Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/149

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 127 clash overhead. At other places — for the most chap. part perhaps in those lanes of space which were ' __ constituted by the usual ' intervals ' and ' dis- ' tances' intersecting the mass — there was so much more freedom of movement that groups of as many as ten or twelve Russians who had fallen out of their ranks would be here and there seen devoting themselves to a common purpose by confederating themselves, as it were, against particular foes, and endeavouring to overwhelm the knot of two or three Greys or Inniskillingers which they deemed to be the most in their power. Where this occurred, the two or three redcoats, more or less separated from each other, would be seen striving to force their way through the masses before them, and attended on their flanks and in their rear by a band of assailants, whc did not, most commonly, succeed in overpowering the tall horsemen, but persisted nevertheless in hang- ing upon them. Our troopers, thus encompassed, strove hard, as may well be supposed, to cut down the foes within reach ; but in general the sabre seemed almost to rebound like a cudgel from the thick grey outer-coat of the Russian horseman ; and upon the whole, there was re- sulting as yet but little carnage from this singu- lar example of a fight between a heavy column of halted cavalry and the knots of the taller horse- men who were riving it deeper and deeper. With but few exceptions, the Scots Greys were of the race which the name of their regiment imports ; and, from a conjuncture of circum-'