Chapter 16: The Relief Of Coomassie.
"I certainly should not have volunteered for this work, Bullen, ifI had known what it was like. I was mad at not being able to go outto the Cape, and as my regiment was, like yours, stationed inIndia, there was no chance of getting away from there, if I hadonce returned. Of course, I knew all about the expeditions ofWolseley and Scott; but I forgot that these were carried on in thedry season, and that we should have to campaign in the wet season,which makes all the difference in the world. We are wet through,from morning till night--and all night, too--and at our campingplaces there is no shelter. The low-lying land is turned into deepswamps, the little streams become great unfordable torrents, andthe ground under our feet turns into liquid mud. It is reallyhorrible work, especially as we get very little food and lessdrink. It is not work for dogs."
"It is all very well for you to grumble, Hallett, but you know justas well as I do that, if the offer were made to you to go home, atonce, you would treat it with scorn."
"Oh, of course I should! Still, one may be allowed to have one'sgrumble and, after all, I think we are pretty sure of some stifffighting, which makes up for everything. I am not afraid of theenemy a bit, but I do funk fever."
"I don't think we are likely to get fever, so long as we are on themove; though I dare say a good many of us will go down with it,after the work is done. We have only to think of the starvingsoldiers and people, in Coomassie, to make us feel that, whateverthe difficulties and dangers may be, we must get there in time. Thegreat nuisance is, that we can get no news of what is doing there.We constantly hear that the governor, with a portion if not all ofthe force, has broken out, some days since; and we begin to lookout for them; and then, after a time, comes the news that there hasbeen no sortie whatever. It is really most annoying, and I am oftenkept awake at night, even after a day's fight, thinking of theposition of the garrison."
"I don't think, if there were a hundred garrisons in danger,"Hallett laughed, "it would affect my sleep in the slightest. I liedown as soon as I have eaten what there is to eat, which certainlyis not likely to affect my digestion; and however rough the ground,I am dead asleep as soon as my head touches it, and I do not openan eye until the bugle sounds in the morning. Even then I have nothad enough sleep, and I always indulge in bad language as I put onmy belts, at the unearthly hour at which we are always called. Idon't begin to feel half awake till we have gone some miles."
"You would wake up sharp enough, Hallett, at the sound of the firstgun."
"Yes, that is all right enough; but unless that comes, there isnothing to wake one. The close air of the forest takes out whatlittle starch you have in you, and I verily believe that I am veryoften asleep, as we march."
"It is monotonous, Hallett, but there is always something to seeto; to keep the men from straggling, to give a little help,sometimes, to the wretched carriers."
"You are such a desperate enthusiast, Bullen. I cannot make out howyou keep it up so well. I really envy you your good spirits."
"They are indeed a great blessing; I had plenty of occasion to makethe most of them, when I was marching in the ranks of the 32ndPioneers, on the way up to Chitral. Still, they came naturallyenough, there; and I am bound to acknowledge that it is hard work,sometimes, to keep them up here."
"I think that it would really be a mercy, Bullen, if you were topour a bucket of water over my head, when the bugle sounds. I haveno doubt I should be furious with you, and should use the strongestof strong language; but still, that would not hurt you."
"Except when the carriers bring up our bundles of dry clothes, welie down so soaked that you would scarcely feel the water pouredover you. At any rate, if you really think that it would do yougood, you had better order your servant to do it; that is to say,if you don't think you would slay him, the first morning."
"No, I suppose I must put up with it, as best I can; but really,sometimes I do envy the colonel's little terrier, which frisksalong all day, making excursions occasionally into the bush, tolook for rats or mongooses. He seems to be absolutely tireless, andalways ready for anything.
"Well, I shall turn in, now, and try to dream that I am on afeather bed, and have had supper of all sorts of dainties."
"I would not do that, if I were you. It would be such adisappointment, when you woke up."
