midnight
The moon was up and full . Frank feared that the Ashantis would try and crawl a part of the distance across the clearing and then make a sudden rush ; but they appeared to have no idea of a silent attack . Several times , indeed , they gathered and rushed forward in large bodies , but each time their shouting and drums gave warning to the besieged , and so tremendous a fire was opened upon them when they emerged from the shadow of the trees into the moonlight , that each time they fell back leaving the ground strewn with dead . Till midnight the attack was continued , then the Ashantis fell back to their camp . At Accroful , a village on the main road some four miles distant , the attack had been heard , and a messenger sent off to Cape Coast to inform Sir Garnet Wolseley . In the morning fifty men of the 2d West India regiment marched from Accroful into Abra Crampa without molestation . Later on some Abra scouts approached the Ashanti camp and shouted tauntingly to know when the Ashantis were coming into Abra Crampa .