n Glover and his officers. Alone and single handed, they
overcame all the enormous difficulties raised by the apathy, indolence,
and self importance of the numerous petty chiefs whose followers
constituted the army, infused something of their own spirit among their
followers, and persuaded them to march without white allies against the
hitherto invincible army of the Ashantis. Not a tithe of the credit due
to them has been given to the officers of this little force.

Captain Glover invited his visitors to pass the night on shore, offering
to place a tent at their disposal; but the mosquitoes are so numerous
and troublesome along the swampy shore of the Volta that the invitations
were declined, and the whole party returned on board the Decoy. Next day
the anchor was hove and the ship's head turned to the west; and two days
later, after a pleasant and uneventful voyage, she was again off Cape
Coast, and Frank, taking leave of his kind entertainers, returned on
shore and reported himself as ready to perform any duty that might be
assigned to him.

Until the force advanced, he had nothing to do, and spent a good deal
of his time watching the carriers starting with provisions for the Prah,
and the doings of the negroes.

The order had now been passed by the chiefs at a meeting called by Sir
Garnet, that every able bodied man should work as a carrier, and while
parties of men were sent to the villages round to fetch in people
thence, hunts took place in Cape Coast itself. Every negro found in
the streets was seized by the police; protestation, indignation, and
resistance, were equally in vain. An arm or the loin cloth was firmly
griped, and the victim was run into the castle yard, amid the laughter
of the lookers on, who consisted, after the first quarter of an hour, of
women only. Then the search began in the houses, the chiefs indicating
the localities in which men were likely to be found. Some police were
set to watch outside while others went in to search. The women would at
once deny that anyone was there, but a door was pretty sure to be found
locked, and upon this being broken open the fugitive would be found
hiding under a pile of clothes or mats. Sometimes he would leap through
the windows, sometimes take to the flat roof, and as the houses join
together in the most confused way the roofs offered immense facilities
for escape, and most lively chases took place.

No excuses or pretences availed. A man seen limping