"Well, perhaps it might be," Hallett said, despondently. "I willtry to dream that I am with you on that Chitral expedition, and amnearly frozen to death; then possibly, on waking, I might feelgrateful that things are not so bad as I thought they were."
They spent a few pleasant days at Prahsu and, while there, receivedthe news that a column had started, from Tientsin, for the reliefof the Europeans collected in the various legations at Pekin, newswhich created general satisfaction.
"I have no doubt they will have some stiff fighting," Hallett said,as he and Lisle sat down to breakfast, after hearing the news. "Onething, however, is in their favour. As they will keep by the riverall the way, they will never be short of water. The last news wasthat they were collecting a large flotilla of junks, for carryingup their provisions. Lucky beggars! Wouldn't I like to changeplaces with one of them! I hope all the different troops will pullwell together for, with a force of half a dozen nationalities, itis almost certain that there will be some squabbling."
"I should hardly think that there would be any trouble, Hallett. Ofcourse, it was reported in the last mail that the Russians, French,and Germans were all behaving somewhat nastily; but as the Japshave the strongest force of all, and the Americans stick to us, Ishould think that things will go on well. It would be a disgracefulthing, indeed, if troops marching to the relief of their countrymencould not keep the peace among themselves. Of course, there may befighting; but it is morally certain that the Chinese cannot standagainst us, and I imagine that, in proportion to the numbers, theircasualties will enormously exceed ours.
"Britain has her hands pretty full, at present, what with the bigwar in the Transvaal, and the little one here, and another inChina. It is a good thing we thrashed the Afridis, two years ago.If we had not, you may be sure that there would be an even moreformidable rising on our northern frontier than that we quelled.News travels marvellously fast, in India; the Afridis always seemto know what is going on elsewhere, and I am pretty sure that theywould be up, all over the country, if they had not had to give upthe greater portion of their rifles, and had not more than enoughto do to rebuild their houses. So we have something to be thankfulfor."
"I am glad that Marchand business did not come off just at thepresent time," Hallett said. "You may be sure that we should havehad a war with France; it was a mighty near thing, as it was."
"Yes; I think they would not have backed down, if we had been busywith Boers, Chinese, and black men. They were at fever heat as itwas; and we could have done nothing, if we had had two hundred andfifty thousand men engaged at the Cape."
"It would have made no difference," Lisle said, scornfully, "wehave plenty of soldiers at home. Every barrack was crowded withmen, as we came away; and there were a great number of the militiaand volunteers, to back them up. Above all there was our fleetwhich, however much the Frenchmen value their warships, would haveknocked them into a cocked hat in no time.
"Well, I suppose it is time to go out and inspect our men."
"I suppose it is, Bullen," Hallett said despondently, as hestretched himself. "If there were no inspections and no parade, anofficer's life would be really a pleasant one."
Lisle laughed.
"And if there were no inspections and parades there would be nosoldiers, and if there were no soldiers there would be no need forofficers."
"Well, I suppose that is so," Hallett said, as he buckled on hissword. "Now, just look at me; do I look like an officer and agentleman? Nobody could tell what was the original colour of mykhaki; it is simply one mass of mud stains."
"Well, I do think you hardly look like an officer and agentleman--that is to say, you would hardly be taken fo
r one atAldershot. Fortunately, however, there are no English ladies hereto look at you and, as the blacks don't know what an officer and agentleman should be, it doesn't matter in the slightest."
While at Prahsu, there was nothing to do but to speculate as towhat would be the next move. Colonel Willcocks kept his plan tohimself, for information as to our movements reached the enemy in amost extraordinary manner.
It was a busy camp. Bamboo grass-covered sheds, for stores, were incourse of construction. The engineers were employed in making aroad, to take the stores and troops across the Prah.
Three of the wounded officers--Captain Roupell, LieutenantsEdwardes and O'Malley--were invalided, and left for home in aconvoy with over a hundred wounded. This was necessary, owing tothe fact that there was no Roentgen apparatus in the colony, and itwas found impossible to discover and extract the slugs with whichthe great proportion were wounded.
