Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/289

BATTLi: OF Tin: ALMA. 263- appeared on lii.-> left front was boldly marching chap. forward; and such was the direction it took, ' , and such the nature of the ground, that the col- umn, if it were suffered to go on with this move- ment, would be able to strike at the flank of the 42d without having first to descend into lower ground. Halting the42d in tiie hollow, Campbell swiftly measured the strength of the approaching column, and he reckoned it so strong that he resolved to prepare for it a front of no less than five com- panies. He was upon the point of giving the order for effecting this bend in the line of the 42d, when, looking to his left rear, he saw his centre battalion springing up to the outer crest. But almost in the same moment he saw, or in some way divined, that this battalion, in its exceeding ardour for the fight, was coming up wild and rnging. He instantly rode to his left. The 93d in the Crimea was never quite like other regiments, for it chanced that it had received into its ranks a large proportion of those men of eager spirit who had petitioned to be exchanged from regiments left at home to regiments engaged in the war. The exceeding fire and vehemence, and the ever ready energies of the battalion, made it an instrument of great might, if only it could be duly held in, but gave it a tendency to be headlong in its desire to hurl itself upon the enem3 In a minute, this fiery 93d — it was commanded by Colonel Ainslie — came storming over the crest.