ity, dashing forward at
times at the double, until the foe, scared by the sudden onslaught, gave
way altogether and literally fled at the top of their speed.

War drums and horns, chiefs' stools and umbrellas, littered the next
village and told how sudden and complete had been the stampede. As the
42d advanced troops were from time to time sent forward until a despatch
came in from Sir A. Alison saying that all the villages save the last
were taken, that opposition had ceased, and that the enemy were in
complete rout. Up to this time the attack of the enemy upon the rear
of the village had continued with unabated vigor, and shot and slug
continually fell in the place itself. The news from the front was soon
known and was hailed with a cheer which went right round the line of
defense, and, whether scared by its note of triumph or because they
too had received the news, the efforts of the enemy ceased at once, and
scarcely another shot was fired.

At half past three the baggage was sent forward and the headquarter
staff and Rifle Brigade followed it. There was no further check. The
42d and several companies of the Rifle Brigade entered Coomassie without
another shot being fired in its defense. Sir Garnet Wolseley soon after
arrived, and taking off his hat called for three cheers for the Queen,
which was responded to with a heartiness and vigor which must have
astonished the Ashantis. These were still in considerable numbers in the
town, having been told by the king that peace was or would be made.
They seemed in no way alarmed, but watched, as amused and interested
spectators, the proceedings of the white troops.

The first thing to be done was to disarm those who had guns, and this
seemed to scare the others, for in a short time the town was almost
entirely deserted. It was now fast getting dark, and the troops
bivouacked in the marketplace, which had so often been the scene of
human sacrifices on a large scale.

Their day's work had, indeed, been a heavy one. They had been twelve
hours on the road without rest or time to cook food. Water was very
scarce, no really drinkable water having been met with during the day.
In addition to this they had undergone the excitement of a long and
obstinate fight with an enemy concealed in the bush, after work of
almost equal severity upon the day before, and had passed a sleepless
night in a tropical rainstorm, yet with the exception of a few fever
stricken men not a single soldi