Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/333

 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 307 Headquarter Staff, they looked eagerly into the chap, group that they might see if amongst the plumed ^' horsemen the Chief himself were coming ; and the The cheers ~ ' iliat greet moment they got a sure sight of the frock with ^^g^fgn the half-empty sleeve, it came into their hearts to offer to their General that which is of other worth than vulgar treasures — nay, that which in com- mon times the world cannot give. They brought him the greeting which a proud soldiery can be- stow upon their chief in the hour of victory and upon the field of battle. Begun at first by one corps, taken up by the next, and then by the next again, the cheers flew on from regiment to regi- ment, and tracked the chief in his path, till, all along from the spurs of the Telegraph Height to the easternmost bounds of the crest which had been won by the Highland Brigade, those desolate hills in Grim Tartary were made to sound like England. And the sound travelled back to the plateau on which the French were halted, and descended also the slopes where our dead and wounded lay thick. There, many a red-coat, so wounded that the roar of artillery and the tramp of battalions had become to him mere idle sounds, would yet find his heart stirred anew by the English cheers on the heights, and would raise himself on his arm, and strive so to use his last strength that, in the swelling tumult of the voices above, his own faltering ' hurrah ! ' might be one. But, pensive and intent on sad thoughts, Lord His visit Eaglan now rode down into the valley, recrossed woundej the river and entered the village of Bourliouk.