Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/252

 226 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. From the time when General I'uller had judged • it right to abstain from bringing his force to the The two support of his comrades in the Great Redoubt, leiiiaiidng the two battalious which remained under his con- Buii'er. '^"' trol had stood lialted near the bank of the river, amd one of them, the 88th, was still formed in a hollow square, as though expecting a charge of cavalry. Sir Colin Campbell conceived that this attitude of the 88th was unsuited to the time and the place, and, not knowing that General Buller in person was directing the regiment. Sir Colin, in some anger, took upon himself to request, nay, almost to command, that the hollow square should be instantly changed into line-formation. When the ranks of the Highlanders came up to this part of the ground, and still went on continuing their advance, a man of one of the halted regiments — a man speaking perhaps in a coarse cynic spirit, perhaps in the deep, honest bitterness of his heart — cried out, ' Let the Scotchmen go on ! ' they'll do the work ! ' Then the Highlanders marched through, and continued their forward movement. After this, the 88th, although still formed in square, and the 77th, then extended in line, were both of them for the moment falling back; and meanwhile the now dispersed soldiery who had been forced to relinquish the redoubt were spread out along the lower part of the slope firing power- less shots towards the earthwork. It seemed to Sir Colin Campbell that this state of discomfiture on the part of Sir George r)rown's troops was fast