three o'clock
At eight in the morning Sir Garnet Wolseley had marched from Cape Coast with three hundred marines and blue jackets to the relief of the position , but so tremendous was the heat that nearly half the men fell exhausted by the way , and were ordered when they recovered to march back to Cape Coast . The remainder , when they arrived at Assaibo , five miles from Abra Crampa , were so utterly exhausted that a long halt was necessary , although a faint but continuous fire could be heard from the besieged place . Chocolate and cold preserved meat were served out to the men , and in the course of another three hours a large number of the stragglers came in . At three o'clock , a hundred of the most exhausted men being left to hold the village , the rest of the force with the fifty West Indians stationed there marched forward to Buteana , where they were joined by fifty more men from Accroful . Just as they started from this place they met the King of Abra , who had come out with a small body of warriors ; from him Sir Garnet learned that this road , which wound round and came in at the back of Abra Crampa , was still open . The Ashantis were too busy with their own operations to watch the path , and the relieving force entered the place without firing a shot . The firing round the town continued , but Ammon Quatia , when he saw the reinforcements enter , at once began to fall back with the main body of his troops , and although the firing was kept up all night , when the besieged in the morning advanced to attack the Ashanti camp they found it altogether deserted .