30 
MISSIONARY LIFE IN ASHANTEE. 
treated us with as much consideration as was possible in 
our forlorn condition. Each soldier was attended by a 
lad, and this trio of boys brought up the rear of our pro- 
cession. In the centre of this company we marched as 
slaves, daily enduring a fresh torrent of abuse ; the old 
leader himself taking special delight in trying to extin- 
guish our hopes, while he drew lively pictures of the state 
of things in Coomassie, and assured us that " our heads 
would be cut off there." Later on, however, it became 
evident that the king had no intention of injuring us, so 
that we could again breathe freely. 
And now, as we look back upon the terrible ordeal, we 
can thank God for so ordering our way that we learnt to 
know the Ashantee people not as our inferiors in power 
and position — as is usually the case with missionaries in 
their relations to heathen tribes — but as masters and 
superiors, seeing that our lives and welfare depended on 
their mercy and pleasure. Thus I trust we gained a new 
and more complete stock of information and experience 
for our future work. 
