Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/347

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 325 Amongst the remnants of our Light Cavalry, chap. now once more gathered together, there was, of ' course, a sense of the havoc that had been made The / eD i, in what, half an hour before, was Lord Cardigan's ^-fy^f splendid brigade ; but, for a while, this feeling was much interrupted by the joy of seeing com- rade after comrade trail in from out of the fight, and in spite of the ruin their force had incurred, the men were from time to time cheering. When the remnants of the brigade had formed LoidCar- up, Lord Cardigan came forward and said, ' Men ! address to ' it is a mad-brained trick,* but it is no fault of ' mine.' Some of the men answered, 'Never mind, ' my lord! we are ready to go again.' Lord Cardi- gan replied, ' No, no, men ! you have done enough.' It was upon one of the slopes which look south- The first ward towards Balaclava that the muster took the Light place ; and, for some time, stragglers and riderless after the chargers were coming in at intervals ; but at length there was a numbering of horses, and afterwards the melancholy roll-call began. As often as it appeared that to the name called out there was no one present to answer, men contributed what knowledge they had as to the fate of their missing comrade, saying when and where they last had seen him. More or less truly, if they knew it not before, men learned the fate of their friends from this dismal inquest. And then also came the there was a smile at the ' impar congressus,' no one who knew Moms consenting to imagine it possible that he could be tbe one who mistook.
 * According to another version, 'a great blunder.'