Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/223

COLONEL YEA'S ATTACK. 193 seen coming up; and any officer acting in com- chap. mand of the men here engaged might well have - felt it his duty — his bounden, his sacred duty — to m e offi eS ° n save them from the ugly alternative of either per- cc ishing uselessly, or lapsing into retreat without an order to warrant it ; but who, since the fall of its chief, was entitled to withdraw the small force ? For want of the needed command our people But on whom had remained lying down under a powerful fire that the com- J ° L mand de- — despite the half shelter they had gained — was voived? steadily thinning their line. The ' Engineer officer ' happily had preserved A-court & „, o i Fisher; a cool head; and as a first step towards userm. action, he sought to learn who was entitled— or rather perhaps who was bound under painfully ad- verse conditions— to take up the vacant command. He strove to see or hear of some still undisabled the course i. „ . ., , he took. officer with at lowest the rank of a captain, but finding none such, whilst also remembering that he was of higher standing than any subaltern of the line, he reluctantly found himself driven to a painful conclusion — one importing no less than that he — he himself — though only a lieu- tenant, must be the senior officer present ; and, once forced to see this, he did not delay the accomplishment of what, however distasteful was still a clearly marked duty. He called out to our men: ' Eetire into the trenches the best ' way you can.' The troops then began to withdraw, and — all withdrawal r °. ofthefe- the way under a fire that still exacted its victims mains of J the troops. — fell back on our most advanced trenches. VOL. IX N