Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/261

 IHK BATTLE OF BALACLAVA 239 what he had intended to be his second line — that chap. is, the 4th Light Dragoons and the 8th Hussars — !_._ Lord Cardigan had said, with what was taken to be a somewhat marked emphasis, ' I expect your ' best support ; mind, Lord George, your best 'support!' Lord George said, ' Of course, my ' lord, you shall have my best support ; ' but the eager injunction he had received so continued to ring in his ears during the critical minutes which followed, that he was more careful to keep near the first line than to preserve his connection with the 8th Hussars. His order to the 8th Hussars had been, '4th Light Dragoons will ' direct ; ' and this order of course, if obeyed, would have sufficiently maintained the connection between the two regiments ; but the instruction, it would seem, had not been effectually heard, or, at all events, was not kept in mind ; for the officers of the 8th Hussars apparently entertained a belief that theirs was the directing regiment of the line in which it had to act. Whatever the cause, it is certain that Colonel Shewell was most resolute in keeping down the pace of the regiment, and would not allow it to assume the same speed as the 4th Light Dragoons. Also, it happened, from some unknown cause, that the regiment bore more towards its right than did the 4th Light Dragoons ; and from the difference of pace thus combined with the difference of direction, it resulted that both the interval and the distance which separated the two regiments were suffered to be continually increasing. For