It was unknown that four hundred men of the West African Regiment,with nearly twenty officers, and a company from Jebba were on theirway to reinforce them. Three officers were away to raise nativelevies in Denkera and Akim, and there were rumours about moretroops from other parts of the world. But the one thing certain wasthat some more troops were coming down from Northern Nigeria.
Colonel Burroughs arrived with a strong party, and Lisle andHallett prepared to go up again. No resistance was met with, as faras Fumsu; but it was found that a foot bridge that had been thrownacross the river was washed away, and communication with the otherbank was thus cut off. To the disgust of the officers and men, theywere called out to a false alarm and, when dismissed, went back tobed grumbling. When they rose again, the men cleaned their arms andreceived their pay and rations. The latter amounted to but a poundof rice a day, but this was subsequently increased. The officerswere little better off, for there was, of course, nothing to buy.
Two companies had gone on in advance to open the main road, findout the ambushes and stockades, and to join Colonel Wilkinson atBekwai. Those who remained in camp had little to do, and weretherefore glad to spend their time on fatigue duty; the officersbuilding shelters for themselves, while the men erected conicalhuts, until the station was covered with them.
A day or two after their arrival a letter, written in French on ascrap of paper, was brought down. It stated that the garrison couldhold out until the 20th, a date that was already past. Supplieswere urgently wanted. It also warned the relief column that therewas a big stockade within an hour of the fort. Colonel Willcockssent out a messenger at once, asking that every available manshould join him; but the man never reached the coast, and no helpcame from there.
Sir Frederick Hodgson had then been out of Coomassie four days, andwas making his way down to the coast through a friendly country;with an escort of six hundred soldiers, and all his officers butone, who had remained in the fort with a hundred men.
On the morning of the 27th Colonel Burroughs, with five hundredmen, started on his journey north. Scouts flanked the advanceguard, thereby preventing the chance of an ambuscade; but greatlydelaying the column, as they had to cut their way through thebushes. They halted that night at Sheramasi. A detachment was leftat a village at the foot of the hills. Just as the head of thetroops arrived at the top, they were fired into from behind afallen tree. A sharp fight took place for nearly an hour, until theenemy were turned out of their position, and pursued through thebush, by a company which had moved round their flank. Kwisa wasreached after dark, when it was found that the place had beenentirely destroyed by the enemy.
Next morning they moved forward with the greatest caution, fullyexpecting that there would be another terrific fight at Dompoasi.This place, though only four miles from Kwisa, was not reached tillnightfall. Darkness set in with heavy rain, and the officerscommanding the two leading companies held a council of war, anddecided to call in the scouts--who were useless in the dusk--tomake a dash for the village, and try to rush it before preparationscould be made for its defence.
The terrible downpour of rain was all in their favour. The enemy'sscouts, who had reported the advance upon Kwisa, had given up theidea of watching, that night; and they and the whole war camp wereat their evening meal. The noise of the rain drowned the sounds offeet, and the troops were in the village before the enemyentertained a suspicion of their approach.
A scene of wild confusion then ensued. The enemy rushed wildly toand fro, while our men poured volley after volley into them.Savages have no idea of rallying, when thus taken by surprise. Manyfell; some fled into the forest; others ran down the preparedpathway and manned the big stockade, but the troops rushed forward,and soon compelled them to quit it.
Half a company were sent into the bush, to follow up the flyingfoe. They remained out all night, and did much execution among theAdansis. This was the first real success gained over them.
Pickets and sentries were thrown out in a circle round the village.At midnight, the troops got a scratch meal under the protection ofthe huts. Many guns were captured, some Sniders, many cakes ofpowder, and much food which was cooking over the fires when thetroops entered the village. Some of the rifles that had belonged tothe men who had fallen in the unsuccessful attack were found,together with three thousand rounds of ammunition to fit them. Allthis was accomplished without any casualties to our troops.
