Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/235

 BATTLE OF TIIF ALMA. 209 tipoii their centre, very much as a company ciiAi' wheels. This manceuvrc was performed under '_ fire from the colunni, and the change of front was carried to the length of bringing the battalion into a line almost perpendicular to the line of its former front, and almost parallel with the flanks of the Eussian column. AVhen the manceuvre was complete, the 55th opened fire upon the Hank of the Russian column. Portions of the column — mainly those in the centre and in the rear — became discomposed and unsettled. Numbers of men moved a little one way or another, and of these some looked as though they stepped a pace backwards ; but no man as yet turned round to face the rear. How- ever, though the movement of each soldier taken singly was trifling and insignificant, yet even that little displacement of many men at the same time v.'as shaking the structure. Plainly, the men must be ceasing to feel that the column they stood in was solid. The ranks wdiich had been straight as arrows became bent and wavy. The Russian officers well understood these signs. With drawn swords, moving hither and thither as actively as they could in their long, grey, melancholy coats, they seemed to become loud and vehement with their orders, their en- treaties, their threats. Presently their gestures UTew violent, and more than one officer was seen to go and seize a wavering soldier by the throat. Put in vain ; for seemingly by some law of its own nature, rather than under any new stress of VOL. in.