Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/253

 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 227 iuvolving the lute of the battle, and that it was a chap. thing of great need to show, and to show at the. very instant, a steady and well-formed battalion ranged frank and fair on the slope. With this intent he was carrying forward the 42d, and placing it in advance of the alignment which the Coldstream was taking up on his right. The 42d had just been taking ground to its left, and was still in the formation which had been re- sorted to for effecting the change — that is, it was in open column of companies, 'right in front,' and facing westwards, but was preparing to wheel in- to line. So far as concerned all this part of the field, the fight was in its crisis. The Staff of the 1st Division were near the left, or left front of the Coldstream, and not far from the ground where the grenadier company of the 42d stood ranged. It was in this condition of things that men heard a voice exclaiming, and uttering mis- chievous words. ' The brigade; of Guards will be destroyed,' said su^gcstioc one adviser ; and he asked whether it ought not to Guanis fall back a little in order to recover its formation ? faii back. These words, as I hear, were not spoken by an officer holding any high rank, and accordingly owe all their importance to the answer they quickly elicited and the change which thereupon followed. He who answered the question * was a veteran told to him. He had not himself heard it fall from the lips of the oflBcer with whom it originated. — Note to 2d Edition.
 * He answered the question the moment he heard its purport