WITH THE ASH ANT EE ARMY. 
23 
We could not give a list, but explained that much of the 
station property was not our own, being merely entrusted 
to Mr. Kiihne for sale by the directors of the mercantile 
establishment of our mission, and that though we missed 
many of our own things as well, we could only verify 
them by the books and inventory. " Where are they ? " 
said Thomas, and again we had to assert our ignorance. 
All this time he spoke so unintelligibly that I was 
obliged to arrive at his meaning by questioning him in 
Tschi ; as, for instance, his pronunciation of " never 
mind," sounded much more like " noble man ; " and the 
difficulty was not decreased by his high estimate of his 
linguistic powers, which led him to hammer out the few 
English words he knew, with fierce and stubborn decision. 
Meanwhile our two cash boxes came to light, and at their 
command, I drew out my keys and opened the first of 
them which rested on the knees of Adu Bofo, whose eyes 
glistened as he caught sight of a string of beads. These 
were instantly hidden in the folds of his dress, while the 
silver dollars charmed him exceedingly, and he displayed 
them to the Akwamu king with cordial expressions of 
delight. The latter simply nodded his approval, seem- 
ingly indifferent to the whole concern. 
Adu Bofo now rose, and offered to return my keys, 
which I declined, seeing, as I told him, I had no further 
use for them. I was next called upon to unlock my 
private box, but being minus the key, this was impos- 
sible, so they had tc* be satisfied with a list of its contents 
and directions for finding the key. They then wrapped 
both boxes in a table-cloth, together with a case of 
dessert knives and forks, a dozen silver spoons — our 
wedding presents — and two cases for shot. We were then 
dismissed, our hope again dashed to the ground, and we 
returned to our chains. By way of compensation for our 
disappointment, a few men followed us, carryinjof a present 
