Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/254

 232 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. CHAP. I. Increasing difficulty of restraining the pace in the first line. State of the first line. Casualties in Lord Cardigan's personal Staff. squadrons will, if the leader, for even an instant, appears to be uncertain of purpose), and was guiltless of even inclining to any default except that of failing to keep down the pace. So far as concerned the first line, this task was now becoming more and more difficult. When the 13 th Light Dragoons and the 17th Lancers had passed so far down the valley as to be under effective fire from the guns in their front, as well as from the flanks right and left, their lines were so torn, so cruelly reduced in numbers, as to be hardly any longer capable of retaining the corpor- ate life or entity of the regiment, the squadron, the troop ; and these aggregates began to resolve themselves into their component elements — that is, into brave, eager horsemen, growing fiercely impatient of a trial which had thus long denied them their vengeance, and longing to close with all speed upon the guns which had shattered their ranks. The troopers here and there could no longer be restrained from darting forward in front of the officers ; and the moment this licence obtained, the ceremonious advance of the line was soon changed to an ungoverned onset. The racing spirit broke out, some striving to outride their comrades, some determining not to be passed. In the course of the advance, Lieutenant Maxse, Lord Cardigan's second aide-de-camp, was wounded; and when the line had come down to within about a hundred yards of the guns, Sir George Womb- well, the extra aide-de-camp, had his horse killed under him. We shall afterwards see that this