Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/123

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 79 lery, but also afTordfid shelter to men lyinti, down chap. behind it, and besides, it marked out the irout ol' ' a good rallying-ground for disordered troo{)S. Where the ground began to descend into the The Quarry Ravine, there stood, crossing and blocking the Post-road, one of those low picket- walls or lengthened heaps of loose stones by which our men serving on outpost duty used to make for themselves a scant shelter. Havinfj a height of about three and a half or four feet, and extending some way into the brushwood on either side of the road, this small fence marked and sheltered the ' Grand Guard ' of the inlying picket there posted, and was called at first by our people the ' Main Picket Barrier,' but afterwards simply 'the ' Barrier.' It was destined to be an object of moment in the fight, not alone for the sake of the cover which so slight a ])ile could afford, nor even on account of any special worth attaching to its position, but because it served as a landmark defin- ing a part of the ground on which resolute men, if so minded, might determine to make a stand. Lower down the Quarry Eavine, our people had ob- structed the Post-road by making a cut across it. These slight works were all that had been done The jis- to strengthen the ground against invaders ; but sandbag the parapet of a dismantled earthwork, thrown '^ ^"^^ up weeks before for another purpose, was still to be seen upstanding on one of the slopes of the Kitspur.* When in use, the work had been a Russian gun placed in battery near the Inkerman ruins, which
 * The ' other purpose ' above referred to w;is that of silencing