The Story of Baden-Powell: 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps'Begbie, Harold
History
The Story of Baden-Powell: 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps'
Begbie, Harold
Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron, 1857-1941
The expedition to bring Mr. Prempeh to his senses was under the
command of Sir Francis Scott, and Baden-Powell received the pink
flimsy bearing the magic words, "You are selected to proceed on active
service," with a gush of elation, which, he tells us, a flimsy of
another kind and of a more tangible value would fail to evoke. Of
course he was keen to go. The expedition suggested romance, and it
assured experience. To plunge into the Gold Coast Hinterland is to
find oneself in a world different from anything the imagination can
conceive; civilisation is left an infinite number of miles behind, and
the Londoner is brought face to face with what Thoreau calls the wild
unhandselled globe. The message was received by Baden-Powell on the
14th of November 1895, and on the 13th of December he was walking
through the streets of Cape Coast Castle, and had noted how well
trodden was the grave of the writer L.E.L., who lies buried in the
courtyard of the castle.
It was the business of B.-P. to raise a force of natives, and to
proceed with this little army as soon as possible in front of the
expedition, acting as a covering force. That is to say, the work of
these undrilled, stupid, and not over-brave natives was scouting, a
duty which while it is the most fascinating part of a soldier's life
is also one of the most difficult. This then was an undertaking of
which many a man might have felt shy, but Baden-Powell (the army is
full of Baden-Powells) went at it cheerfully enough. On the arid
desert outside the castle, which is called the parade ground, B.-P.
and Captain Graham, D.S.O., taught these negroes, under a blazing sun,
the rudiments of soldiering. In one part of their drill a few simple
whistle-signals were substituted for the usual words of command, such
as "Halt" and "Rally," and a red fez was served out to the Levy (which
in the end amounted to 860 men) as a British uniform. The glory of
this "kit," however, was somewhat obscured by a commissariat load
which each warrior carried on his head; but there was no heart under
those shiny ebon skins which did not beat quicker for the possession
of the red fez. The Levy, of course, had its band--a few men who made
a tremendous din on elephant-hide drums, and a few more who produced
two heart-breaking notes on elephants' hollowed tusks garnished with
human jaw-bones. At the head of this force B.-P. and Captain Graham
set out on their journey from Cape Coast to Kumassi, a distance of
nearly 150 miles, on the 21st of December.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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