Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/211

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 167 spot — though only a little in rear — where a bend chap. of the ground offered shelter.* The thousand men thus left in charge to guard ^<^ Period. the west of Mount Inkerman could take no part maintained in those struggles for the possession of the Sand- enemy's t T-« 11 TT T-i • 1 1-1 artillerymen bag Battery and the Home Kidge which now by some of 1 1 • 1 • 1 1 the 1000 were about to begin ; but it must not be supposed men de- 1 -1 1 11 • • . . tainedon that meanwhile they all were remaining inactive ; our left because many of them, as, for instance, the four companies of the 77th and of their successors the 21st Fusiliers — and of the Eangers, too, when sup- plied with fresh ammunition f — were able to use their rifles persistently against the Eussian artil- lerymen at ranges of less than 800 yards ; and the enemy himself has borne witness to the cogency of the fire thus maintained during a period of several hours. Still, though tending stiiifortbe P T~v purposes of to weary out slowly the endurance oi JJannen- the nest impending berg's artillerymen, and in that sense to help fight the towards the end, the rifle-balls tormenting his ingour ^ left was gunners could not actually exert any sway over neutraused the issue of the now coming fights ; and for that last purpose accordingly — whether idle or plying faction of the readiness and constancy with which ' the Irish ' regiment' fulfilled his wish. t The Rangers owed their supply of ammunition to the praise- worthy care and alacrity of an officer left on duty in camp — namely, Quartermaster Moore. After listening for a while to the vigorous and sustained fire on Mount Tnkerman, Moore inferred that the Rangers might be exhausting their pouches, and he not only hastened to load the bat horses with fresh am- munition, but came himself into the fight with this infinitely welcome supply.
 * General Canrobert, 1 believe, often spoke with great satis-