Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/370

 344 Till-: HALT ox Tin: CHAP, intended iittack on the North Side, laul quitting Iho ., western coast of the peninsula, was to bring upon the whole Allied army the necessity of a halt on the Alma, and a halt, too, for such a time as would suffice for getting the wounded on board ship. So, although it is true that the cause of the delay on the Alma was the unwillingness of the Erench Marshal to go on with the advance against the north side of Sebastopol, still, the halt having once been resolved upon, its duration was made to depend on the time it would take to have the sick and the wounded put on board ship. The French would have been able to get their sick and wounded on board in one full day. On the other hand, the number of the wounded English being, as Lord Kaglan computed, just three times greater than that of the Erench, and the ground whence they had to be moved being very much farther from the shore, it soon became certain that at least two days of ceaseless labour would have to be gone through before the English would be able to bury their dead, aiul to get all their sick and wounded on board. Even within the two full days, the work could not have been done without bringing to bear upon it surpassing exertions. Nothing short of the energy and the tenderness of the sailors would have sufficed. Admiral Dundas devoted all his medical ofliceis to the care of the sick and wounded who lay on the field; and in the duty of removing these sufferers, and bringing them on board ship, as well as in that of landing storeSj