Chapter three
The story of the dead body had gone round the camp within minutes, the guard outside the general’s tent knew about it before the three officers arrived to report.
A few minutes later General Summerby stuck his head out of the tent flap and shouted for a nearby soldier to go fetch Captain Greyling and the other Lieutenants.
It took several minutes to locate them all and for them to arrive at the tent for the meeting.
“Gentlemen, for those who have not yet heard the gossip, Captain Charterhouse found a dead body outside our picket lines this morning. Captain, if you will.”
The captain’s briefing took only a few minutes, the speculation that followed took longer until General Summerby harrumphed and got the meeting back on topic. Plans were drawn up, squad level patrols around the camp while the Lancers scouted all around the rebel town and could detail the ways in and out. Lieutenant Engler of the artillery along with Lieutenant Houseman was to take a squad and set up on the hill beside the road to observe the town and fort, specifically to locate the breach loader.
Details were being finalised when.
“Oi you, clear off. You shouldn’t be here.” The shout came from just outside the tent and interrupted the general mid flow.
“I must speak to the general!” The voice had a strong accent, Egyptian or Arab.
“Clear off.”
The general looked up then nodded to the lieutenant closest to the tent door. “See what that is about.” That turned out to be Fowler and he ducked under the tent flap and stepped out into the bright sunlight. His voice reached the other officers inside.
“What is all this about?”
“I must speak to the general. Last night. He has opened the book. We must stop him before he grows in power. He will call more to walk!” The voice sounded close to the tent and both angry and afraid.
“Be off with you before I have you shot.”
“I must speak to the general.”
“Guard prepare to fire!”
Silence for a few seconds, the last words came from further away. “He has opened the book, we must stop him before it is too late!”
Fowler came back into the tent. “One of the Arabs Sir, he’s gone now. Looked like one of the drivers. I think he was the one with the lamp last night.”
The general grunted and turned back to the map. Pointing to several spots.
“Greyling, sweep along here and here, the rest as you wish but I want every way in and out found. This is now a siege and I don’t want any damn rebels slipping in and out.”
Then he looked up and his gaze met that of lieutenant Digby.
“Now, what’s the situation with the Levy, are we going to get any use out of them today or are they still refusing to leave the camp?”
“It’s odd sir, as soon as the sun came up they were happy again, I have them digging more trenches facing the road. Not one of them complaining about curses today. Certainly not like last night anyway. I’ll keep an eye on them but they seem back to normal. Of course what happens tonight I cannot say.
Summerby grunted and looked at each officer in turn. “Any questions?”
The officers all shook their heads no and the general sent them on their way.
~
Thirty minutes later Lieutenant Engler, 10th Battalion, Royal Artillery has found himself a nice shady spot with a good view across the valley to the town and fort. He had bought a blanket with him and was busy making a comfortable observation post when a clatter and voices coming up the hill alerted him to the arrival of the Royal Navy.
“Watch what ya doing ya useless sailor, that’ll come out o ya pay if ya drop it.”
Four men came into sight around the outcropping Engler was using as shelter from the harsh sun. Lieutenant Houseman in front followed by two naval ratings struggling to carry something large and bulky wrapped in canvas. The source of the shouting was bringing up the rear, the Boatswain’s Mate from the naval ground party that supported Greyhound.
Engler watched, at first in curiosity and then in disbelief as the men put down the bundled item, opened out the bottom to form a tripod and then removed the cover completely to reveal a four foot ships telescope.
“Good grief, where did you find that?”
Houseman stepped up to the telescope and turned it to face the town. “Ships telescope, issued pursuant to naval regulations. Every ship in Her Majesty’s navy has at least one ships telescope. Greyhound is a Frigate in royal naval service and therefore has one issued. Houseman glanced across at the Artilleryman and grinned. “Even if we are a ‘Land’ Frigate. Rules don’t ya know.”
Both men chuckled then found comfortable spots to settle down while using the telescope and Ebler’s binoculars to observe the rebel held town.
It turned out Ebler was a dab hand as an artist and he took a turn at the telescope then proceeded to while away the morning sketching the town and fort. Lines of approach, probable fire arcs, Everything he would need to reduce the place to rubble if need be.
~
Captain Greyling had two patrols of lancers out; he was leading seven men to the south east while his sergeant led the other seven men to the north east. Each patrol was to circle the town and fort, hopefully outside of cannon range and get an idea of the lay of the land.