The next day was spent in destroying the two great stockades,cutting down the bush round them, and blowing up the fetish tree;as well as burying the enemy's dead, thirty in number. On theevening of the next day, Bekwai was gained.
Colonel Burroughs determined, after this success, to get rid of thenext danger by making another attack on the entrenchments and warcamp at Kokofu and, with five hundred men and four Maxims, hestarted out for that place. But the task was too heavy for him, andthe enemy were quite ready to receive our troops. They were ingreat force, and fought bravely for some hours. The turningmovement which was attempted failed; and the colonel decided, atlast, to retire to Bekwai. This the troops accomplished safely,although the enemy followed them till they reached the town.Lieutenant Brumlie was killed, six other officers were hitslightly; and one British non-commissioned officer and threesoldiers were killed, and seventy-two men wounded.
After this, no fighting took place until Colonel Willcocks arrivedto carry out the main object of the expedition. Convoys of stores,however, kept pouring in incessantly and, to Lisle's delight, alarge box of provisions, which he had bought before starting fromCape Coast, arrived.
Then Colonel Neal arrived, with the Sappers. He and his men built abridge across the Fum. It was twelve feet above the water, butwithin thirty-six hours it was swept away.
While the troops were waiting, a runner came in and reported thatheavy firing had been heard round Coomassie. On the evening of the30th of June, news came that Colonel Willcocks would start the nextmorning. He would have but a small escort of fighting men, but avery large number of carriers, to bring in the stores intended forCoomassie.
Colonel Willcocks reached Fum on the night after leaving the Prah.As the supplies were failing at Kwisa, and another post, CaptainMelliss took down a convoy to them, with twenty days' rations, andsucceeded in doing so without opposition.
Colonel Willcocks pressed on, leaving all baggage behind. Thedefeat of the Dompoasis had its effect, and the little columnjoined Colonel Burroughs's men unopposed. The combined force thenpushed on, until they arrived at a town under the sway of the Kingof Bekwai.
Next morning they marched to Bekwai. Here it was decided toevacuate Kwisa, for a time, and bring up the garrison that had beenleft there.
The next march was laborious, and wet, as usual. The troops marchedinto the little village of Amoaful, where Sir Garnet Wolseley hadfought the decisive battle of his campaign, and saw many relics ofthe fight. Signal guns were heard, at various times, acquaintingthe enemy of our advance. The column stayed here for three days,which both soldiers and carriers enjoyed greatly, for the fatiguesof the march had fairly worn out even the sturdy and long-enduringBritish
troops.
Colonel Willcocks went forward with his staff to Esumeja, where thethree companies, of which the garrison was composed, had alreadysuffered sixty casualties. The Pioneers, some carriers withhatchets, and some of the Esumeja were sent out, a hundred yardsdown the road to Kokofu, to cut the bush on each side and build twostockades. This was done to deceive the garrison, there, into thebelief that we were about to advance on the place by that road.
The ruse succeeded admirably. The general there sent information tothe commander-in-chief of the Ashanti army, and the latter at oncedespatched a considerable number of men to reinforce the garrison.Thus the resistance along the main road was greatly reduced; andthe Kokofu, standing on the defensive, did not harass the forceupon its march.
On the evening of the 11th, a starving soldier made his way downfrom the fort with this message:
"Governor broke out, seventeen days ago. Garrison rapidlydiminishing by disease, can only last a few more days, on veryreduced rations."
Six star shells were fired, that night, to let the garrison knowthat help was coming, but they never saw them.
At midnight, the last contingent from Northern Nigeria, the Kwisagarrison, and an escort of two companies of the West Africancontingent arrived. This brought the force up to the regulationstrength of one battalion, on its war footing. At sunset theofficers were called, and orders were given for the next day'swork.
The direction of the march was, even at that moment, a profoundsecret. The column was to be kept as short as possible, and onlytwo carriers allowed to each officer. Only half rations were to beissued.
