Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/75

 BATTLK OF TIIK ALMA. 49 The recumbent postiu'c of our infantry threw in- c H A P. to strong prominence the figure of every mounted l_ man who rode along their lines ; but the group of horsemen composing or following the Headquarter Staff was so marked by the white flowing plumes of the ofhcers, that at a distance of a mile and a half it was a conspicuous object to the naked eye; and a Eussian artilleryman at the Causeway bat- teries could make out, with a common field-glass, that of the two or three officers generally riding abreast at the head of the plumed cavalcade, there was one, in a dark blue frock, whose right arm hung ending in an empty sleeve. In trutii, Lord cannonade Raglan, at this time, was so often standing still, against L<.r.' or else was riding along the line of our prostrate iiis^statr." infantry at so leisurely a pace, that he and the group about him could not fail to become a mark for the Russian artillery. The enemy did not, as it seemed, begin this effort malignantly ; and at first, perhaps, he had no further thouglit than that of subjecting the English Head- quarters to an ordinary cannonade, and forcing them to choose a more retired ground for their surveys. Still, as might be expected, the Eussian artil- lerymen could not easily brook the conclusion that, v/hilst the English General chose to remain under tlieir eyes and within range, it was beyond the power of their skill to bend him from his path, or even, as it seemed, to break the thread VOL. III. J)