Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/502

458 THE BATTLE OF INKEEMAN. CHAP, frout of the English position, but also the value- ^^' less ledge surmoimted by the Sandbag Battery, he f.30 A.M. to challenged his adversaries to meet him in two separate combats ; and our soldiery believing — though wrongly — that the dismantled work must be a part of the English defences, fastened on it with so eager a hold, that Lord Eaglan — in the midst of close fighting — could not even attempt to withdraw them. The mistake long continued to work its baneful effects ; and the combatant part of the English force (now augmented by the accession of fresh troops) divided itself into two unconnected assemblages, with a dangerous gap between them. In one of the two simultaneous fights thus provoked — that is, the one in front of Home Ridge — General Pennefather, with very scant means, proved able to hurl back every on- set ; whilst in the fight for the Sandbag Battery, after long and obstinate struggles, our people drove down the whole multitude which had swarmed on the ledge of the Kitspur; but then, haplessly, they went on to do more, achieving what I have called a ' false victory ' over the left wing of the Russian army. Excepting only a few score of men with difficulty restrained from pursuit, they all of them poured down the steeps, attacking or chasing the enemy, became dispersed in the copse- wood, and in this way annulled for a time their power of rendering fresh services. Russian troops, it was suddenly found, had moved up unopposed through the Gap, and the few score of English still remaining on the heights