At daybreak the advance sounded, and the force moved out. Itconsisted of a thousand rank and file, sixty white men, seventeenhundred carriers, six guns, and six Maxims. The rain fell inceaseless torrents. The road was practically an unbroken swamp, andthe fatigue and discomfort of the journey were consequentlyterrible. The Ordah river was in flood, and had to be crossed on afelled tree.
The distance to Pekki, the last Bekwai village, was fifteen miles.It did not lie upon the main road, but that route had been chosenbecause a shorter extent of hostile country would have to betraversed, and the march thence to Coomassie would be only elevenmiles; but it took the relief force nineteen and a half hours toget in, and the rear guard some two hours longer. Darkness fellsome hours before they reached their destination and, thenceforward, the force struggled on, each holding a man in front ofhim.
Nothing broke the silence save the trickling of water from thetrees overhead, and the squelch of the mud churned up by marchingcolumns. At times they had to wade waist deep in water. Theexhausted carriers fell out by dozens, but their loads were pickedup and shouldered by soldiers, and not a single one was lost.
The men got what shelter they could in the huts of the village and,in spite of wet and sleeplessness, all turned out cheerfully in themorning. The start was made at eight o'clock, in order that the menmight recover a little from the previous day's fatigue.
The enemy's scouts were encountered almost on the outskirts of thevillage and, in a short time, the advance guard neared the villageof Treda. It was a large place, with a very holy fetish tree. Itstood on the top of a slope and, long before the rear guard hadfallen out at Pekki, it was carried by a brilliant bayonet charge,by the Yorubas and the Sierra Leone frontier police. The enemyfought stubbornly, in the village; but were driven out with onlysome half-dozen casualties on our part.
Thirty sheep were found in the village, and they were a Godsend,indeed, to the troops. As in every other place, too, numbers ofLee-Metfords, Martinis, and Sniders were found.
Treda was burnt by the rear guard. The Ju-ju house, which was thescene of the native incantations, was pulled down, and the sacredtrees felled. The enemy, however, were not discouraged; but hungupon the rear, keeping up a constant fire. Some of them proceededto attack the Pekki people.
Fighting went on at intervals throughout the day, and it wasdecided to spend the night in a village that had been taken, aftersome resistance. This place was less than halfway on the road fromPekki to Coomassie. During the night a tropical deluge fell, andthe troops and carriers were, all the time, without shelter.
Late that evening Colonel Willcocks called the white officerstogether and, for the first time, told them of the plan formed forthe advance. He said that, after marching for an hour and a half,they would reach a strong fetish stronghold, where a fierceresistance might be looked for; but the final battle would befought at the stockades, two hundred yards from the fort. Heintended to attack these without encumbrance. A halt wouldtherefore be called, at a spot some distance from the stockades;which would be hastily fortified, with a zereba and a portion ofthe troops. Here all the carriers and stores would be placed. Thenthe fighting force would take the stockades, return for thetransport, and enter Coomassie. By this means there would be norisk of losing the precious stores and ammunition.
So determined was Colonel Willcocks to reach the forts, at allcosts, that he gave orders that, if necessary, all soldiers killedshould be left where they fell.
At four o'clock next morning the bugle sounded and, at the firststreak of dawn, the column moved off. The march was maintainedunder a heavy skirmishing fire but, to the general surprise, thefetish town of which Colonel Willcocks had spoken was founddeserted. Night was approaching, so that the plan proposedovernight could not be carried out. The troops, therefore, wentforward hampered by the whole of the carriers and baggage of thecolumn.
At four o'clock action began, at the point where the Cape Coast andPekki roads converged towards Coomassie. The Ashantis had taken upa position on slightly rising ground--a position which wasfavourable to the assailants, as it tended to increase the enemy'sinclination to fire high. Each of the roads was barred with massiveentrenchments, which stretched across them into the bush, andflanked with breastworks of timber. These obstacles had beenoriginally intended to envelop the garrison. Consequently, the warcamps were on the British side of the stockades.
