Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/230

 186 THE BATTLE OF INKEUMAN. CHAP. VI. 2d Period. The Duke left un- molested on his left, and con- tinuing his advance. lakoutsk and the Selingliinsk battalions had by this time dropped into their places on either flank of the troops which came to close quarters with Adams ; and when their march was complete, the whole body of the thirteen battalions stood ranged on a front which, though broken by a somewhat wide interval where crossing the Inkerman Tusk, may still be said to have formed an almost con- tinuous arc — an arc carried back from its extreme right at the head of the Quarry Eavine across St Clement's Gorge, but thence again bending for- ward along the interior of the Sandbag Battery to ground even yet further south.* That lair in the Quarry Eavine where the lakoutsk battalions for the most part stood posted M^as a fastness under the guns of Shell Hill and East Jut, of infinite worth to the enemy. Thence his troops could emerge at their pleasure, either moving directly against the ' Barrier ' and the centre of Pennefather's position, or bending aside to their left, and cutting off any English who might adventure too far on the Kitspur without securing their flank. The first of these two courses of action was the one for the moment engaging the attention of the lakoutsk battalions, which accordingly busied themselves, as we shall by-and-by see, against the few score men of the 30th, then confronting them near the Barrier; hinsk battalions on the left ; iu the centre, the force which most ilirectly combated Adams— viz. , the four Okhotsk, the one Saii[)ers battalion, and the coiupauies of Rifles.
 * The two lakoutsk battalions on tlio ri^'ht ; the four Seling-