Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
besieged. In comparison to. the great host mar¬ 
shalled against them, the Ejahyay army looked 
like “a little flock of kidsthe Ejahyay people 
showed, however, no sign of fear, but rather ex¬ 
hibited wonderful courage and patriotism. The 
women assembled in the rear of the line of battle 
with water and provisions. If any part of the 
line gave away, the women jeered until the re¬ 
treating warriors rallied. The men often dis¬ 
played Spartan-like fortitude when wounded. 
While I was attending to one wounded man, 
another who had been shot in the eye and must 
have been suffering intense pain, gave several 
deep groans. Presently the other impatiently 
exclaimed, “ Quit that. If you must die, die 
like a man.” The poor sufferer writhed several 
times after this but did not groan again. 
But nothing could have saved the city many 
days longer, when the scarlet cloaks of Abeo- 
kutan horsemen appeared on the hill just outside 
of the town. The intervening strip of forest 
being in a hollow, the opposite hill seen above 
it, seemed to be very close to us, and it was with 
much joy and thankfulness that we saw them file 
out of the bushes and begin to prepare the camp 
for the coming army. Before night, the whole 
hillside was black with men working like bees, 
175 
