'm afraid of being killed, but
to be tortured like that would be horrible."

The next day a message was brought them that their retaining private
guards was an insult to the king, and that the Houssas must remove
to another part of the town. Resistance was evidently useless. Mr.
Goodenough called his four men together and told them what had happened.

"I am sorry I have brought you into this plight, m