Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/176

 154 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. C HA p. the word of command. But to rally ? — the Greys to rally? It well might seem a des- perate task to attempt what troops call a ' rally ' in the midst of a raging fight ; but the enemy himself at this time had undertaken an analogous task, and was drawing back scattered horsemen into the mass of his thick- set squadrons ; so that thus from the rally- ing effort made at once by both Eussians and Scots it resulted that during some moments, there was a space of several horse-lengths be- tween them. As though dressing a line in some barrack-yard, the Adjutant of the Greys had so planted his charger that he now directly con- fronted the gathering men he addressed, and the giant strength of his voice was thrown full into the ending word when he shouted to the troop- ers: — 'Face — ME!' By many of the men of his regiment he was seen. By many more he was heard. And now, also, on the right of the Adjutant, the young Cornet Prendergast, raised high above the ground by the great height of his charger, and on the other side Clarke, the leader of the 1st squadron — Clarke still rode bare- headed and streaming with blood — could be seen with their swords in the air, undertaking to rally the Greys. Men under this guidance were brought before long to make ready for another collective attack; and, by facing towards the Adjutant (as the thunder of his voice had en- Their joined), they began to show the rudiments of a ££a^e. front. Then they once more charged up, and