Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/331

TILE EMBAlvKA-TION. SOI CHAPTER XIX. We have seen that the 2d of September had chap. been looked forward to as the time for the depar- ^^^' tare of the united armaments, and on that day, fnd'impa"' with military punctuality, Marshal St Arnaud stSud. went to Baljik; but the wind and the waves are still undisciplined forces, and the French em- barkations were not destined to be completed until the evening of the 4th. The IMarshal, there- fore, was kept waiting at Baljik ; and meanwhile sickness began to make havoc with his troops, for they were densely crowded on board the transports. The Marshal was much tortured by the anxiety Mdiich he had had to bear during these three pain- ful days, and (possibly to calm his mind) Vicc- Admiral Dundas seems to have suggested to him that, his sailing-vessels not being provided with steam-power to tow them, he might as well cause them at once to weigh anchor. By these causes, joined to his irritation at what he thought the backwardness of the English embarkations, the Marshal was induced to determine, not merely that he would act upon Dundas's suggestion, but that he himself would wait no longer, and would