Both patrols rode at a trot to keep the ever present dust down to a tolerable level, at the canter or above the men would be choked by the sand and dust not to mention producing a cloud that would alert the rebels to the patrols location.
The dark blue jackets of the lancers became grey as they were quickly covered with dust, their white pith helmets had been stained with something to darken them to the colour of weak tea and they quickly became as dull as the jackets.
The horses likewise quickly became covered in dust and the lancers seemed to vanish against the desert background.
The northern patrol spent several hours trying to circle the town through the hills and broken ground. They quickly found themselves reduced to a slow walk and spent most of their time back tracking when one trail or another came to a dead end. By the time they had reached the far side of the hills and reached the valley behind the town it was mid afternoon. They had found and made note of two trails that seemed to lead to the town and fort, both suitable for men afoot. No route for horse or cart could be found to the north.
Captain Greyling and the southern patrol made better time, they were riding along the road then out into the valleys and open ground several miles south of the rebels. The ground was broken by many wadi’s and hillocks, men or horses could cross it with care but no cart could possibly come that way. By mid day they had reached the far side of the rebel valley and the hills behind the town stood in front of them, they paused here to water the horses and several men were posted on higher ground as guards while they rested.
“Captain, captain. Somat up this way sir, somat died by the look o them birds.”
Captain Greyling climbed up to where the guard stood and shading his eyes with one hand looked to the north. Vultures, a dozen or so. Some flying just above the ground in a circle. Others seemed to be landing and taking off. Whatever was of such interest to them was hidden from sight by the broken ground.
The captain returned to the rest of his patrol and once they had finished resting the horses he called the guards in and mounted, then he turned north, weaving between the outcrops of rock and the banks of dirt that made up the ground here.
After a few minutes of travel they found themselves alongside a steep wall of rock and dirt, several of the vultures could be seen circling something on the other side of this wall.
The captain quickly ordered the lancers to dismount. He ordered two to remain with the horses while he led the others up the steep slope. Each man left his lance behind, instead they carried swords and either carbines or pistols. Greyling’s insistence on training and equipping his men to operate as anything but traditional lancers proving its worth yet again.
The slope was steep and of loose rocks and dirt, the men took several minutes to scramble up but once they reached the top they found bushes and scrub grasses gently sloping up to the top of the hill. The lancers were able to crawl up to the top of the hill and look down the other side. What they found was a clearing perhaps seventy feet across set within the hills, almost completely flat and with a wide path allowing exit to the north.
The ground in the middle was where the vultures were concentrated though there did not seem to be anything there. Greyling ordered the three men armed with carbines to remain on the hill top on watch and then led his remaining two me to scramble down the steep slope on the other side of the hill.
All three made it down to the dust and sand that made up the floor of this flat and open bowl, each drew and readied a pistol, and then with the captain in the lead they carefully walked across to open area toward whatever was attracting the vultures.
The birds squawked and screeched and launched themselves into the air where they circled low overhead, calling nosily. With them out of the way the three men could clearly see the middle of the bowl, it was empty other than some dark patches on the sandy soil.
It took no more than a few minutes to search the area. Nine odd marks on the ground, a single set of cart wheels coming into the open area then turning and leaving again. Many foot prints in the sand. Closer examination showed the marks to be stains, each several feet across, something liquid had been spilt here and had soaked into the ground. Not water, the sun would have destroyed all such traces hours ago. No this was something thicker and darker.
Captain Greyling knelt down and took a closer look, then the smell hit him. This was blood, mostly soaked away into the sand and dried by the sun but blood none the less.
Nine people had been killed here.
The path to the north was easily wide enough for a cart or wagon and showed signs of having been made, several times dirt banks had been hacked through to keep the way open. It led to the edge of the hills and came out no more than a few hundred yards from the closest wall of the town, the cart tracks led from the path straight towards the town.
Keeping low to avoid being seen the captain and his two met made their way back to the open area and then climbed the hill to join the guards there, the entire group then returned to the hills and back to the patrol.
The two groups met up in the valley behind the rebel town and both turned to make their way back to the cam using the more open southern route.
It seemed that besieging the town would require infantry to the north, the lancers to the south and the bulk of the force by the road. Any large body of rebels would be easily trapped and no carts or wagons could leave except by the road. The rebels looked to be nicely bottled up in their own town.
