When groups are posted in front of a piquet in open country, they should always have cover in rear to protect them from the fire of their comrades. Groups will remain out with much greater confidence if they feel that they are safe from the fire of their own side. _Marking of Route to and from Piquets._ The route from the support to its piquets, and from the piquets to their groups, should always be clearly marked; scraps of paper, or even green sticks, with the bark peeled off, may be used. _Sentries Challenging._ The Regulations provide that sentries shall challenge at night, but it is desirable to avoid any noise likely to disclose their position. It is easy to arrange a system of signals by which patrols, etc., can be recognised. The signal should be made by the sentry first and replied to by the patrol, but it must be an invariable rule that after the signal has been made one man, and one only, of the patrol shall advance up to the sentry to be recognised. If the signal is not replied to, the sentry will challenge, but in no louder tone than is absolutely necessary. _Sentries Firing._ Sentries must be taught always to allow persons to approach fairly near to them before challenging, and never to fire, except when it is absolutely necessary to give an alarm, unless they can clearly distinguish the object they fire at and can be fairly certain of hitting it. Every officer who has been on service knows well that at the commencement of a campaign sentries are continually firing at nothing, but as they gain experience shots at night become rare; it is really a question of training, and the training should be given during peace. In the French Army serving in Algeria there is a rule that any sentry who fires at night must produce a corpse, or, at any rate, be able to show by blood marks that he has hit the person he fired at, failing this the sentry is dealt with for giving a false alarm. This is an excellent rule, for unnecessary firing causes a great deal of fatigue and annoyance to the troops on outpost duty. _Action of Outposts in a Night Attack._ If due warning of the enemy’s advance is received and searchlights are not available, the groups should be withdrawn, and the enemy allowed to approach without any indication that the defenders are aware of his movement being given. When he gets within 30 yards, or on dark nights even less, he should be received with one round from every rifle, followed immediately by a bayonet charge. The round should be fired by word of command, like the old volley, and great pains must be taken to impress upon the men the necessity of aiming low. In the dark the natural tendency is to fire high, and the men must be trained to overcome it. Firing from the hip has been suggested as being likely to bring down the line of fire, but I have never seen it tried at night, and experiments conducted in daylight have not proved it to have any effect in that direction.