Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/339

THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 317 before they would stand in safety, they were on horses now cruelly jaded ; whilst the hostile squadrons behind them had not only the strength and the weight of numbers and of solid formation, but also were fresh. However, those Eussian artillerymen who had twice before guarded our cavalry by toiling for its destruction, now once more helped its retreat. It is true that, from a cause then unknown to our retreating horsemen (who, of course, had not witnessed the achievement of D'Allonville and his Chasseurs d'Afrique), the guns on the Fedioukine Hills which had shattered the ranks whilst ad- vancing were now silent ; but from the Causeway Heights on the opposite side of the valley there opened a diligent fire against the remnants of the two retreating regiments ; and, as before had oc- curred with other bodies of the enemy's cavalry, so now this new effort of the Eussian artillery- men served to keep back Jeropkine's Lancers, and prevent them from undertaking the destruc- tive pursuit of our horsemen, which would other- wise have been in their power. Besides being scanty in numbers, these retreat- ing remnants of the 4th Light Dragoons and the 11th Hussars were by this time so much broken up into small groups, or knots, or single horse- men, that they no longer presented to the enemy's gunners the broad easy mark that is offered by a regiment of cavalry in a state of formation ; but if there was now no formed squadron that could be opened and cleaved by shell or by round-shot,