Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/174

 152 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, some English, some Russian, who thronged up 1 against that part of the column where the Scots Greys were eddying back; so that Eussians be- longing to the column, and Russians belonging to the right wing, and men of the Scots Greys and men of the 5th Dragoon Guards, were here forced and crowded together in one indiscriminate mel- ley.* Nor were these the only components of the crowd. Men of the same brigade, but having tasks assigned them elsewhere, broke away from their duties in camp, and — some of them on in- valid chargers — found means to gallop up into the fight. Amongst these, two regimental butchers, each busy with his sword, were conspicuous because of their shirt sleeves. Moreover, there could be seen here and there a man of the Light Brigade, who, for sake of the strife, had stolen away from his regiment, and was mingled with the rest of the. combatants, change in And, at the part of the column thus assailed by of thecom? the 5th Dragoon Guards, there was a change in the bearing of the combatants — a change brought about, it would seem, by exceeding weariness of the sword-arm, but in part too by another cause. After three or four minutes of a new experience, it proved that a man could grow accustomed, as it were, to the condition of being in a throng of or 'masty' (not 'medley,' a word from another root), hut 1 follow the mode which obtains in ' pell-mell.' The word is st familiar to Englishmen of different classes of life, and so well derived from old French, that there is no reason for allowing it to be supplanted by any such mincing substitute as 'melee.' Imtants.
 * In strictness, perhaps, tins word should be spelt 'mesley,'