Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/67

 COUNTERMINING. 95 ground on a level with that to which he pressed chap. his keen ear when listening for signs of their ! — presence. In the dark, creeping science of underground war, the moment of first hearing the enemy is one of enthralling interest, whilst also it is one of exultation, if there be reason to think that the hearing has not been reciprocal ; for in the strife between miner and counterminer, he who is the first to hear his antagonist has already obtained the ascendant. On the 30th, those sounds of hostile mining that the Eussian coun- terminer deteoted were only slight and faint ; but the very next day, sounds reached his lis- tening ear with so great a distinctness as to prove that the underground Frenchmen must be then very near; and moreover, it could be soundly inferred that they were suspecting no countermine, because they worked noisily, and could even be heard freely talking. By means of a powerful explosion, Colonel Todleben could have then broken through what remained of the clay still dividing him from the French ; but a charge strong enough for that purpose would have also pressed up with such force as to dis- turb the surface of the ground above, and might thus afford cover to an enemy advancing against the Flagstaff Bastion. Therefore Todleben, with a great self-restraint, determined that, before he assailed them, he would let the French burrow still closer, and thus so reduce the thickness of the interposed clay as to give him the means cf