292 THE BATTLE OF INKERMAN. CHAF VI. 2d Period. Column torn .■uul driven hack by some of Turner's guns. A Russian column on the crest of Home Rldce : but charged and driven back by the men of the SOth. Scantiness of the English forces in front of their centre. The mist. Therc came one liussiau cohiinii moving up on the enemy's i-iglit which a])])voaclied the crest of Home Ridge without being there met by infantry, but then all at once it was torn by the merciless case-shot delivered from the left part of Turner's battery, and driven back down the hillside. We left the weary men of the SOth reposing after their fights, and blessing the name of Percy Herbert for the welcome moments of rest which they owed to his little field-work. They had lain for some time undisturbed, and now, when a body of soldiery was seen ascending the slope in their front, they still did not rise ; for in the absence of all firing and shouting, their officers took it for granted that the approaching troops must be English, and accordingly suffered them to come unmolested even to within a few yards ; but then suddenly — ' Up, SOth, up ! ' — the newcomers proved to be Russians. The men of the SOth sprang to their feet, bounded over the crestwork, and were presently driving the enemy in a dis- persed state down the slopes of the ridge.* Few indeed were our people thus combating in front of their centre nt any one time ; but the scantiness of their numbers was more or less compensated by two circumstances, — the density of the mist charged with smoke ; and the often recurring presence of General Pennefather in this troubled part of the field.
- It i.s evidf^iit that this Kussiaii coluiiin had made good its
way to the cre.st by tniiiiiif,' the flank of any interposed force.s, for otherwisc, of coiir.si', it could imt. have conic up so quickly.
