They had been travelling for half-an-hour when they reached a field in

which Durwent saw two companies of his battalion drawn up in the form
of a hollow square
They had been travelling for half-an-hour when they reached a field in
which Durwent saw two companies of his battalion drawn up in the form
of a hollow square. Faint with shame, staggering under the hideous
cruelty of the whole thing, he was marched into the centre and ordered
to take a pace forward, while the commanding officer read the sentence
of court-martial to the men: that Private Sherwood, being found guilty
of drunkenness while on guard--it being further proved that he had
obtained unlawful possession of the liquor--was to be shot at dawn, and
that the sentence would be carried out the following morning.