By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War Part 18

Ugly Tom was called, and after a conversation with the native, told Mr.

Goodenough that he was a messenger from Abeokuta, that the people there were threatened by an attack by the King of Dahomey, and that they implored the white men, who they heard were in the neighborhood, to come to their aid.

"What do you say, Frank?" Mr. Goodenough asked.

"I don't know anything about it, sir," Frank said. "I have heard of Dahomey, of course, and its horrible customs, but I don't know anything about Abeokuta."

"Abeokuta is a very singular town," Mr. Goodenough said. "Its people were christianized many years ago, and have faithfully retained the religion. The town lies not very far from Dahomey, and this power, which has conquered and enslaved all its other neighbors, has been unable to conquer Abeokuta, although it has several times besieged it. The Dahomey people have every advantage, being supplied with firearms, and even cannon, by the rascally white traders at Whydah, the port of Dahomey.

Nevertheless, the Abeokuta people have opposed an heroic resistance, and so far successfully. Of course they know that every soul would be put to death did they fall into the hands of the King of Dahomey; but negroes do not always fight well, even under such circ.u.mstances, and every credit must be given to the people of Abeokuta. What do you say? It will be a perilous business, mind, for if Abeokuta is taken we shall a.s.suredly be put to death with the rest of the defenders."

"I think we ought to help them, sir," Frank said. "They must be a n.o.ble people, and with our guns and the four Houssas we might really be of material a.s.sistance. Of course there is a risk in it, but we have risked our lives from fever, and in other ways, every day since we've been in the country."

"Very well, my lad. I am glad that is your decision. Tell him, Ugly Tom, that we will at once move towards Abeokuta with all speed, and that they had better send out a party of carriers to meet us, as you may be sure that these men will not go far when they hear that the Dahomey people are on the warpath. Learn from him exactly the road we must move by, as if our carriers desert us we shall be detained till his people come up.

How far is it to Abeokuta?"

Ugly Tom learned from the native that it was about forty-five miles.

"Very well," Mr. Goodenough said, "we shall march twenty this afternoon.

Where we halt they will most likely have heard the rumors of the war, and I expect the carriers will go no farther, so they must send out to that point."

The Houssa translated the message, and the native, saying, "I shall be at Abeokuta tonight," kissed the hands of the white men and started at a trot.

"Wonderful stamina some of these men have," Mr. Goodenough said. "That man has come forty-five miles at full speed, and is now going off again as fresh as when he started."

"What speed will he go at?" Frank asked.

"About six miles an hour. Of course he goes faster when he is running, but he will sometimes break into a walk. Five miles an hour may be taken as the ordinary pace of a native runner, but in cases which they consider of importance, like the present, you may calculate on six."

The camp was at once broken up, the carriers loaded, and they started on their way. It was late in the evening when they reached a village about twenty miles from their starting place. They found the inhabitants in a great state of alarm. The news had come that a great army was marching to attack Abeokuta, and that the King of Dahomey had sworn on his father's skull that this time the place should be captured, and not a house or a wall left remaining. As Abeokuta was certain to make a strong resistance, and to hold out for some time, the villagers feared that the Dahomey people would be sending out parties to plunder and carry away captives all over the surrounding country. The panic at once extended to the bearers, who declared that they would not go a foot farther. As their fears were natural, and Mr. Goodenough was expecting a fresh relay from Abeokuta on the following evening, he consented to their demand to be allowed to leave immediately, and paying them their wages due, he allowed them to depart at once on the return journey. The tent was soon pitched and supper prepared, of fried plantains, rice, a tin of sardines, and tea. Later on they had a cup of chocolate, and turned in for the night.

In the morning they were awakened just at daybreak by great talking.

"Men come for baggage, sar," Ugly Tom said, putting his head in the tent door.

"They have lost no time about it, Frank," Mr. Goodenough exclaimed. "It was midday yesterday when the messenger left us. He had forty-five miles to run, and could not have been in till pretty nearly eight o'clock, and these men must have started at once."

There was no time lost. While the Houssas were pulling down and packing up the tent Ostik prepared two bowls of chocolate with biscuit soaked in it. By the time that this was eaten the carriers had taken up their loads, and two minutes later the whole party started almost at a trot.

