Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/120

98 THE RATTLE OF BALACLAVA. CHAP. I. Deliberate and well- executed manoeuvre of the Russian oavalry : their advance down the slope : of a hill at a distance of a few hundred yards, and sees there a column of horse that is big enough to be numbered by thousands close gathered in oblong or square. And that — so far as concerned its power oi manoeuvring — this great body uf horse was in a high state of efficiency, it soon gave proof; for when the squadrons had gathered on the summit of the ridge, their leader for some reason deter- mined that he ought to take ground on his left, and the change was effected with a briskness and precision which wrung admiration from some of our best cavalry officers. So soon as the column had taken all the ground that was thought to be needed, it fronted once more to the English. Then presently, at the sound of the trumpet, this huge mass of horse- men, deep-charged with the weight of its thou- sands, began to descend the hillside. Making straight for the ground where our scanty three hundred were ranging, and being presently brought to the trot, it came on at a well-governed speed, swelling broader and broader each instant, yet disclosing its depths more and more. In one of its aspects, the descending of this thicket of horsemen was like what may be imagined of a sudden yet natural displacement of the earth's surface ; for to those who gazed from afar, the dusky mass they saw moving showed acreage rather than numbers. All this while, the string of the 300 red-coat? wre forming Scarlett's slendei first line in thf