Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/387

THE INVADED COUNTRY. 357 In general, the appropriation of the resources en A P. of the country is a business which ranges among 1 mere commissariat annals ; but in order to this invasion, the seizing of means of land-transport was a business hardly otherwise than vital. Even as it was, the army was brought to hard straits for want of sulficing draught-power; and without the cattle and waggons which were seized whilst the troops were landing, the course of events must have been other than what it was. Those Tartar drivers of whom I have spoken, The Tartar drivers, were a wild people, little fit, as it seemed, for the obedience and patient toil exacted from camp- followers ; but the descent of the Allies upon the coast was the first military operation that they had witnessed, and before their amazedness ceased, they found themselves unaccountal)ly marshall- ed and governed, and involuntarily taking their humble part in the enterprise of the Western Powers. jIany of them wore the same expres- sion of countenances as hares that are taken alive, and they looked as though they were watching after the right moment for escape ; but they had fallen, as it were, into a great stream, and all they could do was to wonder, and yield, and flow on. There were few of those captured lads who had strength to withstand the sickness and the hard- ships of the campaign. For the most part, they sank and died.