Ugly Tom soon explained the cause of the haste. The army of Dahomey was, the evening before, but eight miles from Abeokuta, and was expected to appear before the town by midday, although, of course, it might be later, for the movements of savage troops are uncertain in the extreme, depending entirely upon the whims of their leader. So anxious were the bearers to get back to the town in time, that they frequently went at a trot. They were the better able to keep up the speed as a larger number than were required had been sent. Many of the cases, too, were light, consequently the men were able to s.h.i.+ft the heavy burdens from time to time. So great was the speed, that after an hour both Mr. Goodenough and Frank, weakened by the effect of fever and climate, could no longer keep up. The various effects carried in the hammocks were hastily taken out and lifted by men unprovided with loads. The white men entered and were soon carried along at a brisk trot by the side of the baggage. When they recovered from their exhaustion sufficiently to observe what was going on, they could not help admiring the manner in which the negroes, with perspiration streaming from every pore, hurried along with their burdens. So fast did they go, that in less than six hours they emerged from the forest into the clearing, and a shout proclaimed that Abeokuta was close at hand.

Ten minutes later the white men were carried through the gate, their arrival being hailed with shouts of joy by the inhabitants. They were carried in triumph to the princ.i.p.al building of the town, a large hut where the general councils of the people were held. Here they were received by the king and the leading inhabitants, who thanked them warmly for coming to their a.s.sistance in the time of their peril. The travelers were both struck with the appearance of the people. They were clad with far more decency and decorum than was usual among the negro tribes. Their bearing was quiet and dignified. An air of neatness and order pervaded everything, and it was clear that they were greatly superior to the people around.

Mr. Goodenough expressed to the king the willingness with which his friend and himself took part in the struggle of a brave people against a cruel and bloodthirsty foe, and he said, that as the four Houssas were also armed with fast firing guns he hoped that their a.s.sistance would be of avail. He said that he would at once examine the defences of the town and see if anything could be done to strengthen them.

Accompanied by the king, Mr. Goodenough and Frank made a detour of the walls. These were about a mile in circ.u.mference, were built of clay, and were of considerable height and thickness, but they were not calculated to resist an attack by artillery. As, however, it was not probable that the Dahomey people possessed much skill in the management of their cannon, Mr. Goodenough had hopes that they should succeed in repelling the a.s.sault. They learnt that a large store of provisions had been brought into the town, and that many of the women and children had been sent far away.

The spies presently came in and reported that there was no movement on the part of the enemy, and that it was improbable that they would advance before the next day. Mr. Goodenough was unable to offer any suggestions for fresh defenses until they knew upon which side the enemy would attack. He advised, however, that the whole population should be set to work throwing up an earthwork just outside each gate, in order to shelter these as far as possible from the effect of the enemy's cannonb.a.l.l.s. Orders were at once given to this effect, and in an hour the whole population were at work carrying earth in baskets and piling it in front of the gates. In order to economize labor, and to make the sides of the mounds as steep as possible, Mr. Goodenough directed with brushwood, forming a sort of rough wattle work. Not even when night set in did the people desist from their labor, and by the following morning the gates were protected from the effect of cannon shot, by mounds of earth twenty feet high, which rose before them. The king had, when Mr.

Goodenough first suggested these defenses, pointed out that much less earth would be required were it piled directly against the gates.

Mr. Goodenough replied, that certainly this was so, but that it was essential to be able to open the gates to make a sortie if necessary against the enemy, and although the king shook his head, as if doubting the ability of his people to take such a desperate step as that of attacking the enemy outside their walls, he yielded to Mr. Goodenough's opinion.

CHAPTER XV: THE AMAZONS OF DAHOMET

A s.p.a.cious and comfortable hut was placed at the disposal of the white men, with a small one adjoining for the Houssas. That evening Frank asked Mr. Goodenough to tell him what he knew concerning the people of Dahomey.

"The word Dahomey, or more properly Da-omi, means Da's belly. Da was, two hundred and fifty years ago, the king of the city of Abomey. It was attacked by Tacudona the chief of the Fois. It resisted bravely, and Tacudona made a vow that if he took it he would sacrifice the king to the G.o.ds. When he captured the town he carried out his vow by ripping open the king, and then called the place Daomi. Gradually the conquerors extended their power until the kingdom reached to the very foot of the Atlas range, obtaining a port by the conquest of Whydah. The King of Dahomey is a despot, and even his n.o.bility crawl on the ground in his presence. The taxes are heavy, every article sold in the market paying about one eighteenth to the royal exchequer. There are besides many other taxes. Every slave is taxed, every article that enters the kingdom. If a c.o.c.k crow it is forfeited, and, as it is the nature of c.o.c.ks to crow, every bird in the kingdom is muzzled. The property of every one who dies goes to the king; and at the Annual Custom, a grand religious festival, every man has to bring a present in proportion to his rank and wealth. The royal pomp is kept up by receiving strangers who visit the country with much state, and by regaling the populace with spectacles of human sacrifices. The women stand high in Dahomey.

