Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/111

 THE MAMELON. 79 Eupatoria with any force at all of either cavalry chap. or infantry * ! Whilst the Allies were thus vainly deliberating, their adversary was acting, and acting with cease- less vigour. The ' Volhynia ' Work was completed in the completion course of ten days ; and the armament winch the ment of the ■nii it •! iirvip * ,wo White two new Kedoubts had received on the 10th of Redoubts. March comprised twenty-two pieces of cannon.! V. The pair of Grand-Dukes whom we saw driving Arrival of into Sebastopol on the eve of the battle of Inker- Graud- r Dukes man were destined to pass as the harbingers of Nicholas and Michael Eussian enterprise ; and their return to the Crimea soon after Todleben's enterprise of the 21st of February was rightly thought to portend an increase of warlike activity. To have a strong hold on the Mamelon — this, TheMamo we saw, was the object of besieged and besiegers alike — the object for which they were toiling on several distant hills — but it had not been up to this time the chosen scene of their efforts. Light- ly held — though of course duly watched — by an outpost of Eussian infantry, it had neither been touched by the pickaxe nor assaulted by troops, nor even approached by ' approaches ' ; but on the morning of the 10th of March, its time of repose was drawing fast to an end. March 10, 1855. t Todleben, vol. ii. pp. 34, 35.
 * Despatch (Secret) from Lord Raglan to Secretary of State,