THE SHIPKA PASS. 
537 
the cartridge out of its case, and his assistant gave it to No. 3, so that 
each number had his work cut out for him. (This proceeding had been 
adopted on the advice of the officers of the 2nd battery, and worked 
very well). In the first place, then, it was difficult to work the guns 
with diminished numbers; and secondly, if we had had to do it, the 
cartridges would have to have been left exposed in the magazines, which 
was very dangerous. 
The dispute was settled by the fortunate arrival of a squad of sappers 
with revetting materials, which had not been required in another 
battery. Our commander at once reported to the officer commanding 
the position, that the quantity of materials supplied was totally in¬ 
sufficient, and the latter thereupon ordered a fatigue party of infantry 
to bring up gabions and fascines from the sappers' bivouac. The 
sapper officer pointed out to the sappers the work to be done, and then 
went off to another battery. Our own officer on duty pointed out the 
most pressing repairs, and placed the sappers to superintend the 
detachments, each of which worked in their own gun portion. The 
men worked very zealously, for they knew that the more they toiled 
the safer would living in the battery become. In that night we 
increased the height of the parapet, revetted the embrasures with 
gabions and fascines, and placed large flagstones under the trails and 
wheels and on the line of recoil. We had only material enough to 
revet two-thirds of the front face of the rear traverse with fascines, 
beginning from the bottom, but this was almost enough, as the fascines 
took the blow of the trail very well, and prevented it from penetrating. 
At 2 a.m. the works were finished, and the men, who had been working 
for four consecutive hours, lay down to rest in comparative safety. 
