Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

by G. A. Henty

"If, on the other hand, our fellows make a running fight of it, the enemy will follow them till they get near Coomassie, and we shall have to make a big detour to get in. That we shall be able to do so I have no doubt, but the serious part of the business is the question of food. However, we know that the natives can find food, and it is hard if we do not manage to get some.

"Making the necessary detour, and cutting our way a good deal through the bush, we can calculate upon getting there in less than four days' march. We have food enough for today, and a very little will enable us to hold on for the next four days."

They moved slowly on. The firing increased in violence, and it was evident that a very heavy engagement was going on. Two hours later they heard a sound of hurrying feet in the path and, peering through the bush, saw a crowd of the Ashantis running along, in single file, at the top of their speed.

"Hooray! It is evident that they have got a thorough licking," Lisle said. "They will soon be all past. Our greatest fear will then be that a few of the most plucky of them will rally in the bush, when they see that none of our troops come along. Our troops are not likely to follow them up, as they will be well content with the victory they have evidently gained, and resume their march."

They waited for an hour and, when they were on the point of getting up and making for the path, the Sikh said:

"Someone is coming in the bush."

In another minute, four natives came suddenly upon them; whether they came from the force that had been routed, or were newly arriving from some village behind, the two fugitives knew not; nor, indeed, had they any time to consider. They threw themselves, at once, into one of the divisions at the base of a giant cotton tree.

These divisions, of which there may be five or six round the tree, form solid buttresses four or five inches thick, projecting twenty or thirty feet from the front, and rising as many feet high; thus affording the tree an immense support, when assailed by tropical storms.