Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/249

 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 223 tlieii following the colours of the 'Derbyshire' chap, were all that remained together, and that he ^' wished to take part with the Grenadiers in con- tiicsc joined tinning the fight. Colonel Hamilton, assenting, ly other " told Hume to fall in on the left of the Grenadiers, aligning with tliein Afterwards, other men of the 'Ueibyshire came onuicirieft up and joined their colours. A few moments later, Colonel Berkeley came up, bringing with him some men of the Scots Fusilier Guards, and Colonel Dalrymple also acceded with a company of the same regiment which he had held together from the first. With General Bentiuck's sanction, all these portions of what had been the centre battalion formed line on the left of the Grenadiers. These accessions, of course, did but little towards filling the vacated interval ; but on the left of the cbasm still open, there stood the ' Coldstream * battalion. This battalion of the Guards con- fronted the centre and right of the great Vladimir column, and was drawn up in line with beautiful precision. It had been much less exposed to fire The coid- 1 • 1 1 -1 n 1 11 T r stream. and mishaps than either of the other battalions of the brigade ; and, besides, had not been pressed forward (as each of the two other battalions had been) to meet any especial emerg(>ncy. So it fell to the lot of this Coldstream battalion to become an almost prim sample of what our Guards can be in the moment which precedes a close fight. "What the best of battalions is, when, in some Royal Park at home, it manoeuvres before a great princess, that the Coldstream was now on the banks of the Alma, when it came to show its