Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/357

 THE 17TII OF OCTOBER. 327 from the English batteries, was now, as Todlehen c ii a p. had intimated, in a good condition for maintain- " ing the defence. All the guns in the works were thtngs°i,e firing; and the number of killed and wounded ^''"®^°""'^* was not yet very great, because the breastworks covered the men at the guns, and tJie infantry reserves had been so stationed as to be little ex- posed to fire ; but the barracks near the gorge of the work were already a mere heap of ruins, and all the space in rear of the Eedan was ploughed up by English shells. Several of the chief officers in command at the Eedan accompanied Korniloff in his inspection of the work. Not deeming it needful for their beloveil chief to be thus surveying the lines under the heavy fire of the English batteries, they affec- tionately expressed the pain with which they saw him exposing his life to so great a danger ; but they could not move him from his purpose. When they learnt that he was going to the Mala- n.s de- koff Hill, they prayed that at least he would take tiu- Maia- the route by the hospital suburb ; for they said it was impossible for a man to pass on horseback along the line of the trendies without being struck down. Korniloff smiled, and said, ' You can never run ' away from a shot.' Accompanied by Captain Gendre, his aide-de- camp, and followed by a single Cossack, Korni- loff now descended the hill along the line of the trenches, near the garden of Colonel Prokophieff. There, the cover was not so high as even to