Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/99

 TODLEBEN'S COUNTER-APPROACH is. 67 The steps he took were like those which be- chap siegers — and not the besieged — are commonly !_ wont to adopt. Having taped down beforehand toghiLk the lines of his newly planned Work, and already bespoken such aid as the ships in the Roadstead could give, he at night on the 21st of February moved out with seven battalions commanded by General Khroustchoff, crossed the chasm of the Careenage Ravine, ascended to the heights of Mount Inkerman, and there under shelter of darkness laid hands on the fore-chosen site. To cover his designed operation, the four Volhynia battalions drew up on a front placed half-way between the newly marked site and the foremost of the enemy's trenches ; whilst the three Selinghinsk battalions which made up the rest of the force were charged to construct the planned work, and with all the speed they could use to make it grow under their hands. These men — each with his musket beside him — were kept in a state of readiness to lay down their tools, and to take instant part as combatants whenever the need might occur ; but they toiled undisturbed the first night, and when morning broke, it was seen that the cover already obtained by dint of pickaxe and spade and gabions rapidly filled was even then solid enough to be good against musketry-fire. This "Work, after the name of the regiment which bore the toil of constructing it, was called the Selinghinsk Re- doubt. So, the white-looking circlet or loop which met