~
At the camp the defences were being improved. A pair of redoubts were being dug out, one at each corner facing the road. Each was home to one six pounder and one Baker Simpson Rotary machine guns. Another redoubt formed the centre of the side facing the road and housed another pair of the Rotary machine guns.
The remaining two Baker Simpsons were placed at the back corners of the roughly square base, each set into its own redoubt. The redoubts were made by digging out sections of trenches and ditches, then piling the dirt behind them to form a raised platform. Excess dirt and sand was packed into old grain and meal sacks that had been bought along for this purpose, a wall of such sand bags some four feet high surrounded the redoubt on all sides with firing positions where the sand bags were only three feet tall. Access from inside the camp was through a single gap in the sand bag wall up a ramp wide enough for the wheeled carriages of the weapons,
Lines of trenches surrounded the camp and the spoil piled up to form protective banks. Against a rabble armed with primitive native weapons it was a solid fortress, against modern European weapons it was sadly lacking. Something far too many within the camp were aware of.
The levy was mostly employed digging these trenches during the day along with many of the drivers and other civilian labourers. The British infantry worked on the redoubts and maintained pickets and patrols of up to a mile around the camp.
It was well past lunch when the steam engine on the Land Frigate came to life, the whistle of full pressure echoing across the camp. It had taken most of the day to repair the damage, the sand and dust had been mixing with the grease and forming an abrasive paste that was wearing away at every moving part. The naval engineers had a plentiful stock of spares but they were running through them a lot faster than had been planned. They barely had enough to make the return trip.
A day or two of combat use would deplete the remaining stores and leave Greyhound immobile. Since the closest source of such spare parts was five days away by cart a message would need to be sent with the daily courier. This was something that Lieutenant Houseman would need to request but he was at the observation post and not expected to return until sunset. The message calling for additional stores and spares would go with tomorrow’s courier meaning it would be at least eight days before a cart could arrive.
Three days for the courier on a fast horse and five days for the cart to make the return journey. Then there would be the delays in the city as the request was processes, forms filled in, quartermasters authority sought and received.
Greyhound and her crew would be lucky if the requested spares arrived in less than ten days.
An hour before sunset the lancers returned to camp.
The evening officers meeting started just before sunset. Captain Greyling filled in the map of the region marking the possible routes into the town and also the strange sight of the deaths in the hills. Lieutenant Engler had drawings and maps of the most likely layout of the town and fort, a general idea of the streets.
Best of all Lieutenant Houseman had spent the day looking through his telescope and had found the cannon that had fired on them the day before. As far as he could see it was the only modern weapon in the fort, another half dozen blocky muzzle loaders were mounted on the walls and gate house. The cannon was situated at the base of one of the towers to the south of the gatehouse, it was the broadest part of the fort wall and gave a wide arc of fire across the valley and town. Its position would also allow it to fire down along the length of the sloping road that led up to the gate.
Greyhound would be under fire from the time she crossed the road all the way up to the fort gatehouse and while her armour was good she would not fare well against the continuous fire of a modern fast firing cannon. At the sort of range she would be at within the town and on the path up to the fort solid shot from a cannon the size of the one they could see would most likely breach her armour.
Return fire would be problematic. The rebel gun was mounted behind a low wall, in the shadow of a tower that would block all fire from the south and further protected by a line of gabions. Wicker baskets no doubt filled with sand or dirt, an excellent defence against weapon fire.
Still with the camp and its many weapons blocking the road and so few routes that the rebels could use for resupply they were nicely under siege already. This would take longer than expected but given the presence of at least one modern weapon a forward attack would cause unwarranted casualties.
The next morning’s courier would carry the days reports along with requests for not just the land frigate spares but also enough addition food and water to keep the entire force supplied for another two weeks.
Various sergeants were running the camp while the officers were in the meeting, night guards were set but there was a problem, the levy had outright refused to take up posts along the graveyard side. Once the officers came out they found themselves facing another problem with the levy. In the end it had been easiest to post only British troops along that side, the native troops being posted along the other three sides. Second platoon also moved its pickets outward and doubled the number of men at each point. There would be no suprises from the graveyard tonight.
With the watch set for the night and the sun now long since set the camp settled down to a quiet night.
