Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/104

 78 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. But everywhere else, the battle tlagged. The ' men of our infantry divisions, thongh under artil- lery fire, still lay passive upon the ground. Our cavalry awaited orders ; our artillery declined to fire without being able to strike ; the Russian and the French still exchanged their fire at long range. No French battalion advanced above the broken ground, though, covering their front and the left flank of their trailing columns, swarms of skirmishers were alive. Of these some were firing to show where they were, some duelling with the Russian riflemen who yet remained in the valley ; others ascended the knolls and vexed any Russians they saw with long, careful shots ; others, again, sat down and contentedly took their rest. This languishing of the battle seemed to pro- mise ill for the Allies. They had undertaken to assault the enemy's left, and to that enterprise they stood committed, for they had drawn away from the real field of battle to the West Cliff some fourteen thousand men. Yet since the mo- ment when Bosquet began to ascend the cliff, more than forty minutes had elapsed, and nothing had yet been done to win a result from his move- ment, nor even to give him that support which he very grievously wanted. Both from Bouat on his right and from Canrobert on his left he was divided by a wide tract of ground. Hitherto, then, the operations planned and Norcott had been on the flank of the Division ; but when the battle opened, he began to operate in front of BuUer's brigade. — Note to ith Edition.