"
"But there are white troops," Frank said.
"White soldiers?" the Ashanti asked surprised. "I thought it was
only black soldiers that fought for the whites. The whites are few,
they are traders."
"The English are many," Frank said earnestly. "For every man that
the King of Ashanti could send to fight, England could send ten.
There are white soldiers, numbers of them, but they are not sent
here. They are kept at home to fight other white nations, the
French and the Dutch and the Danes, and many others, just as the
kings of Africa fight against each other. They are not sent here
because the climate kills the whites, so to guard the white traders
here we hire black soldiers; but, when it is known in England that
the King of Ashanti is fighting against our forts, they will send
white troops."
Ammon Quatia was thoughtful for some time. "If they come," he said
at length, "the fevers will kill them, The white man cannot live
in the swamps. Your friend, the white guest of the king, died at
Coomassie."
"Yes," Frank asserted, "but he had been nearly a year in the country
before he died. Three weeks will be enough for an English army to
march from Cape Coast to Coomassie.
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