“No, Ma.”
I pointed out a place against the wall.
“You go sit there. You go back to Sekondi. I get 'nother man. Headman, fetch in other man who no be fit.”
The culprit sat himself down most reluctantly, afraid, whether of me or the Ju-ju that was supposed to reign over the place, I know not, and the headman brought in another man.
“You no be fit?”
“No, Ma”; but it was a very reluctant no.
“Sit down over there. Another man, headman,” but somehow I did not think there would be many more. And for once my intuitions were right. The headman came back reporting the rest were fit. I felt triumphant. Then the unfortunate scare-crows against the wall rose up humbly and protested eagerly: “we be fit.”
But I was brutally stern. It cost me dear in the end, but it might have cost me dearer if I had taken them on. However, I had no intention of doing any such thing. They had declared themselves of their own free will “no fit.” I was determined they should remain “no fit” whatever it cost me to fill their places. I must rule this caravan, and I must decide where we should halt. I engaged two Kommenda men to carry the loads, and when I had taken photographs of the fort—how thankful I was that they turned out well, for Kommenda is one of the most unget-at-able places I know, and before a decent photographer gets there again I don't suppose there will be one stone left on another—I started after my men to Elmina.
The carriers who were “no fit” came with us. Why, I hardly know, but they were very, very repentant.
It was four o'clock before we left Kommenda, and since we had twelve miles to go I hardly expected to arrive before dark, but I did think we might arrive about seven. I reckoned without my host, or rather without my carriers. There was more than a modicum of truth in the statement that they were no fit. The dissipation of the day before, and the lack of chop to-day—carriers always make a big meal early in the morning—were beginning to tell; besides they were very bad specimens of their class, and they lingered and halted and crawled till I began to think we should be very lucky indeed if we got into Elmina before midnight. The darkness fell, and in the little villages the lights began to appear—these Coast villagers use a cheap, a very cheap sort of kerosene lamp—and more than once my headman appealed to me. “We stop here, Ma.”