The story of the dead body had gone round the camp within minutes, the guard outside the general’s tent knew about it before the three officers arrived to report.
A few minutes later General Summerby stuck his head out of the tent flap and shouted for a nearby soldier to go fetch Captain Greyling and the other Lieutenants.
It took several minutes to locate them all and for them to arrive at the tent for the meeting.
“Gentlemen, for those who have not yet heard the gossip, Captain Charterhouse found a dead body outside our picket lines this morning. Captain, if you will.”
The captain’s briefing took only a few minutes, the speculation that followed took longer until General Summerby harrumphed and got the meeting back on topic. Plans were drawn up, squad level patrols around the camp while the Lancers scouted all around the rebel town and could detail the ways in and out. Lieutenant Engler of the artillery along with Lieutenant Houseman was to take a squad and set up on the hill beside the road to observe the town and fort, specifically to locate the breach loader.
Details were being finalised when.
“Oi you, clear off. You shouldn’t be here.” The shout came from just outside the tent and interrupted the general mid flow.
“I must speak to the general!” The voice had a strong accent, Egyptian or Arab.
“Clear off.”
The general looked up then nodded to the lieutenant closest to the tent door. “See what that is about.” That turned out to be Fowler and he ducked under the tent flap and stepped out into the bright sunlight. His voice reached the other officers inside.
“What is all this about?”
“I must speak to the general. Last night. He has opened the book. We must stop him before he grows in power. He will call more to walk!” The voice sounded close to the tent and both angry and afraid.
“Be off with you before I have you shot.”
“I must speak to the general.”
“Guard prepare to fire!”
Silence for a few seconds, the last words came from further away. “He has opened the book, we must stop him before it is too late!”
Fowler came back into the tent. “One of the Arabs Sir, he’s gone now. Looked like one of the drivers. I think he was the one with the lamp last night.”
The general grunted and turned back to the map. Pointing to several spots.
“Greyling, sweep along here and here, the rest as you wish but I want every way in and out found. This is now a siege and I don’t want any damn rebels slipping in and out.”
Then he looked up and his gaze met that of lieutenant Digby.
“Now, what’s the situation with the Levy, are we going to get any use out of them today or are they still refusing to leave the camp?”
“It’s odd sir, as soon as the sun came up they were happy again, I have them digging more trenches facing the road. Not one of them complaining about curses today. Certainly not like last night anyway. I’ll keep an eye on them but they seem back to normal. Of course what happens tonight I cannot say.
Summerby grunted and looked at each officer in turn. “Any questions?”
The officers all shook their heads no and the general sent them on their way.
~
Thirty minutes later Lieutenant Engler, 10th Battalion, Royal Artillery has found himself a nice shady spot with a good view across the valley to the town and fort. He had bought a blanket with him and was busy making a comfortable observation post when a clatter and voices coming up the hill alerted him to the arrival of the Royal Navy.
“Watch what ya doing ya useless sailor, that’ll come out o ya pay if ya drop it.”
Four men came into sight around the outcropping Engler was using as shelter from the harsh sun. Lieutenant Houseman in front followed by two naval ratings struggling to carry something large and bulky wrapped in canvas. The source of the shouting was bringing up the rear, the Boatswain’s Mate from the naval ground party that supported Greyhound.
Engler watched, at first in curiosity and then in disbelief as the men put down the bundled item, opened out the bottom to form a tripod and then removed the cover completely to reveal a four foot ships telescope.
“Good grief, where did you find that?”
Houseman stepped up to the telescope and turned it to face the town. “Ships telescope, issued pursuant to naval regulations. Every ship in Her Majesty’s navy has at least one ships telescope. Greyhound is a Frigate in royal naval service and therefore has one issued. Houseman glanced across at the Artilleryman and grinned. “Even if we are a ‘Land’ Frigate. Rules don’t ya know.”
Both men chuckled then found comfortable spots to settle down while using the telescope and Ebler’s binoculars to observe the rebel held town.
It turned out Ebler was a dab hand as an artist and he took a turn at the telescope then proceeded to while away the morning sketching the town and fort. Lines of approach, probable fire arcs, Everything he would need to reduce the place to rubble if need be.
~
Captain Greyling had two patrols of lancers out; he was leading seven men to the south east while his sergeant led the other seven men to the north east. Each patrol was to circle the town and fort, hopefully outside of cannon range and get an idea of the lay of the land.
