Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/162

 132 HEROIC RESISTANCE 01 SEBASTOrOL on A I', these men, it avouIJ seem, hail come to he proii'l, 1__ of the fate Mliich left them to fight under aji admiral, and alongside of mariners, in a cause thought too desperate to allow of its being upheld hy the strength of Prince Mentschikoff's army. Of a certainty, the fire and the thorough de- voteduess of Korniloff's nature were the main sources of the power which he was thus exerting over the minds of men never bred to the sea. ]>ut, also, it was given him to seem what he was. Unless the portraits deceive, his face was of classic mould ; for although, near the eyes, there were signs of a l)lood deriving from the North, the rest of his features had that kind of beauty which belonged to the great Bonaparte in the time of his first Italian campaign, whilst yet his face re- mained lean. According to those who knew Kor- niloff, it was not only in his features that the wearing, consuming eneigy of the man was ex- pressed, but also in an eager bend forward, which his ardour had rendered habitual. Jt chanced that he had an accomplishment which delighted the soldiery. Like the Bedouins seen in the langes of the Atlas, he was accustomed to gallop at speed either up or down heights so steep, and over ground so rugged, as to make the feat seem a wonder; and it charmed the people and the garrison, but most, the men of the land service, to see the chief flitting thus from one post of de- fence to another.* But, above all, he had elo- • To one who hns never observed such feats before, it is ex- tremely interesting and surprising to see what a horseman can