XV 
WAYLAID AND CAPTURED 
I must now take the reader under a cloud, but 
before I do so, 1 will explain what led to such an 
unhappy change in the state of the country. 
Though the rulers of Abeokuta had taken sides 
with the English in their war with Kosoko and 
his Portuguese allies, many of the other rulers of 
the country had not. They earnestly desired the 
restoration of the slave trade, and they hated the 
missionaries and those friendly to them, because 
they rightly supposed that the missionaries were 
opposed to the slave trade. Therefore, these 
rulers were desirous of driving them from the 
country. Among these rulers was Ogumulla, the 
military leader of Ebaddan, the friend of the king 
of Yoruba, and the deadly enemy of Areh. 
The death of the king at Awyaw about the 
middle of our first year, seems to have given rise 
to a very ambitious scheme in the mind of Ogu¬ 
mulla, who seems to have been a sort of African 
Orgetorix. This was to form an alliance offen¬ 
sive and defensive with Benin on the east, with 
Dahomy on the west, and with Kosoko’s party 
128 
