en with picks and shovels,
and five double sentries, he was sent to make a connection between the
French and English outposts by means of rifle-pits. It was a pitch
black night, and as yet Gordon did not know the trenches as well as he
had known the earthworks at Woolwich Arsenal. He led his men, and,
missing his way, nearly walked into the town filled with Russians.
Turning back, they crept up the trenches to some caves which the
English should have held, but found no sentries there. Taking one man
with him, Gordon explored the caves. He feared that the Russians,
finding them undefended, might have taken possession of them when
darkness fell, but he found them empty. He then posted two sentries on
the hill above the caves, and went back to post two others down below.
No sooner did he and these two appear below than "Bang! bang!" went two
rifles, and the bullets ripped up the ground at Gordon's feet. Off
rushed the two men who were with him, and off scampered the eight
sappers, thinking that the whole Russian army was at their heels. But
all that had really happened was that the sentries on the hill above,
seeing Gordon and his men coming stealthily out of the caves in the
darkness, had taken them for Russians, and fired straight at them. The
mischief did not end there. A Russian picket was stationed only 150
yards away, and the sound of the shots made them also send a shower of
bullets, one of which hit a man on the breast, passed through his
coats, grazed his ribs, and passed out again without hurting him. But
no serious harm was done, and by working all night Gordon and his men
carried out their orders.

It was not long before Gordon learned so thoroughly all the ins and
outs of the trenches that the darkest night made no difference to him.
"Come with me after dark, and I will show you over the trenches," he
said to a friend who had been away on sick leave, and who complained to
him that he could not find his way about. "He drew me a very clear
sketch of the lines," writes his friend, Sir Charles Stavely,
"explained every nook and corner, and took me along outside our most
advanced trench, the bouquets (volleys of small shells fired from
mortars) and other missiles flying about us in, to me, a very
unpleasant manner, he taking the matter remarkably coolly."

Before many weeks were past, Gordon not only knew the trenches as well
as any other officer or man there, but he knew more of the enemy's
movements