THE APRIL BOMBARDMENT. 179 Within the first half -hour, two of Walcott's chap. VI guns were disabled, and he began to lose men. . — And to this cannonade no effective reply could be made. Our Engineers had not found time to shape down the ' soles ' of the embrasures to the level required ; so that thus the allotments of space left open in front of our guns were not sufficiently deep. Discharged under such con- ditions, the round-shot impinged every time on the outermost edge of the 'sole'; and — because by this contact deflected into a higher path — flew harmlessly over the object at which our people had aimed it. Perplexed by this baffling obstacle, Captain Walcoit went to the sister battery and there con- sulted its chief. Captain Henry advised that, rather than submit to be silenced, the ' advanced ' No. VIII.' should, however ineffectively, continue its fire ; and, when afterwards Walcott despatched Lieutenant Torriano to the 1st Parallel with orders to represent the condition of things in the ' ad- vanced No. VIII.,' and to ask for further instruc- tions, he received from his commanding officer some words of guidance equivalent to Captain Henry's counsels. Whether rightly or wrongly conceived, this in- struction made clear the path of duty; and Cap- tain Walcott with the officers and gunners he commanded passed manfully through a long or- deal that could hardly have been otherwise than galling to warlike men; for they had to remain submitting to so much of fire as the enemy might
