Major Russell was in command. The village stood
on rising ground, and was surrounded for a distance of a hundred
and fifty yards by a clearing. Part of this consisted of patches
of cultivated ground, the rest had been hastily cleared by the
defenders. At the upper end stood a church, and this was converted
into a stronghold. The windows were high up in the walls, and a
platform had been erected inside for the sailors to fire from the
windows, which were partially blocked with sandbags. The houses
on the outside of the village had all been loopholed, and had been
connected by breastworks of earth. Other defenses had been thrown
up further back in case the outworks should be carried. The mission
house in the main street and the huts which surrounded it formed,
with the church, the last strongholds. For two or three days the
bush round the town had swarmed with Ashantis, whose tomtoms could
be heard by the garrison night and day.
Frank accompanied Ammon Quatia, and was therefore in the front, and
had an opportunity of seeing how the Ashantis commence an attack.
The war drums gave the signal, and when they ceased, ten thousand
voices raised the war song in measured cadence.
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