y in his rage order us to be executed."

"What do you think are the chances of defeat?" Frank asked.

"We know not," the missionary said; "but it seems probable that the
Ashantis will turn the English out of the coast. The Fantis are of
no use. They were a brave people once, and united might have made a
successful resistance to the Ashantis; but you English have made women
of them. You have forbidden them to fight among themselves, you have
discouraged them in any attempts to raise armies, you have reduced
the power of the chiefs, you have tried to turn them into a race of
cultivators and traders instead of warriors, and you can expect no
material aid from them now. They will melt away like snow before the
Ashantis. The king's spies tell him that there are only a hundred
and fifty black troops at Cape Coast. These are trained and led by
Englishmen, but, after all, they are only negroes, no braver than the
Ashantis. What chance have they of resisting an army nearly a hundred to
one stronger than themselves?"

"Is the fort at Cape Coast strong?" Frank asked.

"Yes, against savages without cannon. Besides, the guns of the ships of
war would cover it."

"Well," Frank said, "if we can hold that, they will send out troops from
England."

"They may do so," the missionary asserted; "but what could white troops
do in the fever haunted forests, which extend from Coomassie to the
coast?"

"They will manage somehow," Frank replied confidently. "Besides, after
all, as I hear that the great portion of Ashanti lying beyond this is
plain and open country, the Ashantis themselves cannot be all accustomed
to bush fighting, and will suffer from fever in the low, swamp land."

Three days later the king sent for Frank.

"The English are not true," he said angrily. "They promised the people
of Elmina that they should be allowed to retain all their customs as
under the Dutch. They have broken their word. They have forbidden the
customs. The people of Elmina have written to me to ask me to deliver
them. I am going to do so."

Frank afterwards learned that the king's words were true. Colonel
Harley, the military commandant, having, with almost incredible fatuity,
and in spite of the agreement which had been made with the Elminas,
summoned their king and chiefs to a council, and abruptly told them that
they would not be allowed henceforth to celebrate their customs,
which consisted of firing of guns, waving of flags, dancing, and oth