Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/124

 80 THE BATTLE OF INKERMAN. CHAP. VI. The value of the Inkerman ground as a defensive position. armed with a couple of 18-pounders, soon after- wards withdrawn, and men called it the ' Two- gun,' or more often the ' Sandbag ' Battery. It often gave pleasant shelter to men out on picket against easterly winds ; but the notion of ever using the parapet in an infantry fight had been so entirely absent from the mind of the con- structor that it was not even furnished with a banquette. Though having no genuine worth as a lodgment to be used in attack, or as an obstacle good for defence, this dismantled parapet, rising up on a conspicuous crest to a height of eight or ten feet, was still so enticing an object that in the turmoil of battle (where men often strive after false prizes) it might become the stake for which numbers would die, and receive, some day, from French soldiery, a dismal name telling of slaughter.* Far from giving an advantage to the Allies, this ill-omened pile was destined to bring them into grave peril, first by causing an all but ruinous severance of the small English force, and next by drawing the French into a wrong field of action. Such, then, was that southern half of Mount Inkerman which had to be attacked and de- fended ; and there is warrant perhaps for saying that a skilled commander who could arm the had attempted to molest our people. The Kussian gun was quickly silenced ; and, the ohject having been attained, onr two 18-pounders had been witlulra^vn some days before the day of the battle. parapet was yet standing.
 * The 'abattoir.' When I visited the ground in 1869, the