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 THE MAIN FIGHT. 183 of the Eavine ; but after a while, troops supposed chap. to be part of the same force came climbing up on ^^^' the right bank of the Eaviue, and at length also ^<^p^''^°'^- some of the men who had combated Adams began to appear on the slopes. They moved cautiously, Repression and hung in the brushwood, undertakino- to skir- which had * ■11-11 • fought mish a little, but attempting no decisive advance, against Upon such of the enemy's people as were near enough to be worthy of fire, Hamley opened with ' case,' and they were quickly repressed. Preceded, as it was, by the withdrawal of our The then troops from the Kitspur, this happy use of three combat. guns placed the contest for a moment on exactly that kind of footing which was desired by men basing their tactics on the strength of the Inker- man ground. With the means of extending their batteries to the Fore Eidge after the manner just shown them by Hamley, and some 4000 in- fantry * either guarding already, or else close ap- proaching their heights, our people had at this time resources that might have been not unhope- fully used for the defence of their natural strong- hold; and, if only they had resisted the lure of the Sandbag Battery — now loved more than ever, because in the enemy's hands — they must have been thenceforth secure — not, of course, against the chances of war, but — against the necessity of having to fight under utterly desperate conditions. • Present, at Home Eidge, troops of 2d Division, about, 700 At Hill Bend, two battalions of Guards,. 757 Approaching, part of the Coldstream and of the 4th Division, totcether about. . . 2500