IJATTLE OF -niK ALMA. 57 The two bodies of troops imder ]josquet's com- chap mand began their diverging movement at the ^' same time ; and before two o'clock the swarms of ^^-lyanreof ' Auteinarre sMrmishers which covered the front of the col- ""et'"Jn°"*" umns were pnshing their way through the village i"^*"- of Almatamack, and the vineyards on either side of it. A few moments more and thov were firiiifr with a briskness and vivacity which warmed the blood of the many tlionsaiuls of hearers then new to war. One of our officers, kindling a little with the excitement thus roused, and impatient, per- haps, that the Fi'encli should be in action before our people, could not help drawing J.ord IJaglan's attention to the firing on our right. But the stir of French skirmishers through thick ground was no new music to Lord Fitzroy Somerset ; rather, perhaps, it recalled him for a moment to old times in Estrcmadura and Castile, when, at the side of the great Wellesley, he learned the brisk ways of Napoleon's infantry. So, when the young officer said, ' The French, my lord, are warmly engaged,' Lord Raglan answered. 'Are they? I cannot
- catch any return-fire.' His practised ear had
told him what we now know to be the truth. No troops were opposed to the advance of Bosquet's columns in this part of the field ; but it is the custom of French skirmishers, when they get into thick ground near an enemy, to be continually firing. They do this partly to show the chiefs behind them what progress they are making, and partly, it would seem, in order to give life and spirit to the field of battle.
