Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/397

 THE IVIII OF OCTOBEK. 3G7 tlicmselvcs so overwhelmed with sliot and spliii- chap. XIII tors of stone that, chiefly it seems by that last L_ stress, they were driven to go down and take abandonca refuge in the casemates below.* Tliongh no Russians, statement to such an effect has been made in Eussian narratives, there is some ground for inferring that the gunners thus driven from the top of the Work must have carried down with them to the lower batteries a consternation ap- proaching to panic ; for during the space of ten minutes the whole fort was silent.-|- But with the extermination of the top batteries, Limit of,. ,, . n ■^ the power and with that ten nnnntes ot silence, the power that shij^s or the ships over the fort may be said to have Fortcon- . staiitine. ended ; tor m the lower or casemated tiers, though ten of the embrasures were more or less damaged at the cheeks, and though four out of five of the shot-heating furnaces were destroyed, the stone wall of the fort held good, and the guns all re- mained untouched.^ So decisive was the line which defined the power of the assailing ships over Fort Constantine, that what they could in- flict upon the open-air batteries proved to be sheer ruin, and what they could do against the case- mates turned out to be almost nothing. At about half-past two, the Arethusa towed by Arethusa L rn •! 11 .11- T 1 and All)ion the iriton, and the Albion towed by the Fire- engaged i -, • f ^ with the brand, came in irom the south-west. They soon ciifr bat- teries, afterwards took up positions astern of the London, and opened upon the cliff defences, the Arethusa being then about 700 yards from the Telegraph
 * Todleben, p. 336. f Brercton, p. 33. J Todlcben, ubi ante.