Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/323

BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 297 the presence of the few hapless riflemen whom chap, they found left behind — left behind, we may infer, ' by mistake — on ground near the foot of the Telegraph. Still, there yet remained the fact that some Eussian foot-soldiers, however few, and whether owing or not to mistake, had been left behind and exposed to the fate of being overwhelmed and bayoneted when the French came up thronging ipon them ; and accordingly their presence at the Telegraph, when conjoined with the other occur- rences which we saw attending its capture, be- came the evident basis, or rather the sound part of the basis, on which the story of an arduous fight between French and Eussian infantry was some time afterwards built. The other part of the basis on which the fable long rested was unsound, it is true, but still specious. When soldiers in battle break loose from the guidance of their commanders, they so feel the need of a purpose, that a tree, a house, or a wind- mill — any object, in short, which stands out plain in the landscape — may have power to draw them towards it ; and if a conflux like this lias once set in, the eddy soon begins to run strong. First three or four eager and venturous men, then clus- ters, then scores, then hundreds, rushed panting for the goal that they saw in the conspicuous pil- lar on the Telegraph, now surmounted with flags ; Turmoil and soon, thousands and thousands of vehement Teiegrapi soldiery were thronging from many quarters upon ^®'^^"~ this single point. There could not but be a great