Both patrols rode at a trot to keep the ever present dust down to a tolerable level, at the canter or above the men would be choked by the sand and dust not to mention producing a cloud that would alert the rebels to the patrols location.
The dark blue jackets of the lancers became grey as they were quickly covered with dust, their white pith helmets had been stained with something to darken them to the colour of weak tea and they quickly became as dull as the jackets.
The horses likewise quickly became covered in dust and the lancers seemed to vanish against the desert background.
The northern patrol spent several hours trying to circle the town through the hills and broken ground. They quickly found themselves reduced to a slow walk and spent most of their time back tracking when one trail or another came to a dead end. By the time they had reached the far side of the hills and reached the valley behind the town it was mid afternoon. They had found and made note of two trails that seemed to lead to the town and fort, both suitable for men afoot. No route for horse or cart could be found to the north.
Captain Greyling and the southern patrol made better time, they were riding along the road then out into the valleys and open ground several miles south of the rebels. The ground was broken by many wadi’s and hillocks, men or horses could cross it with care but no cart could possibly come that way. By mid day they had reached the far side of the rebel valley and the hills behind the town stood in front of them, they paused here to water the horses and several men were posted on higher ground as guards while they rested.
“Captain, captain. Somat up this way sir, somat died by the look o them birds.”
Captain Greyling climbed up to where the guard stood and shading his eyes with one hand looked to the north. Vultures, a dozen or so. Some flying just above the ground in a circle. Others seemed to be landing and taking off. Whatever was of such interest to them was hidden from sight by the broken ground.
The captain returned to the rest of his patrol and once they had finished resting the horses he called the guards in and mounted, then he turned north, weaving between the outcrops of rock and the banks of dirt that made up the ground here.
After a few minutes of travel they found themselves alongside a steep wall of rock and dirt, several of the vultures could be seen circling something on the other side of this wall.
The captain quickly ordered the lancers to dismount. He ordered two to remain with the horses while he led the others up the steep slope. Each man left his lance behind, instead they carried swords and either carbines or pistols. Greyling’s insistence on training and equipping his men to operate as anything but traditional lancers proving its worth yet again.
The slope was steep and of loose rocks and dirt, the men took several minutes to scramble up but once they reached the top they found bushes and scrub grasses gently sloping up to the top of the hill. The lancers were able to crawl up to the top of the hill and look down the other side. What they found was a clearing perhaps seventy feet across set within the hills, almost completely flat and with a wide path allowing exit to the north.
The ground in the middle was where the vultures were concentrated though there did not seem to be anything there. Greyling ordered the three men armed with carbines to remain on the hill top on watch and then led his remaining two me to scramble down the steep slope on the other side of the hill.
All three made it down to the dust and sand that made up the floor of this flat and open bowl, each drew and readied a pistol, and then with the captain in the lead they carefully walked across to open area toward whatever was attracting the vultures.
The birds squawked and screeched and launched themselves into the air where they circled low overhead, calling nosily. With them out of the way the three men could clearly see the middle of the bowl, it was empty other than some dark patches on the sandy soil.
It took no more than a few minutes to search the area. Nine odd marks on the ground, a single set of cart wheels coming into the open area then turning and leaving again. Many foot prints in the sand. Closer examination showed the marks to be stains, each several feet across, something liquid had been spilt here and had soaked into the ground. Not water, the sun would have destroyed all such traces hours ago. No this was something thicker and darker.
Captain Greyling knelt down and took a closer look, then the smell hit him. This was blood, mostly soaked away into the sand and dried by the sun but blood none the less.
Nine people had been killed here.
The path to the north was easily wide enough for a cart or wagon and showed signs of having been made, several times dirt banks had been hacked through to keep the way open. It led to the edge of the hills and came out no more than a few hundred yards from the closest wall of the town, the cart tracks led from the path straight towards the town.
Keeping low to avoid being seen the captain and his two met made their way back to the open area and then climbed the hill to join the guards there, the entire group then returned to the hills and back to the patrol.
The two groups met up in the valley behind the rebel town and both turned to make their way back to the cam using the more open southern route.
It seemed that besieging the town would require infantry to the north, the lancers to the south and the bulk of the force by the road. Any large body of rebels would be easily trapped and no carts or wagons could leave except by the road. The rebels looked to be nicely bottled up in their own town.
