Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/237

 THK BATTLE OK BALACLAVA. 2J5 plioit orders conveyed by word of mouth; and chap although there may come the time when the ' trumpet shall he sounding 'the gallop/ and when afterwards it shall be sounding ' the charge,' yet, upon the whole, the troops of the first line obtain guidance mainly by carefully watching the leader who rides at the head of the force ; and, the em- pire of words being thus superseded for the time by the signalling, if so one may call it, which is effected by the pace and the position of a single horseman, it seems right, by a kind of analogy, that one who would listen to the story of a cavalry onslaught extending along a great distance should be able — as well as may be in the mind's eye — to see and distinguish the leader. There is the more reason for this, since it happens that in the course of the controversies springing out of the Light Cavalry charge there arose a question of mistaken identity which has an important bearing upon Lord Cardigan's military reputation. Lord Cardigan had so good a stature that, al- though somewhat long in the fork, he yet sat rather tall in the saddle, and notwithstanding his fifty-seven years, he had a figure which retained the slenderness of youth. His countenance, highly bred and of the aquiline cast, had not been with- out such humble share as a mere brother might be expected to have of that beauty which once made famous the ancient name of Brudenell. Far from disclosing the real faults of his character, the features of the man rather tended to confirm the first popular impression that was created by