284 THE GARRISON REINFORCED CHAP, ganisoii and the field army together comprised
- — some 77,000 coinlxitants ; and now— by several
thousands — they oiituuuibered their assailants.* wiiatwaa But tlic soundest foundation of hui)e to the still the 1 T ,. T r iiiainiiope peoule detondinif Sebastopol was the likelihootl of the c r T- ■ , garrison. ot Imdnig it happen that, instead of assaulting, the Allies might resort to siege operations; and the trust that so it might be, gathered more and more strength from the time which passed over without an attack. Other signs gave a like in- dication. Still, every man yearned to be blessedly certain of that which — by comparison with the alternative of an assault — he all but regarded as his deliverance ; and the Lancaster batteries, which sprang up in the nights of the 7th and the 8th of October, did not help to relieve the anxiety of the garrison ; for those works were so distant that, as seen from the lines at Sebastopol, they appeared to be meant for defence. Morning of fjut at length came the morning of the 10th of lOthOct. r L ^ tp ■ ^ • The garrison Octoucr. It a straugcr then alighting by en- Ijerceiving . " o o j that the chantment in the Iheatre Square had hastened French i i • had broken to aslc wliv it was that pcople on all sides were ground : . -^ ^ shaking hands and embracing with raptures com- mon to all, he would hardly have slaked his curiosity by learning that all this delight was the welcome which Sebastopol gave to a prospect of being besieged. Already we know that, on the night before, the wind blew so fresh from the town to the lines of the French as to hinder the garrison from hearing the sound of the pickaxe ;
- See Note XI. in the Ai.peii.li.K.
