By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti WarHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Ashanti war, 1873-1874 -- Juvenile fiction
Thence the visitors strolled away to watch a number of Houssas in hot
pursuit of some bullocks, which were to be put on board the steamers
and taken up the river to the great camp. These had broken loose in the
night, and the chase was an exciting one. Although some fifty or sixty
men were engaged in the hunt it took no less than four hours to capture
the requisite number, and seven Houssas were more or less injured by
the charges of the desperate little animals, which possessed wonderful
strength and endurance, although no larger than moderate sized donkeys.
They were only captured at last by hoops being thrown over their horns,
and even when thrown down required the efforts of five or six men to tie
them. They were finally got to the wharf by two men each: one went ahead
with the rope attached to the animal's horn, the other kept behind,
holding a rope fastened to one of the hind legs. Every bull made the
most determined efforts to get at the man in front, who kept on at a
run, the animal being checked when it got too close by the man behind
pulling at its hind leg. When it turned to attack him the man in front
again pulled at his rope. So most of them were brought down to the
landing place, and there with great difficulty again thrown down, tied,
and carried bodily on board. Some of them were so unmanageable that
they had to be carried all the way down to the landing place. If
English cattle possessed the strength and obstinate fury of these little
animals, Copenhagen Fields would have to be removed farther from London,
or the entrance swept by machine guns, for a charge of the cattle would
clear the streets of London.
After spending an amusing day on shore, the party returned on board
ship. Captain Glover's expedition, although composed of only seven or
eight English officers and costing the country comparatively nothing,
accomplished great things, but its doings were almost ignored by
England. Crossing the river they completely defeated the native tribes
there, who were in alliance with the Ashantis, after some hard fighting,
and thus prevented an invasion of our territory on that side. In
addition to this they pushed forward into the interior and absolutely
arrived at Coomassie two days after Sir Garnet Wolseley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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