Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/237

THE MAIN FIGHT. 193 bent near the centre, with a front spread out to- cilAP. wards the north as well as a front towards the ^^' east. 2d Period. Against both fronts the enemy's masses were still in a condition to advance ; for after their previous discomfiture they had not been pursued, xiie enemy's and such of them as were operating from the repeating , , T T ir J.1 in liis attacks, east stood dispensed from the need of any lengthened retreat, because the abrupt fall of the ground at a distance of only a hundred yards from the face of the Battery enabled them with- out going far to drop down upon sheltered ledges from which, after forming anew, they could easily repeat their attacks. Troops able in this way to rally in safety after every defeat, and conscious of their great ascendant in numbers, did not fail to be making their onsets again and again ; whilst, on the other hand, the two battalions of the Guards, though inflicting upon the enemy conditions a far greater destruction than they themselves the^ourrds^ underwent, were all this time suffering losses '"^'^ ^" "^ *' under the enemy's fire which, by reason of their scanty numbers, they could ill afford. And, since men of the Guards — not having been pro- hibited from doing so by orders given beforehand — were constantly busying themselves by twos and threes in carrying off wounded men, there re- sulted from this cause alone a large and increas- ing deduction from strength, with besides all the mischief and confusion occasioned by work of such kind going on in rear of the combatants. Moveover, it was inevitable that troops thus VOL. VI. N