The battle began by a heavy fire, from the bush, upon both flanksof the rear guard. The attack on the left was soon successfullyrepulsed. On the other side, however, the roar of musketry neverceased, the enemy moving along abreast of the column, protected bya stockade expressly prepared; until they approached the mainstockade, where they joined their companions. About fifty yardsfrom the stockades, which were still invisible, a fresh pathdiverged towards the left; and the officers commanding the scoutswere discussing what had best be done, when the enemy poured in aterrific volley from their fortified position in front, slightlywounding one officer and four soldiers. The rest immediately tookshelter behind a fallen tree, which was lying across the path.
Colonel Wilkinson, commanding the advance guard, ordered up theguns. These were massed in a semicircle behind the fallen trees,and opened fire on the unseen foe; while the Maxims poured theirbullets into the adjacent bush. The reply of the enemy wasunceasing and, for an hour and a half, the battle raged, thedistance between the combatants being only forty yards. ThenColonel Willcocks gave the order to cease firing and, in a minute,a strange silence succeeded the terrible din. The Ashantis, too,stopped firing, in sheer surprise at the cessation of attack; butsoon redoubled their fusillade.
The leading companies moved up and formed in line, to the front andrear flank. Then came the inspiring notes of the charge and, with acheer, the whole of the advance guard sprang forward into the bush.The dense undergrowth checked the impetus, as the soldiers had tocut their way with their knives but, as they did so, theymaintained their deep-toned war song. As they got more into theopen, they rushed round and clambered over the stockade; and theenemy, unable to stand the fury of their charge, fled in panic.
As a prolonged pursuit was impossible in the bush, and as daylightwas fading, the troops were recalled at once. The first thing to bedone was to pull down the stockade along the fetish road, to enablethe transport to pass. When this was done, Colonel Willcockscollected the troops nearest to him and moved forward, at theirhea
d, along the broad road.
Their delight, when they emerged into the open and saw Coomassieahead of them, was unbounded. Keeping regular step, though each manwas yearning to press forward, they advanced steadily. The silenceweighed upon them; and a dread, lest they had arrived too late,chilled the sense of triumph with which they had marched off. Atlast, the faint notes of a distant bugle sounded the generalsalute, and a wild burst of cheering greeted the sound. The buglesreturned the call with joyous notes. Then the gate opened, andCaptain Bishop, Mr. Ralph, and Dr. Hay came out, followed by suchfew of the brave little garrison as still had strength to walk.
Just at this moment, a great glow was seen in the distance. Theflying enemy had fired the Basel Mission. A company thereforestarted at once, at the double, to drive them off.
The relieving force had, indeed, arrived only just in time. Themeans of resistance had all been exhausted, and another day wouldhave seen the end. The garrison had held out desperately, in thehope that Colonel Willcocks would be able to fulfil the promise hehad sent in, that he would arrive to relieve them on the 15th ofJuly; and he had nobly kept his word to an hour, at the cost of anamount of hard work, privation, hardship, and suffering such as hasfallen to the lot of but few expeditions of the kind.
The Ashanti rising was the result of long premeditation andpreparation. On the 13th of March, the governor of the Gold Coast,accompanied by Lady Hodgson, left Accra to make a tour ofinspection. On his way up country he was received with greatfriendliness at all the villages and, when he arrived at Coomassieon the 25th, he found a large number of Ashanti kings, who turnedout in state to meet him. A triumphal arch had been erected, and agorgeous procession of kings and chiefs marched past. There was nosign of a cloud in the horizon.
Several days passed quietly, and Sir Frederick Hodgson had severalmeetings with the chiefs about state matters. Gradually the eyes ofthe governor's followers, accustomed as they were to savage ways,saw that all was not right; and a wire was despatched, asking forreinforcements of two hundred men. These arrived on the 18th ofApril.
