Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/270

 248 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. C H A P. I. acted were, down to this time, much alike. Sustaining all the way cruel losses without means of reprisal, but always preserving due order, and faithfully running the gauntlet be- tween the fire from the Causeway Heights and the fire from the Fedioukine Hills, they succes- sively descended the valley. The near approach of our first line to the battery. Lord Cardigan and his first line, still descend- ing at speed on their goal, had rived their way dimly through the outer folds of the cloud which lay piled up in front of the battery ; but then there came the swift moment when, through what remained of the dimness, men at last saw the brass cannons gleaming with their muzzles to- wards the chests of our horses ; and visibly the Kussian artillerymen — unappalled by the tramp and the aspect of squadrons driving down through the smoke — were as yet standing fast to their guns. By the material obstacle which they offer to the onset of horsemen, field-pieces in action, with their attendant limber-carriages and tumbrils be- hind them, add so sure a cause of frustration to the peril that there is in riding at the mouths of the guns, that, upon the whole, the expedient of attacking a battery in front has been forbidden to cavalry leaders by a recognised maxim of war. But the huge misconception of orders which had sent the brigade down this valley was yet to be fulfilled to its utmost conclusion ; and the con- dition of things had now come to be such that,