Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/95

 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 69 The swarms of skirmishers which the French cUAP. threw forward went briskly into the cover, forded. : the river, and then made themselves at home in the broken ground at the foot of the Telegraph Height. When the soldier is upon service of this kind, his natural character, neutralised in general by organisation, is often seen to reassert itself. One man, prying eagerly forward, would labour to get shots at liussian sharpshooters still linger- ing near the river; another would sit down, take out his little store of food and drink, and be glad to engage with any one who passed him in something like cynical talk concerning the pastime of war. Pnit, upon the whole, French skirmishers push on with great boldness and skill. When the foremost ranks of Caurobert's massed camobafa , advance battalions had entered the vineyards, each man across lue . . river. got through as best he could, and rapidly crossed the river ; and though, during part of the advance, the troops were under the fire of the guns on the Telegraph Height, yet the nature of the acclivity before them was of such a kind that the further his trooj.s .,,, , Pii li •ire sheltered they advanced (provided the heads oi the bat- from fire i.y the stecii- talions did not show themselves on the plateau nessofthe liill-side. above the broken ground), the better they were covered from fire. And, except some lingering skirmishers, they had no infantry opposed to them at this time ; for the two ' Moscow ' bat- talions which Kiriakoff had sent down towards the ford of the White Homestead were now, it seems, made to take part in the marches and counter-marches which Mentscliikoff was direct-