Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/188

158 GENERAL MAYRAN'S PREMATURE ATTACK. chap, fuse that shone out through the still reigning v II. . darkness, General Mayran — over-anxious, expec- tant, with nerves highly strung — imagined that this was the appointed signal for commencing the three French attacks, and — unmoved by the coun- sels of officers who did not share his mistake — he made haste to lead on — prematurely — the forces placed under his charge. Having been posted the night before in a part of the Careenage Ravine that seemed apt for his purpose, General Mayran, preceded by En- gineers, and supported by two battalions of the Voltigeurs of the Guard, was to turn the Point Battery, and enter it by the gorge, to assail and break throng! i the courtine extending from its westerly Hank, then abruptly bend off to the left, and (by operating from within the enceinte) lay hold of the Little Redan. It was to assail this courtine from a distance of some 800 yards that a little before three o'clock, General Failly led on his brigade. Met by fire of great power from the ramparts, but also from six steamers anchored off the mouth of the Careenage Ravine, the heads of the columns were broken ; but, after a while, Failly rallied them in a fold of the ground, and renewed the attack, pushing forward, this time, to ground no less far in advance than the verge of the ' wolf-pits ' there sunk in front of the enemy's works ; * but they only achieved this lengthened verted extinguisher, and is provided with a stake projecting upwards.
 * The trou de loup is a pit shaped like the hollow of an in