Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/339

THE MAIN FIGHT. 295 liave been the true inotiv(3 power, and perhaps C!HAP. he was really obeying the impulses of a tempera- '_ ment which the 'Sacred Isle' gave him, whilst 2</ftr£od he fancied himself guided by policy ; but it is strictly true that at any particular moment when i'rom the poverty of his resources in men or cart- ridges he was almost unable to strike, he liked to have the interval filled if only by the shouts of a few men. The English soldiery — more austere than the General — did not always indulge him in what some called his * Donnybrook ' tactics ; but — considering always the mist, and, besides, the brilliant result — it would be rash to say that he erred. On the ground between Home Ridge and the Barrier, our people now and then for the mo- ment might be almost entirely wanting in the means of immediate physical resistance ; but still no enemy's column could drive its way far up the road without encountering that reserve of Spirit- ual force — the Soul, as it were, of the storm — which hovered round every spot where ' old Pen- ' nefather ' chanced to be riding. It was thus that against mighty numbers a resolute man held the ground taken specially under his charge ; and, whatever may be said of the tactical method he followed, his purpose was so well fulfilled that, as in the earlier hour of the battle, so also now during this its Second Period, the Russians attacking our centre were repulsed in every effort they made ; and the Barrier, though oftentimes turned, still remained in the hands of our people.