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"I told you that there would be a change when the new general came, and that they would not any longer remain in their forts, but would come out and attack you." A few days after this fight the Ashantis broke up their camp at Mampon, twelve miles from Elmina, and moved eastward to join the body who were encamped in the forest near Dunquah.
The Ashantis were now better supplied with food, as they were able to depend upon the Elmina tribes who cultivated a considerable extent of ground, and to add to the stock, the Ashanti soldiers were set to work to aid in planting a larger extent of ground than usual, a proof in Frank's mind that the general contemplated making a long stay, and blockading Elmina and Cape Coast into surrender if he could not carry them by assault.
Another reason for this attack upon the Elminas was that an Ashanti general, named Atjempon, had marched with several hundred men through the Fanti country, burning, destroying, and slaying as usual, and had taken refuge with his men in Elmina. From this time the desultory war between the Elminas and their Ashanti allies, and the Fantis of the neighborhood had never ceased.
The leopard-skin, bound with gold upon the handle, symbolises courage in the field; the gold is wealth, and the iron is strength. Finally, the unhappy 'Gold Axe, after being publicly paraded upon a velvet cushion through the streets of Elmina, was entrusted to Captain Knapp Barrow, who returned to England by the next steamer.
The negotiations between the English and the Dutch were in progress, but they had heard that the English would not take over Elmina without the consent of the inhabitants, and that they would be willing to increase the payment made by the Dutch to the king of Ashanti.
In this he was correct, as they consisted of marines and marine artillerymen under Lieutenant Colonel Festing, who had just arrived from England. Three days later the Ashanti general, with a portion of his force, moved down close to Elmina; Frank was told to accompany them. Shortly afterwards the news came that the Elminas were all ordered to lay down their arms.
They were in close alliance with the tribes at Elmina, which place we had taken over from the Portuguese, some years before Sir Garnet Wolseley's expedition. This occupation was bitterly opposed by the Ashantis, who felt that it cut them off from free trade with the coast.
"Why," he asked abruptly as they took their places before him, "do the English take my town of Elmina?" Mr. Goodenough explained that he had been nine months absent from the coast, and that having come straight out from England he was altogether unaware of what had happened at Elmina. "Elmina is mine," the king said.
The loyal and powerful chief Kwámina Blay, of Atábo, in Amrehía, or Western Apollonia, offered 6,000 muskets, and an additional 1,000 hands if the Government would supply arms and ammunition. On January 19 the ambassador with the 'Gold Axe' presented himself at Elmina.
The kings had little or no authority over them, and it was certain that no native force, capable in any way of competing with the army of the assailants, could be raised. The small number of men of the 2d West Indian regiment at Elmina had been reinforced by a hundred and twenty Houssas brought down the coast. The Ashanti advanced parties remained close up to Elmina.
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