Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/265

BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 239 'officer' who so often comes riding up in moments chap. of crisis, directs the troops to fall back, and then ' all at once gallops away without having been amfvdcr surely identified. The horseman approached the "^nolJlfted left flank company of the Grenadiers, and cried '"'«'=er-' out 'Ketire!' But Colonel Henry Percy look- ing at the Vladimir column, and seeing at the instant what ought and what ought not to be done, met the danger by promptly insisting that the movement really meant to be enjoined by the mounted officer must needs be that very one which the conjuncture seemed to require, 'lietire!' said Colonel Percy. 'What the devil ' can they mean ? They must mean " dress back'" and in the next moment, Percy (acting under the authority of Colonel Hamilton who command- ed the left wins), aided by Neville his senior Mancruvic '-"' "^ _ executed subaltern, bcKan causin" the left subdivision of M'^'-e the left flank company to ' dress back ' at such Guards. an angle as to make it face the Vladimir column ; and this, it quickly appeared, was exactly what Colonel Hood wished, for he rode up and directed Colonel Percy to go on with the operation. The wound Percy received at this time did not hinder him from completing his task, and in a few moments the subdivision stood ranged on a line so refracted as to be forming an obtuse angle with the rest of the battalion. So whilst, with the main part of his force, he still faced the Kazan battalions that had confronted him from the first, Colonel Hood showed also a front — a small, but smooth, comely front — to the Vladimir column