Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/53

 FIGHTS ON WEST FLANK OF SEBASTOPOL. 23 stand to their arms, and thenceforth — not spar- OHAP. n mg their labour — to labour only as combatants. To the Russians new fire was imparted by the example of some freshly acceding troops which — panting to show their true quality after having been under a cloud — fought on and on and on with a zeal and a courage that won the hearts of their comrades. The fierce, bloody, hand-to-hand strife was from time to time interrupted when — receding perhaps a few feet — the masses in conflict sometimes left open spaces between them great enough for ex- changes of fire; and then of course for a while their cartridges blazed through the darkness, but again and again the closer fighting recurred, and again and again was maintained by French and Russians alike with a valour that seemed nearly equal. Preceded as we have seen by four conflicts, and no less a number of captures alternately changing the ownership of the hotly contested prize, this the fifth of the fights for the counter- approach was, it seems, the most stubborn of all, and already the night was far gone, when the French at last made good their mastery, over- ami its re- threw all the Russians before them, and once theFrench. more recaptured the VVork.Q vr. When this conduit had ended, the night was Course . . „ i i T-i i • afterwards already far spent, and the rrench soon perceived takenbytha i i ii • i p p, French. that they had not time left for the process —