The Battalion, in common with the other troops stationed before Sevastopol, took their full share in the construction of these batteries, by supplying working parties and covering guards to resist sorties. The operation was new to all ranks, who had received little training in these special duties, the greater part of which had to be performed at night. But any confusion incidental to the circumstances of the case speedily passed away, and from start to finish the men stuck to their work, and did it thoroughly, under a heavy and unreturned fire, that constantly poured upon them from dawn to dark from the Russian lines. “On the 14th October,” Colonel Wilson writes, “the duties grew very hard. For myself I have been at work four nights out of five, and so have many others.... But in this respect, of course, the rank and file are the principal sufferers. To what insignificance do our hardships sink when compared with theirs! In the case of the private, downright manual labour—picking, shovelling, dragging, lifting—is superadded to watching. In his instance, no little dainties ... vary the nauseous salt junk, and the wish-wash of green coffee. In his instance, the tatters—which were a uniform once—only cover the wearer’s nakedness imperfectly: that ragged patchwork has long ceased to combat with the wind and rain.... Oh! what painful illustrations of the cheap and nasty principle, are those filthy dangling shreds and bursted seams! How one’s heart yearns toward the unflinching British 'common soldier' so sternly superior to privation, so proudly reckless of his life! Brave heart! unconquerable soul! Crimean hero, whom we cannot glorify too much!”[248] ----- Footnote 248: _Our Veterans, etc._, p. 211. ----- The excellence of the work performed by the Brigade is thus described in a recent publication, already alluded to:—