Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/336

 310 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP, all pressed into a gorge leading down to the ford : ^' and then the disorder was so complete, and the masses which choked the gorge were so dense and helpless, that it seemed as though a small force of cavalry and horse-artillery would have sufficed to make the whole army prisoners, or bring it to utter ruin. When they had crossed the Katcha, the bulk of the troops still hurried on, though with no idea of the direction they were to take, except that their course ought to be a prolongation of the line of the retreat already accomplished. But presently even that poor clue failed them ; for some got to imagine that, instead of falling back upon Sebastopol, they were to make for Baktchi Serai. Then darkness came ; and there being no landmarks, the army was as a child that has lost its way at night in a trackless moor. Sometimes the masses were bent in their course by a voice shouting out, ' To the right ! ' and then again they would swerve the other way under the impulse of a cry, ' To the left ! ' All idea of bear- ings was so utterly lost, that even in their flight the fugitives could no longer be sure that they were retreating ; for they did not know but that they might be marching all the while towards an enemy. Afterwards the uselessuess of this wild movement in the dark got to be understood ; and, shouts for a halt becoming general, the masses at length stood still.* ♦ One day at Balaclava I had some conversation with Lord l{a"lan itspuctiug the panic which seized tl.e Kusslan army on