eleven o'clock at night
Messengers had raced ceaselessly through the streets , shouting tidings of victory and tidings of disaster . There had been a charge by moonlight of General Drury-Lowe 's Cavalry Brigade , which had rolled up Arabi 's left flank and captured his guns . It was rumoured that an English general had been killed , that the York and Lancaster Regiment had been cut up . London was uneasy , and at eleven o'clock at night a great crowd of people had gathered beneath the gas-lamps in Pall Mall , watching with pale upturned faces the lighted blinds of the War Office . The crowd was silent and impressively still . Only if a figure moved for an instant across the blinds , a thrill of expectation passed from man to man , and the crowd swayed in a continuous movement from edge to edge . Lieutenant Sutch , careful of his wounded leg , was standing on the outskirts , with his back to the parapet of the Junior Carlton Club , when he felt himself touched upon the arm .