six in the morning
The Ashanti advanced parties remained close up to Elmina . On the 13th of October Frank accompanied the Ashanti general to the neighborhood of this town . The Ashanti force here was not a large one , the main body being nearly twenty miles away in the neighborhood of Dunquah , which was held by a small body of Houssas and natives under Captain Gordon . At six in the morning a messenger ran in with the news that two of the English war steamers from Cape Coast were lying off Elmina , and that a number of troops had been landed in boats . The Ashanti general was furious , and poured out threats against his spies in Cape Coast for not having warned him of the movement , but in fact these were not to blame . So quietly had the arrangements been made that , until late in the previous afternoon , no one , with the exception of three or four of the principal officers , knew that an expedition was intended . Even then it was given out that the expedition was going down the coast , and it was not until the ships anchored off Elmina at three in the morning that the officers and troops were aware of their destination .