Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/157

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 113 by the East Sapper's Road, and up the St George's chap. Ravine — had not yet ascended Mount Inkerman, there were two of his light-infantry regiments — ^*' ^*'^- the regiments of Taroutine and Borodino — which came up by the more direct path of the Volovia Ravine, and they both gained the heights in such time as to be able to take part in the enterprise with an additional force of nearly 6000 men.* These might strike at both the right and the centre of the English whilst Soimonoff was attack- ing their left. After crossing the Inkerman Bridge in dead Advance silence, the Taroutine battalions ascended the Taroutine ' 111 battalions Volovia Ravine, and having at length crowned to the front ° of the the heiiihts, they at first understood that they sandbag o > J •'_ Battery. were to remain halted on the East Jut and await further orders ; but it presently happened that they descried the stray Catherinburg battalion making haste towards the east, and took that direction of march as a clue for their own guid- ance. Descending accordingly from the high ground, they crossed the Quarry Ravine, and were still moving towards the south-east, when some of them found their gaze drawn to the parapet of a dismantled battery standing out with con- spicuous abruptness on the edge of a not distant crest ; f and, in the absence of orders, they made this object their goal. Before long, the two fore- ♦ 5844. + The atmosphere, so clouded by mist in other parts of the field, was here in such a state as to allow a comparatively dis- tant view. VOL. VI. H