Captains Armitage and Leggatt, with a small party of soldiers, wentout to the neighbouring village to bring in the golden stool. Thiswas regarded by the natives with considerable veneration, and wasalways used as the throne of the king, as the sign of supremeauthority. When they reached the village the party were fired upon,the two officers being wounded; and had to retire without havingaccomplished their purpose.
It was clear now that rebellion was intended. The native kings wereall sounded, and several of them decided to side with us, amongthem five important leaders. On the 25th the Basel Mission servantswere set upon, and several of them killed. The Ashantis thenattacked and captured the villages in which the friendly nativesand traders lived, and set fire to these and to the cantonment. Therefugees, to the number of three thousand five hundred, with twohundred children, crowded round the fort, imploring the mission toallow them to enter.
It was wholly beyond the capacity of the fort to accommodate atenth of their number. Troops were therefore ordered down from thebarracks, and formed a cordon round the fugitives. The fort gatewas closed, and a rope ladder led down one of the bastions. In thisway, only one individual could enter at a time, and the danger of arush was obviated.
Close round the walls, huts were erected to shelter the fugitives,who were exposed to all the inclemency of the weather. Thus passedsome wretched days and worse nights, sleep being constantlyinterrupted by alarms, due to the fact that the rebels were inpossession of all the buildings in the place, except the fort, manyof which they loopholed.
On the 29th a determined attack was made, the enemy advancingboldly across the open, and fighting long and obstinately. CaptainMarshall, however, with his two hundred and fifty native troops andfriendly levies, taught them such a lesson that they never againtried fighting in the open. A hundred and thirty corpses were foundand buried, and many more were carried off, while the fighting wasgoing on.
That evening Captain Apling came in with his little column, butwithout food and with little ammunition. Aided by these troops, theoutlying official buildings were occupied; and the friendly nativeslodged in huts a little farther from the fort.
Things remained quiet until the 15th of May, when Major Morrisarrived with his force. He too was short of food and ammunition,and famine already began to stare the beleaguered garrison in theface. Meanwhile the enemy had been busy erecting stockades, to barevery outlet from Coomassie. Many attempts were made to take theseentrenchments; but they always failed, as they could not be pushedhome, owing to want of ammunition; and the troops became, to someextent, demoralized by want of success.
Although the food had been carefully husbanded, it was runningperilously low. Rations consisted of one and a half biscuits, andfive ounces of preserved meat, per day. Five ponies, brought up byMajor Morris, and a few cows kept at the Residency were killed andeaten. A few luxuries could still be bought from the nativetraders, but at prodigious prices. A spoonful of whisky cost 2shillings, a seven-pound tin of flour 6 shillings, a box of matches2 shillings, and a small tin of beef 2 pounds, 16 shillings.
The refugees fared much worse. They had no reserve of food, andforaging was next to impossible. As a result, they died at the rateof thirty and forty a day.
When only three and a half days' rations were left, it was decidedthat something must be done, and a council of war was called. Itwas then agreed that those who could walk should make a dash forit; and that a garrison of three Europeans, and a hundred rank andfile, should be left behind. For these twenty-three days' rationscould be left.
Major Morris, as senior officer, was to command the sortie. Thedirect road down to the Cape was barred by a great force of therebels, and he therefore chose the road that would lead to theDenkera country. If that could be reached, they would be in afriendly country. The line to be taken was kept a profound secret,and was not revealed until ten o'clock on the evening beforestarting. The force consisted of six hundred soldiers, with ahundred and fifty rounds of ammunition a man, seven hundredcarriers, and about a thousand refugees.
There was a mist in the morning, and the garrison who were toremain made a feint, to direct the enemy's attention to the mainroad. The column was not engaged until it reached a strongbreastwork, at Potasi. This was taken after a severe fight; andCaptain Leggatt, who commanded the vanguard, was mortally wounded.Four men were also killed, and there were nine other casualties.
