Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/214

 188 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. I. He marches it across the liotlt of D'Aurcllo's nri'M'l'' ; Kiriakoff instantly took a fresh horse and rode to the frround — "round on the right rear of the Telegraph — where the 'column of the eight bat- ' talions * awaited him. This vast column he dis- posed in a solid body, with a front of two, and a depth of four massed battalions. When all was ready, he began to move it flankwise from east to I I I I west. Plainly hindered by the ground from see- ing the head of the column which was formed by D'Aurelle's brigade and Prince Napoleon's Divi- sion, he dealt with the Prench as though they had no such force near; for with that heavy column of his, which trailed, as we have seen, to a depth of four battalions, he marched straight across the front of D'Aurelle's brigade. He marched in peace. Nay, so far were the Prench from looking upon his hazardous movement in the light of a gift offered them by Fortune, that it was the dread apparition of this vast Russian column which had sent the panting aide-de-camp to the side of Lord Raglan's stirrup. man, incapable of quitting one of the two scenes of battle ex- cept for the purpose of going to the other. In the mention which they make of Prince Meutschikoff's presence in did'erent parts of the field, the narratives of the Russian divisional gen- erals leave a chasm of several important minutes. This chasn; aa will be seeu at a later page, I try to fill up by conjecture.