Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/161

THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 139 swayed su mightily as to make a rider own liim- chap. self powerless under the heavings of a mounted ' throng which — without mind or purpose of its own — could rock him one way or the other against all the strength of his will. So although the 'three hundred' still toiled at their work of close fighting with a strength of resolve which knew no abatement, there yet were some of their numbers — and that, perhaps, amongst those most gifted with warlike instinct — who hardly now suffered themselves to imagine chat the enterprise of the three squadrons which had forced their way into the heart of this column (without having brought it to ruin by the shock of their uphill charge) could be wrought, after all, into a victory by dint of mere personal combats with vastly outnumbering horsemen. Whilst this was the state of the fight as it seemed to men locked in close strife, there were, all at once, heard British cheers sounding in from outside of the column, sounding in from one quarter first, but then almost instantly from another, and close followed by a new kind of uproar. Presently, from the south - east, there sounded the shout of a squadron which Innis- killing men knew how to recognise, and with it a crash — a crash prolonged for some moments — in the direction of the Russian left front. Then, and from the same quarter, there broke out the roar of fresh tumult which was unlike the din of the fight going on in the midst of the column, and had rather the sound of such combat as