ag you to
prevent your giving the alarm."

"That is fair enough," Frank said, pleased that the matter had passed
off so well, "only another time do not stick me upright against a tree
where I may be killed by English bullets. I had a narrow escape of it
this time, you see," and he pointed to the hole in the trunk of the
tree.

"I am sorry," the Ashanti general said, with an air of real concern. "I
did not think of your being in danger, I only wished you to have a good
sight of the battle; next time I will put you in a safer place."

They then returned to the camp.

The next day a distant cannonade was heard, and at nightfall the news
came that the English fleet had bombarded and burnt several Elmina
villages at the mouth of the Prah.

"Ah," the general said, "the English have great ships and great guns.
They can fight on the seaside and round their forts, but they cannot
drag their guns through the forests and swamps."

"No," Frank agreed. "It would not be possible to drag heavy artillery."

"No," Ammon Quatia repeated exultingly. "When they are beyond the
shelter of their ships they are no good whatever. We will kill them
all."

The wet season had now set in, in earnest, and the suffering of the
Ashantis were very great. Accustomed as many of them were to high lying
lands free of trees, the miasma from the swamps was well nigh as fatal
to them as it would be to Europeans. Thousands died, and many of the
rest were worn by fever to mere shadows.

"Do you think," Ammon Quatia said to Frank one day, "that it is possible
to blow up a whole town with powder?"

"It would be possible if there were powder enough," Frank said,
wondering what could be the motive of the question.

"They say that the English have put powder in holes all over Cape Coast,
and my people are afraid to go. The guns of the fort could not shoot
over the whole town, and there are few white soldiers there; but my men
fear to be blown up in the air."

"Yes," Frank said gravely. "The danger might be great. It is better that
the Ashantis should keep away from the town. But if the fever goes on as
at present the army will melt away."

"Ten thousand more men are coming down when the rains are over. The king
says that something must be done. There is talk in the English forts
that more white troops are coming out from England. If this is so I
shall not attack the towns, but shall wait for them to come into the
woods for me. Then you will see."