A part of the stockade was pulled away, and the force movedforward. It was constantly attacked on the way and, on oneoccasion, Captain Marshall was seriously wounded in the head.Numbers of soldiers, refugees, and carriers fell out fromexhaustion, and had to be left behind. Nearly all the carriersthrew away their loads, and the men who carried the hammocks of thetwo ladies found themselves unable to support the weight.
The night was spent at Terrabum, eighteen miles from Coomassie;some two thousand human beings being crowded into the village, in adeluge. The soldiers were posted round the camp, in the form of asquare.
The second day was a repetition of the first--heavy rain, muddyroads; dying soldiers, carriers, and refugees; attacks by theenemy. Twelve miles farther were made that day.
Thus seven days were passed. Captains Marshall and Leggatt bothdied. The ladies bore their trials wonderfully, as they had totramp with the rest, along the miry track. At last Ekwanter, in thefriendly Denkera country, was reached, and the force rested for twodays. They then set out again and, after a terrible march, in thecourse of which they had to cross many swollen rivers, theyarrived, two weeks after they had left Coomassie, half starved andworn out, on the coast.
In the meantime the three white officers, Captain Bishop of theGold Coast Constabulary, Assistant Inspector Ralph, LagosConstabulary, and Doctor Hay, medical officer, remained behind,with a hundred and fifteen Hausas, few of whom were fit for thetask of holding the fort. After the departure of the column, theAshantis swarmed down on the fort, thinking that it was entirelyevacuated. The
y were met, however, with a heavy fire from theMaxims, and soon withdrew.
The first duty of Captain Bishop was to tell off the men to theirposts. The soldiers who were to man the guns were ordered to sleepbeside them. The ammunition was examined, and found to amount to ahundred and seventy rounds a man. The rations were calculated, anddivided up for the twenty-three days that they were intended tolast.
Attempts were then made to burn the native shanties, for sanitaryreasons. They were so soaked, however, with water, that allattempts to burn them failed; till June 27th, when a short break inthe rain enabled them to be fired. When they were all burned down,the Residency windows on the windward side were opened, for thefirst time.
Sickness, unfortunately, broke out very soon; and three of thelittle band died on the first day. This rate mounted higher andhigher, and at last smallpox broke out. So dismal was the prospectthat the men sank into a dull despair.
A few women traders hawked their wares outside the fort. A littlecocoa, worth a farthing, cost 15 shillings; plantains were 1 pound,6 shillings each; and a small pineapple fetched 15 shillings. Themen received 3 shillings daily, in place of half a biscuit, whenbiscuits ran short; and this ready cash was willingly bartered foranything eatable.
Three heart-breaking weeks passed thus. Two-thirds of the troopshad been buried outside the fort, the remainder were almost tooweak to stand. When the food was all gone, it was arranged thatthey should go out to forage in the darkness, each man for himself.The three white men, each with a dose of poison, always stucktogether and, come what might, agreed not to fall alive into thehands of the enemy.
However, on 14th July reports were brought in that firing had beenheard. The news seemed too good to be true, but an old nativeofficer declared that he had heard distant volleys. It was notuntil four o'clock on the next day, however, that a continuous andtremendous roar of guns convinced them that a relief column was athand. The three imprisoned officers opened their last comfort, ahalf bottle of champagne, and drank success to their comrades.Several of the troops died while the fighting was going on, theexcitement being too much for their weakened frames.
At last the Ashantis were seen flying in terror. Then the twobuglers blew out the general salute, time after time till, at sixo'clock, the head of the relief column came in view. The gate wasthrown open, and those of the little garrison who were able tostand went out, to welcome their rescuers.
Five star shells were fired, to tell those left behind at Ekwanterthat the relief was accomplished. Then the outlying quarters wereoccupied, and all slept with the satisfaction that their strugglesand efforts had not been in vain, and that they had succeeded inrelieving Coomassie.