That night Frank slept in a native house which the general allotted to him close to the palace.

The army slept on the ground.
The next morning they crossed a lofty hill, and then descending again kept along through the forest until, late in the afternoon, they arrived on the Prah.

This river was about sixty yards wide, and here, in roughly made huts of boughs, were encamped the main army, who had preceded them.
Here there was a pause for a week while large numbers of carriers came down with provisions.

Then on the 22d of January the army crossed the Prah in great canoes of cottonwood tree, which the troops who first arrived had prepared.
Had the Ashanti army now pushed forward at full speed, Cape Coast and Elmina must have fallen into their hands, for there were no preparations whatever for their defence.

The Assims, whose territory was first invaded, sent down for assistance, but Mr.Hennessey refused to believe that there was any invasion at all, and when the King of Akim, the most powerful of the Fanti potentates, sent down to ask for arms and ammunition, Mr.Hennessey refused so curtly that the King of Akim was grievously offended, and sent at once to the Ashantis to say that he should remain neutral in the war.
About this time Mr.Hennessey, whose repeated blunders had in no slight degree contributed to the invasion, was relieved by Mr.Keate, who at once wholly alienated the Fantis by telling them that they must defend themselves, as the English had nothing more to do with the affair than to defend their forts.