~
At the camp the defences were being improved. A pair of redoubts were being dug out, one at each corner facing the road. Each was home to one six pounder and one Baker Simpson Rotary machine guns. Another redoubt formed the centre of the side facing the road and housed another pair of the Rotary machine guns.
The remaining two Baker Simpsons were placed at the back corners of the roughly square base, each set into its own redoubt. The redoubts were made by digging out sections of trenches and ditches, then piling the dirt behind them to form a raised platform. Excess dirt and sand was packed into old grain and meal sacks that had been bought along for this purpose, a wall of such sand bags some four feet high surrounded the redoubt on all sides with firing positions where the sand bags were only three feet tall. Access from inside the camp was through a single gap in the sand bag wall up a ramp wide enough for the wheeled carriages of the weapons,
Lines of trenches surrounded the camp and the spoil piled up to form protective banks. Against a rabble armed with primitive native weapons it was a solid fortress, against modern European weapons it was sadly lacking. Something far too many within the camp were aware of.
The levy was mostly employed digging these trenches during the day along with many of the drivers and other civilian labourers. The British infantry worked on the redoubts and maintained pickets and patrols of up to a mile around the camp.
It was well past lunch when the steam engine on the Land Frigate came to life, the whistle of full pressure echoing across the camp. It had taken most of the day to repair the damage, the sand and dust had been mixing with the grease and forming an abrasive paste that was wearing away at every moving part. The naval engineers had a plentiful stock of spares but they were running through them a lot faster than had been planned. They barely had enough to make the return trip.
A day or two of combat use would deplete the remaining stores and leave Greyhound immobile. Since the closest source of such spare parts was five days away by cart a message would need to be sent with the daily courier. This was something that Lieutenant Houseman would need to request but he was at the observation post and not expected to return until sunset. The message calling for additional stores and spares would go with tomorrow’s courier meaning it would be at least eight days before a cart could arrive.
Three days for the courier on a fast horse and five days for the cart to make the return journey. Then there would be the delays in the city as the request was processes, forms filled in, quartermasters authority sought and received.
Greyhound and her crew would be lucky if the requested spares arrived in less than ten days.
An hour before sunset the lancers returned to camp.
The evening officers meeting started just before sunset. Captain Greyling filled in the map of the region marking the possible routes into the town and also the strange sight of the deaths in the hills. Lieutenant Engler had drawings and maps of the most likely layout of the town and fort, a general idea of the streets.
Best of all Lieutenant Houseman had spent the day looking through his telescope and had found the cannon that had fired on them the day before. As far as he could see it was the only modern weapon in the fort, another half dozen blocky muzzle loaders were mounted on the walls and gate house. The cannon was situated at the base of one of the towers to the south of the gatehouse, it was the broadest part of the fort wall and gave a wide arc of fire across the valley and town. Its position would also allow it to fire down along the length of the sloping road that led up to the gate.
Greyhound would be under fire from the time she crossed the road all the way up to the fort gatehouse and while her armour was good she would not fare well against the continuous fire of a modern fast firing cannon. At the sort of range she would be at within the town and on the path up to the fort solid shot from a cannon the size of the one they could see would most likely breach her armour.
Return fire would be problematic. The rebel gun was mounted behind a low wall, in the shadow of a tower that would block all fire from the south and further protected by a line of gabions. Wicker baskets no doubt filled with sand or dirt, an excellent defence against weapon fire.
Still with the camp and its many weapons blocking the road and so few routes that the rebels could use for resupply they were nicely under siege already. This would take longer than expected but given the presence of at least one modern weapon a forward attack would cause unwarranted casualties.
The next morning’s courier would carry the days reports along with requests for not just the land frigate spares but also enough addition food and water to keep the entire force supplied for another two weeks.
Various sergeants were running the camp while the officers were in the meeting, night guards were set but there was a problem, the levy had outright refused to take up posts along the graveyard side. Once the officers came out they found themselves facing another problem with the levy. In the end it had been easiest to post only British troops along that side, the native troops being posted along the other three sides. Second platoon also moved its pickets outward and doubled the number of men at each point. There would be no suprises from the graveyard tonight.
With the watch set for the night and the sun now long since set the camp settled down to a quiet night.