In the two engagements
they had lost nearly four hundred men. Frank, of course, retired
with the beaten Ashantis, and that evening Ammon Quatia told him
that the arms of the white men were too good, and that he should
not attack them again in the open.
"Their guns shoot farther, as well as quicker, than ours," he said.
"Our slugs are no use against the heavy bullets, at a distance;
but in the woods, where you cannot see twenty feet among the trees,
it will be different. If I do not attack them they must attack me,
or their trade will be starved out. When they come into the woods
you will see that we shall eat them up."
Several weeks now passed quietly. There was news that there was
great sickness among the white soldiers, and, indeed, with scarce
an exception, the marines first sent out were invalided home; but
a hundred and fifty more arrived to take their place. Some detachments
of the 2d West Indian regiment came down to join their comrades
from Sierra Leone, and the situation remained unchanged.
One night towards the end of August a messenger arrived and there
was an immediate stir.
"Now," the general said to Frank, "you are going to see us fight
the white men.
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