282 
MISSIONARY LIFE IN ASHANTEE. 
from Owusii after some trouble ; of course all the Fantees 
wished to be included among our " eleven," but we were 
obliged to give the preference to those sent to meet us a 
year before, by prince Ansa, and these poor fellows heard 
the decision with loud cries of joy. 
At length we were ready to start, and our farewells 
were accomplished by about eleven o'clock, after which a 
few friends accompanied us to the market-place, where we 
went through a second parting, and then laid ourselves in 
our hammocks. The whole thing seemed like a dream. 
The night was peculiarly dark, only a few stars being 
visible, and our road lay through a deep forest. We pro- 
gressed but slowly, for the bearers had to feel their way, 
creeping over numberless roots and stones, and once they 
let me fall into the bush. However this mattered little, 
for were we not travelling towards the liberty for which 
we had longed all these years ? 
In two hours we arrived at the village of Kaase, three 
miles from the city, where we remained for the rest of 
the night, not sleeping much however. Early next morn- 
ing (January 22nd), we started, hoping to reach Akanka- 
wase, a distance of from twenty to thirty miles. On our 
way we met two chiefs with a small retinue, — Kwame 
Agyapong, and the interpreter Apea, a cunning man who 
had always opposed our freedom ; they now, however, 
saluted us kindly. One of the royal messengers accom- 
panying us had already disappeared, going as he said to 
communicate the king's message to the chief of Mampong, 
who was in camp near Kaase. This struck us as rather 
strange. 
At four o'clock in the afternoon we reached Amoaforo, 
where a fierce battle was yet to take place (January Slst), 
and here it transpired that we could go no further ; so 
we visited the chief, who "in consequence of our libera- 
tion at the intercession of the Mampong chiefs and of 
