On the 4th the Regiment, which had hitherto since September 18 bivouacked without shelter, received tents, which the Riflemen brought up from Balaklava harbour. On the 5th the 1st Battalion furnished a party to escort Engineer officers making a reconnaissance and marking ground for the approaches. They started at three in the morning and returned soon after daylight. On the 8th the 2nd Battalion furnished a picquet under Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence, consisting of two companies, to cover the working parties at the five-gun battery. These companies held this battery for twenty-four hours under constant fire without a man being touched. The Battalion also furnished a covering party under Major Norcott at Gordon’s battery. On the 9th a similar party was furnished by the 1st Battalion to escort the Engineers marking ground at the Greenhill battery. The Riflemen descended the ravine about a mile, and lay down while the Engineers marked the ground. They had scarcely retired when the Russians were out looking at the same ground. On the 10th the right wing of the Battalion went down to the trenches afterwards so memorable, to cover the working parties. They remained on for twenty-four hours, and were relieved at daylight on the 11th by the left wing. This duty in the trenches was thenceforward performed by wings alternately, with the other regiments of the Division.[231] On the 12th Private Francis Wheatley of the 1st Battalion, being on duty in the trenches when a live shell fell among the party, having unsuccessfully endeavoured to knock out the fuze with the butt of his rifle, took up the shell with great deliberation and flung it over the parapet. It had scarcely fallen outside when it exploded. For this act of valour he afterwards received the Victoria Cross, and the cross of the Legion of Honour.[232] On October 13 a man of the 2nd Battalion, Herbert, made a most remarkable shot. He was on outlying picquet, and observing a Russian officer on a white horse he took a shot at him, fixing the sight of his rifle at its extreme range. The officer fell, while the horse moved on. The distance at which he shot him has been variously estimated from 1300 yards[233] downwards; the man himself told me that he thought the Russian whom he shot was about 1000 yards from him. On the 14th the 1st Battalion lost its first man in the trenches; he was killed by a fragment of a shell.