rom the guns in the town could only strike
across the road, and not along it.

We toiled away to get all our batteries ready as soon as possible. The
French and we were ready at the same time, but the batteries were
masked; that is to say, the front was covered up so that the enemy could
not see whether we were ready or not.

The sun rose in a bright sky on the morning of the 17th of October, and
at half-past six o'clock, a hundred and twenty of our guns--some of them
the largest ever made, and which had as yet not fired a shot--began
firing away as hard as they could. The Russians answered with as many
guns of the same size, and thus there were nearly two hundred and fifty
guns all firing away together. The noise was awful. We knocked over a
good many of the enemy's guns, and they blew up a French magazine; by
which a hundred men were killed in a moment. A good many of our men
were killed. The smoke was so thick that the gunners could not even see
the town at which they were firing.

The day after the guns opened, it was made known to us that ten
volunteers from each regiment--good shots--were wanted to get as close
up as possible to the town, and to shoot the Russian gunners whenever
sight could be got of them.

I at once volunteered and was accepted. Having been paraded before the
Duke of Cambridge, who told us what we were to do, we set off. Shot,
shells, and bullets were whizzing and hissing by us as we made our way
onwards.

We had not got far when one of our party was wounded. One of my
comrades, Donald McKenzie, and I halted, dressed his wound as best we
could, sent him back to the hospital, and then pushed on, creeping and
running, and taking advantage of every bit of cover we could find. We
thus got up to within a hundred yards of the Russian guns in a fort they
called the Redan, and jumped into a pit which the enemy had themselves
dug to shelter their own riflemen, who came there at night to annoy our
working parties. Here we were sheltered, and could pick off the Russian
gunners without being seen. They soon, however, found us out, and sent
doses of cannister and grape shot towards us, knocking the dust and
stones about our heads. A grape shot hit the right hand of one of my
comrades, and took off the forefinger. "Ah, my boys, I'll pay you off
for that, and give you a warm one in return," he exclaimed, as he
reloaded his rifle. He was as good as his word, and he picked off many
a Russian