Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/397

 COMBAT OF THE 26TH OF OCTOBER. 375 Our people thus combating had a really un- chap. measured conception of the resistance that should be offered by a thin chain of pickets to an enemy ^Pg^* advancing in strength. Still new in great measure fought. to war, and ill-brooking that coercion by numbers which old campaigners accept, they, many of them, took offence, as it were, at the notion of being pressed back, grew savage against their as- sailants, and fought on with an obstinacy that could hardly have been exceeded if, instead of this outpost duty, they had had to defend to the last some only-remaining stronghold.* It was in this spirit, for instance, that Lieut. Conolly fought, throwing off his grey coat — so that all might distinguish him from the enemy — and flinging himself into a clump of Prussians, where he felled one man with his field-glass, whilst he cut down another with his sword. Far from seeking to moderate this zeal on the part of our pickets, Major Champion was himself in one of those warlike ecstasies which alternated with his pious emotions. ' Slate 'em, slate 'em, my boys ! ' was his exultiDg and often-repeated adjuration, as he moved in great bliss along their line. Even by some of the ablest staff-officers present with the combatants — as, for instance, by Colonel Percy Herbert and Captain Armstrong — it was appar- the English, it is said, got to understand each other so well, that our people when advancing in strength could often drive in the French pickets without quarrelling with them, by mak- ing recognised signs — signs which mean/ : — 'You must be off; ' we are advancing in strength.'
 * In the latter years of the Peninsular War, the French and