Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/187

 '■VI1EX AEANDONED BV THi: AKMY. l.")7 EtriviiifT to defend the place. But this joy, at the ciiAP. ' VI time, was ill founded ; for although some of ][cntscliikof("s troops had thus come once more within sight of Sebastopol, and could freely com- municate with the town by crossing the ferry, their presence on the north of the roadstead was still far from really meaning that Prince Ment- schikoff had resumed active warfare. Unless these newly -seen troops should be suffered to cross the water — and the prospect of such a movement seemed to be shut out by the order lor transferring the army's heavy baggage from the South to the North Side — there would still 1)6 long, difficult marches to divide them from the enemy. In the course of the dav, Prince Mentschikoff I'rince Jleiitschl- iu person came down from the Upper Belbec to kon there ^ in person. the Severnaya, or North Side, but did not pass over the water. Supposing him still determined to withhold all succour from Sebastopol, it was natural for him to avoid the pain and embarrass- ment of going into the midst of a garrison which he meant to leave to its fate. He rested in the Severnaya at that North Side Lodge which he had adjoining the ' Number Four ' Battery. There, he received the devoted Admiral who, nis inter- since the two men last saw each other, had been Komiiotr. forced by his love of country to usurp the com- mand of Sebastopol. Impliedly, if not in positive or generous terms, assentVo Prince Mentschikoff gave assent to the arrange- assumption ments which had created, in his absence, a kind mand.