Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/306

27 G THE GAUKISON KEINFOKCED CHArTER XII. CiiAr. In that room by the ' Number Tour' Lattery on •^'^' tiic north of the roadstead wheio Prince Mentschi- koff met his vicegerent, we heard the Prince llatly announcing that he would not engage his field army in the conflict which awaited the garrison ; we also heard Korniloff answer, that without the field army Sebastopol must surely fall ; and, finally, we heard the Pi'ince say he would summon a council of war. Mcntschi- There, the conference ended ; and during the ummfwi'sh l"^"i'« which followed, the fate of the 'jewel,' the the aid of'"^ ' treasure' — for so men called their loved fortress — was hanging upon the chance that a wrong- headed, obstinate man might be driven, for once, from his purpose. That purpose, however, was of a sort to be almost revolting ; for what it involved was — not the surrender of a beleaguered fortress to superior forces, but — the abandonment to the ene- my of many thousands of sailors and landsmen who, liaving stood fast to their guns when the army marched out in (he night-time, were still defend- ing the place wi' h intent to hold out to extremity. ' liis field army.