Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/281

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 237 terniixed soldiery who were lining the Sandbag chap. Battery ; and the physical conditions under which we last saw them acting, still remained for the ^dPenod. 1, , ., Impatience most part unchanged; but, more angrily now of the troops than before, men were chafing at the obstacle sandbag ' ° Battery. interposed by a benchless parapet which con- demned them almost to inaction without giving them the least security against overwhelming disasters. On the left of the work, some men sirCharies said — ' If an officer will lead, we will follow ; ' and on the ledU Sir Charles Russell, of the Grenadiers, having follower. chanced to be the only officer who heard this appeal, was moved to accept the challenge, cry- ing — ' Follow me, my lads ! ' He sprang out through the left embrasure, and the next instant was busy with his revolver amongst numbers of Russians standing clustered about on that part of the ledge ; but he had been followed by only one man — a private soldier named Anthony Palmer. Palmer quickly shot down an assailant who was in the act of bayoneting Sir Charles ; and some- how the two — the Captain and his brave Grena- dier — not only found means to defend themselves for the moment, but even made good their way fighting to a part of the ledge on their right where they saw a few more of the Bearskins. Russell was a man of slight build, not disclosing great bodily strength, yet in one of his struggles for the mastery — which also were struggles for life — he was able to tear a rifle from the hands of a Russian soldier, and he kept it to the end of the day.