resting over the town told the Ashantis of the destruction
of their blood stained capital. The palace was blown up, and when the
Engineers and 42d marched out from the town scarce a house remained
untouched by the flames.

The troops had proceeded but a short distance before they had reason
to congratulate themselves on their retreat before the rains began in
earnest, and to rejoice over the fact that the thunderstorms did not
set in three days earlier than they did. The marsh round the town had
increased a foot in depth, while the next stream, before a rivulet two
feet and a half deep, had now swollen its banks for a hundred and fifty
yards on either side, with over five feet and a half of water in the old
channel.

Across this channel the Engineers had with much difficulty thrown a
tree, over which the white troops passed, while the native carriers had
to wade across. It was laughable to see only the eyes of the taller men
above the water, while the shorter disappeared altogether, nothing being
seen but the boxes they carried. Fortunately the deep part was only
three or four yards wide. Thus the carriers by taking a long breath
on arriving at the edge of the original channel were able to struggle
across.

This caused a terrible delay, and a still greater one occurred at the
Dah. Here the water was more than two feet above the bridge which the
Engineers had made on the passage up. The river was as deep as the
previous one had been, and the carriers therefore waded as before; but
the deep part was wider, so wide, indeed, that it was impossible for
the shorter men to keep under water long enough to carry their burdens
across. The tall men therefore crossed and recrossed with the burdens,
the short men swimming over.

The passage across the bridge too was slow and tedious in the extreme.
Some of the cross planks had been swept away, and each man had to feel
every step of his way over. So tedious was the work that at five in
the afternoon it became evident that it would be impossible for all the
white troops to get across--a process at once slow and dangerous--before
nightfall. The river was still rising, and it was a matter of importance
that none should be left upon the other side at night, as the Ashantis
might, for anything they could tell, be gathering in force in the rear.
Consequently Sir Archibald Alison gave the order for the white troops to
strip and to wade across taking only their helmets and guns. The clo