six o'clock
`` The men had better take a hundred rounds of ammunition with them , and it would be as well to take a few boxes of spare cartridges ; and the men not occupied in dragging the cannon and carrying the carriages , must take up as many rounds of shell as possible , and eight or ten rounds of grape for each gun . You have got the sacks ready for forming the battery ; that will be absolutely necessary for the protection of the men firing . Each of the prahus has probably got at least half a dozen small guns , and it would be hardly possible to work our pieces unless the men were protected from their concentrated fire . Tell the chief engineer that steam must be got up by six o'clock . In the meantime , let a slow fire be kept up towards the edge of the forest , just a shot every five minutes , which will be enough to show them we are still here , and have not done with them yet . When the place cools down a bit , we will send a party on shore to keep up a dropping fire against the forest , and so induce them to believe that we mean to attack them there . '' During the rest of the day preparations were actively carried on for the night 's work .