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Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902

"By Sheer Pluck, a Tale of the Ashanti War"

Then you will see."
"Do they say there are many troops?" Frank asked anxiously.
"No; they say only some white officers, but this is foolishness.
What could white officers do without soldiers? As for the Fantis
they are cowards, they are only good to carry burdens and to hoe
the ground. They are women and not men."
During this time, when the damp rose so thick and steaming that
everything was saturated with it, Frank had a very sharp attack of
fever, and was for a fortnight, just after the repulse of the attack
on Elmina, completely prostrated. Such an attack would at his first
landing have carried him off, but he was now getting acclimatized,
and his supply of quinine was abundant. With its aid he saved a
great many lives among the Ashantis, and many little presents in
the way of fruit and birds did he receive from his patients.
"I wish I could let you go," the general said to him one day. "You
are a good white man, and my soldiers love you for the pains you
take going amongst them when they are sick, and giving them the
medicine of the whites. But I dare not do it. As you know when the
king is wroth the greatest tremble, and I dare not tell the king
that I have let you go.


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