Among other negro nations they till the soil. In Dahomey they fight as soldiers, and perform all the offices of men. Dahomey is princ.i.p.ally celebrated for its army of women, and its human sacrifices. These last take place annually, or even more often. Sometimes as many as a thousand captives are slain on these occasions. In almost all the pagan nations of Africa human sacrifices are perpetrated, just as they were by the Druids and Egyptians of old. Nowhere, however, are they carried to such a terrible extent as in Dahomey. Even Ashanti, where matters are bad enough, is inferior in this respect. The victims are mostly captives taken in war, and it is to keep up the supply necessary for these wholesale sacrifices that Dahomey is constantly at war with her neighbors."

"But are we going to fight against women, then?" Frank asked horrified.

"a.s.suredly we are," Mr. Goodenough answered. "The Amazons, as white men have christened the force, are the flower of the Dahomey army, and fight with extraordinary bravery and ferocity."

"But it will seem dreadful to fire at women!" Frank said.

"That is merely an idea of civilization, Frank. In countries where women are dependent upon men, leaving to them the work of providing for the family and home, while they employ themselves in domestic duties and in brightening the lives of the men, they are treated with respect. But as their work becomes rougher, so does the position which they occupy in men's esteem fall. Among the middle and upper cla.s.ses throughout Europe a man is considered a brute and a coward who lifts his hand against a woman. Among the lower cla.s.ses wife and woman beating is by no means uncommon, nor is such an a.s.sault regarded with much more reprobation than an attack upon a man. When women leave their proper sphere and put themselves forward to do man's work they must expect man's treatment; and the foolish women at home who clamor for women's rights, that is to say, for an equality of work, would, if they had their way, inflict enormous damage upon their s.e.x."

"Still," Frank said, "I shan't like having to fire at women."

"You won't see much difference between women and men when the fight begins, Frank. These female furies will slay all who fall into their hands, and therefore in self defense you will have to a.s.sist in slaying them."

The following day the sound of beating of drums and firing of guns was heard, and soon afterwards the head of the army of Dahomey was seen approaching. It moved with considerable order and regularity.

"Those must be the Amazons," Mr. Goodenough said. "They are proud of their drill and discipline. I do not think that any other African troops could march so regularly and solidly."

The main body of the army now came in view, marching as a loose and scattered mob. Then twelve objects were seen dragged by oxen. These were the cannon of the besiegers.

"How many do you think there are?" Frank asked.

"It is very difficult to judge accurately," Mr. Goodenough said. "But Dahomey is said to be able to put fifty thousand fighting men and women in the field, that is to say her whole adult population, except those too old to bear arms. I should think that there are twenty or twenty-five thousand now in sight."

The enemy approached within musket shot of the walls, and numbers of them running up, discharged their muskets. The Abeokuta people fired back; but Mr. Goodenough ordered the Houssas on no account to fire, as he did not wish the enemy to know the power of their rifles.

The first step of the besiegers was to cut down all the plantations round the town and to erect great numbers of little huts. A large central hut with several smaller ones surrounding it was erected for the king and his princ.i.p.al n.o.bles. The Dahomans spread round the town and by the gesticulation and pointing at the gates it was clear that the defenses raised to cover these excited great surprise.

The wall was thick enough for men to walk along on the top, but being built of clay it would withstand but little battering. Mr. Goodenough set a large number of people to work, making sacks from the rough cloth, of which there was an abundance in the place. These were filled with earth and piled in the center of the town ready for conveyance to any point threatened. He likewise had a number of beams, used in construction of houses, sharpened at one end; stakes of five or six feet long were also prepared and sharpened at both ends. That day the enemy attempted nothing against the town. The next morning the twelve cannon were planted at a distance of about five hundred yards and opened fire on the walls. The shooting was wild in the extreme; many of the b.a.l.l.s went over the place altogether; others topped the wall and fell in the town; some hit the wall and buried themselves in the clay.

"We will give them a lesson," Mr. Goodenough said, "in the modern rifle.

Frank, you take my double barrel rifle and I will take the heavy, large bored one. Your Winchester will scarcely make accurate firing at five hundred yards."

The Houssas were already on the wall, anxious to open fire. Mr.

Goodenough saw that their rifles were sighted to five hundred yards.

The cannon offered an easy mark. They were ranged along side by side, surrounded by a crowd of negroes, who yelled and danced each time a shot struck the wall.

"Now," Mr. Goodenough said to the Houssas, "fire steadily, and, above all, fire straight. I want every shot to tell."

Mr. Goodenough gave the signal, and at once Frank and the Houssas opened fire. The triumphant yells of the Dahomans at once changed their character, and a cry of wrath and astonishment broke from them. Steadily Mr. Goodenough and his party kept up their fire. They could see that great execution was being done, a large proportion of the shots telling.

Many wounded were carried to the rear, and black forms could be seen stretched everywhere on the ground. Still the enemy's fire continued with unabated vigor.

"They fight very pluckily," Frank said.