THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 129 upon the long-coated men of a milder race, and chap. tearing them out of their saddles. * — Engaged in this ceaseless toil of fighting for life, as well as for victory, the Greys and the Inniskillingers were hardly so self-conscious as to be afterwards able to speak at all surely of the degree of confidence with which they maintained this singular combat of the few against many ; but of those who observed from a distance, there was one who more swiftly and more surely than others could apprehend the features of a still pending conflict. Almost from the first, Lord Eaglan perceived that our horsemen, though scant in numbers, and acting singly or in small knots, still showed signs of having dominion over the mass they had chosen to invade.* Whether the cause of this ascendant be traced to the greater height and longer reach of our horsemen, to the unspeakable advantage of being the assailants, to the inborn pride and warlike temperament of our men, or finally, to all these causes united, the actual result was that the redcoats, few as they were, seemed to ride through the crowd like sure tyrants. The demeanour of the Kussian horse- men was not unlike what might have been ex- pected. Gazing down as they did from a slope, even those who were not in the foremost ranks could see the exceeding scantiness of the force which had made bold to attack them, and accord- ingly they seemed to remain steady and free from
- The conflict, Lord Eaglan wrote, • was never for a moment
1 doubtful.' — Public Despatch. VOL. V. I
