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There was no hope of regeneration in the slave-dealing Soudanese, the debased Fantee, or the Americanised negroes of Liberia. I was returning from my quest when chance brought me in contact with this magnificent tribe of dwellers in the desert, and I threw in my lot with them.
As yet no crime of any peculiar atrocity had been committed, to impress the travellers with an unfavourable opinion of the moral character of the people amongst whom they were then residing, but on this evening of the Sabbath, a Fantee was robbed of his effects, and stabbed by an assassin below the ribs, so that his life was despaired of.
Horses were therefore ordered to be saddled and taken up to the house; a Fantee negro, who had been re-named Juan, and who had the reputation of being a marvellously expert tracker, was ordered to examine the ground about the tobacco shed for tracks, and to hold himself ready to accompany the hunters; and Jack and Carlos then returned to the house to equip themselves.
This was so surprising that, as soon as the direction became apparent, Carlos called a halt and openly expressed his conviction that the Fantee was making a mistake; but Juan confidently declared that he was doing nothing of the sort, and, in support of his statement, pointed to certain barely perceptible marks here and there on the ground, which he asserted were the tracks of the fugitive this assertion being corroborated by the other negroes.
The ghosts do not seem to leave off their interest in mundane affairs, for they not only have local palavers, but try palavers left over from their earthly existence; and when there is an outbreak of sickness in a Fantee town or village, and several inhabitants die off, the opinion is often held that there is a big palaver going on down in Srahmandazi and that the spirits are sending up on earth for witnesses, subpoenaing them as it were.
No sooner did the Fantee fix his eyes upon him, than, to the astonishment of all present, they began to flash with indignation, while the countenance of Cut-throat assumed proportionably the expression of sheepishness.
The King’s answer to my request was brief and positive. ‘What,’ asked he, ‘is your most sacred oath?’ ‘We swear by our God,’ I replied. ‘Then,’ said the king of the savages, ‘I swear by an Englishman’s God that instead of making peace with the Fantee nation I will exterminate the whole race.’ ‘Not those under the protection of the British flag?’ said I. ‘Yes,’ returned he, ‘all, and without exception.’ ‘Then if you do persist in so fatal a purpose, you must take the consequences, for I also swear that if you or any of your people come in a hostile manner within reach of our guns, I will shoot every one of you.’ He gave me a look of fierce defiance, and informed me by the interpreter that the palaver was over.
One of them was a Fantee, and had resided at the Dutch settlement of Elmina, where a black man of our party, who was no less a personage than a son of the King of Cape Coast, although now discharging the humble office of gun-room steward of the Eden, had frequently seen him. At the time these men arrived on board, several natives were with us, and among the rest, our friend Cut-throat.
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