this must be attended to. They may forget it as there is no actual digging. (_e_) Duties in Piquet.—The position of the piquet and alternative defence positions having been fixed, and trenches or other defences marked out on the position, and on the alternative positions if any, assemble the platoon at the piquet and show the non-commissioned officers how to tell off reliefs and other duties. Each group furnished by the piquet consists of three to eight men, and mounts one or two men as sentry, as the circumstances of the post require (I.T., 152 (3)), the sentry, single or double, being relieved in turn by the others of the group. The whole group is under command of the senior soldier or a non-commissioned officer. The men who are to form the reliefs of the groups stay with the piquet, which usually is composed solely of the reliefs of groups and patrols. Extra men who have no specific duties are not advisable unless the position is very exposed. Suppose your group sentries are single, and the groups of three men each, and relieved every eight hours, then for every group posted and in position there will be six men in the piquet resting and waiting their turn, each group thus needing a total of nine men—three out, six in. Patrols start from the piquet or support, as the commander of the company directs, and the piquet commander may send them out on his own initiative, if he thinks it needful. As they are practically all on duty as long as they are out, a turn of four hours is enough for them, or, rather, a third of the daylight time. Take your patrols from this piquet to be four strong, there will be for each patrol eight men in the piquet and four out on patrol, a total of twelve needed to furnish each patrol. In telling off a piquet on the above conditions of relief, and before dismissing the men to rest, the commander must pay attention to two main points. Firstly, he must tell off the reliefs, and give each relief a place to rest in. Men on outpost are usually tired and need all the rest they can get, especially if they are up all night. Therefore reliefs should be kept together and rest in one place, so that the commander can find them at once without stirring up the others to see who’s who. Secondly, the men must be told off to alarm posts, which they are to occupy in case of attack—each relief and each man of it should be given a position on the entrenchment which he is to hold. To ensure that they will do this at once and without confusion they should be made to go to these places and occupy them before being dismissed. There will then be no needless running about with consequent casualties if fire, either of artillery or infantry, suddenly opens. Say you have sixteen rifles (non-commissioned officers and others) in your instructional piquet give out that it is to furnish— 1 Sentry over the piquet. 2 Groups of three men each, Nos. 1 and 2. 2 Patrols of four men each, Nos. 1 and 2.