Were it otherwise I would gladly do so. I
have written to the king telling him that you have saved the lives
of many here. It may be that he will order you to be released."
CHAPTER XIX: THE TIDE TURNED
From many of the points in the forest held by the Ashantis the sea
could be seen, and on the morning of the 2d of October a steamer
which had not been there on the previous evening was perceived lying
off the town. The Ashantis were soon informed by spies in Elmina
and Cape Coast that the ship had brought an English general with
about thirty officers. The news that thirty men had come out to
help to drive back twenty thousand was received with derision by
the Ashantis.
"They will do more than you think," Frank said when Ammon Quatia
was scoffing over the new arrival. "You will see a change in the
tactics of the whites. Hitherto they have done nothing. They have
simply waited. Now you will see they will begin to move. The officers
will drill the natives, and even a Fanti, drilled and commanded by
white officers, will learn how to fight. You acknowledge that the
black troops in red coats can fight. What are these? Some of them
are Fantis, some of them are black men from the West Indian Islands,
where they are even more peaceful than the Fantis, for they have no
enemies.
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