Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/293

THE MAIN FIGHT. 249 fell. To make his way down through the copse- oHAP. wood at a part where no horse could well pene- trate, he had just quitted his saddle, when a 2d Period, musket-ball gave him his mortal wound. So now, along the whole of that line which had True extent extended from Cathcart's front on our right to overthrow . . n 1 ni- 1 1 sustained where Champion s wing ot the yoth thus charged by the . Russians. on our left, the enemy was in hasty retreat. It is true that our combatants in this part of the field had behind them, and on their left flank, a curtain of dim atmosphere which might be con- cealing unvanquished bodies of Russians ; but towards the east and north-east, they commanded a view less obscure, and nowhere within this range could they now set their eyes on an enemy's column which was otherwise than in a state of flight. At some points, the Eussians when neared by their pursuers made haste to throw down their arms and fall prostrate in the attitudes of oriental worship, calling piteously for mercy in the name of ' Christos ! ' The rout seemed complete. It must be remembered, however, that this over- Tiie false throw, though extending over the whole scene of by .mr ""* the fight on the Kitspur, still did not involve '^°'^^^' those two Okhotsk battalions which had tem- porarily withdrawn from the fight, nor yet those four lakoutsk battalions which had, as we saw, their chief lair at the head of the Quarry Eavine. And in truth what our people had gained was a false, unwholesome victory. By the very act of thus routing the left wing of the Eussian army they had lost the high ground.