528 
THE SHIPKA PASS. 
wagons were left for our use to avoid unnecessary displacements, and 
the rest were taken to Grabrova. At first it was decided to leave the 
limbers and wagons at the side of the road on the slope of the hill, 
but this disposition was afterwards changed. In the first days of the 
defence, they had been left on the slope not far from the battery. To 
bring them up to the top of the hill was almost impossible as the road 
was of the worst description, but they managed to get some of them 
under cover in a small ravine on the north-east side of the hill. After¬ 
wards the road was improved, and the wagons, &c., were easily brought 
half-way up that part of Mount St. Nicholas which rises above the road. 
Here there was not room however for all of them, and a number had 
to be left by the roadside on the north slope, where they were com¬ 
pletely exposed to the enemy's fire. 
For all this exposed position, the limbers and wagons were not hit 
by one-tenth part of the bullets and shells fired at them. Although 
no serious damage was done, it was considered best to remove them to 
avoid the danger of losing all by the bursting of one. Actually on the 
10th August a well directed shell set one of the wagons on fire, and 
threatened us with the loss of all the carriages which were standing 
closely packed together for want of room, but, thanks to the bravery 
of some of the men, who, at the risk of their lives, succeeded in rolling 
it down the hill, and extinguishing the flames, it did not burst; the 
shells and cartridges were taken out, and the wagon, seriously damaged 
by fire, which was extinguished by throwing earth on it, was broken 
up. Afterwards part of the wagons were brought up (on the improved 
path) to the summit of St. Nicholas, and were placed in the ravine 
along the top of the northern slope ; the remaining four limbers and 
two wagons were left in the open, two sagenes from one another. 
These were to be held as a reserve in case ammunition ran short in the 
battery, but it would have been almost impossible to bring stores up 
from them under the hail of projectiles poured on St. Nicholas from 
all sides during the the fighting. 
Warned by the incident of the burning wagon of the 2nd Battery, 
our Commander decided to keep neither wagons nor limbers near the 
battery, but ordered all the cartridges, four common and seven shrapnel, 
and all the case shot to be brought up from each wagon, to be divided 
equally amongst the guns, and to be placed in magazines cut in and 
below the parapet of the battery, so that each gun had at hand 10 
common, 10 shrapnel, and 4 case. All our wagons and limbers were 
placed in the above-mentioned ravine. There, of course, they were 
not quite of harm's way, but it was much better than having them close 
to the battery, which, although it would have given us a greater number 
of rounds at hand, might have caused the loss of all by the bursting 
of a single wagon. 
Four limbers and six wagons were therefore brought up and placed 
in the ravine, with their poles and shafts resting on the slope, and 1^ 
sagenes apart. The wagons left by the 2nd Battery were placed two 
sagenes behind, and covering ours. They were thus somewhat crowded, 
but if we had placed them farther apart some would have been exposed, 
as on the right the ravine terminated, and on the left it fell into a deep 
