The Human Sacrifice 
The allies continued to flee until they reached 
Atadee, fifteen miles from Abeokuta. From this 
place the Bashorun sent a message to the Alake 
simply saying, “We are coming.” The laconic 
brevity of this language implied a threat and the 
Alake was much frightened. Through my in¬ 
terpreter, I had known that some very unpleasant 
correspondence had taken place between them 
before the fall of Ejahyay. The Bashorun even 
declared that the Alake would like to see him 
and his army captured or killed that the Alake 
and his people might inherit their possessions. 
I, therefore, felt quite uneasy for several days, 
but when the army entered the city there was no 
serious disturbance, neither was there any dispo¬ 
sition on the part of the people to criticise the 
conduct of the Bashorun and his army at the seat 
of war. The truth is, I never saw on the battle¬ 
field braver deeds in any country, than I saw 
during the siege of Ejahyay. With equal weap¬ 
ons, any people would find Yorubans foeman, 
worthy of their steel. 
But the heroism of their conduct was soon 
tarnished by one dreadful act—the offering of a 
human sacrifice to Ogun, the god of war. This 
horrible deed was as unexpected to us as it was 
appalling. When the Abeokutans formed an al- 
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