Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/309

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 265 stioiigtli which may be computed at about 2000;* chap, whilst the English, including the stragglers and '__ the remains of the company with which Burnaby ^'^p*''^- was seeking to interpose, numbered only, it is believed, at most about 150 men.*}* With a few of the surviving staff officers — Colonel Brownrigg, Lord Balgonie, Captain Ham- ley, Macdonald and others — H.E.H. the Duke of Cambridge was still near the colours, and as yet unaware of the perils now closely surrounding him, when he all at once heard a voice saying — Theinter- . posed force ' Sir, you Will be taken ! Then came fire pouring discovered down from Mount Head. ' Holloa ! holloa ! our own people firing upon us ! ' These, or words of like import, were uttered at the same instant by many, and amongst others by Captain Higginson of the Grenadier Guards ; but at this moment — with a midshipman on a pony beside him — there came up on foot a ship's captain, no other than Peel of the Diamond. With the aid of a field- glass he carried, the seaman's calm gaze had en- abled him to speak as one certain, and he instinc- tively saw how advantageous it would be if the ugly truth could become known to so able an of 2il6, and, if the casualties they had sustained up to this time were not very much greater or less than 416, the above estimate of 2000 would be a tolerably close approach to accuracy. + Captain lliggiuson's estimate puts the numlier at only 130. I attain the rough estimate of 150 by allowing (in addition to the 100 gathered round the Duke) the full numbers of 30 for Burnaby's strength, and 20 for stragglers. The 50 who madp up ' the 200 ' were, as we have seen, with Cathcart.
 * The three battalions had come into action with a strength