Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/49

 TlIF, FI.ANK MAKCII. 1^ of Lniil l.ucan, and lie readily answered, '^^Ty lord, chap. ' I am no longer in command of the cavalry.'* Almost close to the point in the road where >fackcnzie'3 the linssians had tlms been surprised, there was the building marked in the maps as jNIackenzie's Farm. It seemed to have been used as a tem- ])orary barrack, or resting-place for troops in inandi. In its ])recincts there "were two wells, which yielded a grateful, though too scanty, supi)ly of water. From the crest just reached by our cavalry when they had to obey the recall, the eye com- manded a tar-reaching view- of the plain beneath. Through this ])lain there passed the post-road which led to Baktchi Seriii and Simphero]H;)l, and thence north to the mainland of IJussia. Ketreating along it, there could be seen a divi- Heavy ° ^ ' bodies of sion of infantry, some cavalry, and a battery of Russian " ' '' ' •' troops seen field-artillery; but beyond, and beyond again, "^re'iing •' ' J ' -J o ' off towards there were thick clouds of dust, which indicated ^^^ north, the track of more distant battalions and of squad- rons on the same line of march. This 'incident of war' — so Ford Faglan called Thoc.v:.,- cideiice it at the time to one who rode near him — this wukh brought 'incident of war' was the result of a singular •iboutti,a chance Mhich brought into contact of time and place two movements, each of them cardinal — the one the tianlc march undertaken l)y the Lord Cardigan had clu ri.slied the idea tli;it his nntliority over the cavalry which landed with the army— -i.f., over the Light Ihigadc — was to be a .separate command.
 * • Farm.
 * Tlic words ' no lonj^'or' may seem liardly intelligible ; but