Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/193

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 149 interval from the moment when Mauleverer and chap. the rest of the officers sprang up to the top of the ' wall, the slender line of the 30th, with a remain- ^** ^*'"*^ ing strength of perhaps some seven or eight score soldiers, was driving a broken thi'ong from the head of the Quarry Ravine and up the slopes of Shell Hill.* The immediate consequence of this exploit was Retreat of not its only result ; for the two unstricken bat- Borodino talions of the Borodino regiment accepted the defeat of their comrades as a blow which must rule their own fate. They turned and began to descend along the channel of the Quarry Ravine. Thus all four of the Borodino battalions were now in retreat. XX. In obedience to the instruction he had re- Advance ceived, General Adams led the 41st Regiment Adams^iS* towards the Sandbag Battery, and the almost Ki'st""'' entire battalion thus acting under his imme- ^"'siment. ° His defeat diate orders had a strength of more than 500 of the 4000 ° men before men.f With his force extended in line he ad- ''i™- top, in the hope of soon findincj themselves covered by the fire of the Russian artillery ; but they afterwards turned, and ultimately retreated from Mount Inkerman by descending the Quarry Ravine. The Borodino rec^iment, of which the two de- feated battalions formed half, had a strength of 2509. Major Walker was brilliantly prominent in the charge, and ujjon the recommendation of Colonel Mauleverer (who modestly ignored his own part in the encounter) he received the Victoria Cross. i 525. The strength of the entire regiment all told was 599, out one company was out on picket in another part of the field.
 * The defeated battalions apparently fled towards the hill-