m of a ruse;
that he had been hoodwinked and decoyed to this place. At the thought
his usually placid temper broke its bounds, and in an instant he became
furious with rage, while his strength, which at all times was of no mean
order, became doubled. With a snarl he dropped the rifle, and ere the
men charging down upon him could come to close quarters, he had gripped
the wrists of the ruffian who had leaped on his back, and torn the hands
from his face. Then he swung the man round, and picking him up as if he
were a child, flung him with furious energy against a huge cotton tree
growing just beside him.

By then the others were at hand, and the contest was continued with
desperate earnestness. Dick knew that he was cornered, and across his
mind the results of capture passed vividly. In a flash he saw himself a
prisoner, led to Kumasi, there to be slaughtered. It was a terrible
prospect, and the thought of it increased his desperation. His teeth
closed tightly together, not a sound escaped his lips in response to the
shouts of the enemy. Then his hand flew to his sword; but he had no
time to draw it, for one of the enemy, a tall, lanky Ashanti, was
already upon him, rushing into close quarters, and wielding an enormous
stake. The weapon was already in the air when Dick saw his danger, and
he had barely time to leap aside. Then his instinct caused him to make
use of nature's weapons, and in a trice his right fist flew out and
struck the native full on the forehead, sending him staggering back
against the tree at the foot of which lay the body of the native who had
acted as decoy. There was a third close at hand by now, but nothing
daunted the solitary white man sprang at the stake which had dropped to
the ground and seized it. Then the conflict went on with renewed energy
on his part. With sweeping blows he held the enemy at bay, and as the
more venturesome rushed in, the stake went up with a whirl, there was a
crash, and another man fell to the ground.

It was not to be such a one-sided contest after all, and in a little
while, when he had cleared the natives farther back, Dick hoped to be
able to rush for the boat, launch it, and push it from the bank. Then
would come the time for his revolver, and he promised himself that he
would make good use of it. But he had greater trouble to contend with,
for the crash of broken boughs in the forest told him that others were
near at hand. Indeed, hardly had he re