With a field glass every feature must have been distinguishable to the gunners, and I had no doubt that they were waiting for orders as to what to do next.
"I glanced round and saw that, with the exception of one fellow squatted behind the parapet some half dozen yards away, clearly as a sentry to keep me in place, all the others had disappeared.

Some, no doubt, were on sentry down the path, the others were in the store beneath me.

After half an hour's silence the guns spoke out again.

Evidently the gunners were told to be as careful as they could, for some of the shots went wide on the left, others on the right.

A few struck the rock below me.
The situation was not pleasant, but I thought that at a thousand yards they ought not to hit me, and I tried to distract my attention by thinking out what I should do under every possible contingency.
"Presently I felt a crash and a shock, and fell backwards to the ground.
I was not hurt, and picking myself up saw that the ball had struck the parapet to the left, just where my guard was sitting, and he lay covered with its fragments.