Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/310

 266 THE IJATTLK OF mKEKMAN. CHAP VI. ill Period. Orders given in coiise- queucc. Movement of the lakoutsk battalion : and of tln' men with the colour.' of tlic Grt'iiadior Guards. officer as Captuiii Higgiiisuii a. few monieiits be- fore its discovery by the men. Tiierefore speak- ing so as to be heard by the captain and none other, he pointed by a slight gesture to Mount Head, and said that the body thence firing was Kussian. It was owing in part to this thought- fulness of Captain Peel's that the general dis- covery of the truth, which presently followed, caused no confusion. The men had scarce learnt tliat they were cut off, when already the voice of authority was telling them what they must do. Several officere gave out or repeated a word of command, which imported that the men were to keep the high ground and force their way up the hill in the teeth of the interposed force. All seemed to understand in a moment that this was their task. As though eager to seize their prey, the troops of the lakoutsk battalion began to move down the hillside ; but they remembered, perhaps, that their line of retreat was towards the head of the Quarry Eavine, for, by spreading out men towards their then left, they disclosed a slight westerly leaning ; whilst, on the other hand, those of our people who were with the colours undertook to move by thi; Ledgeway, keeping always as close as they could to its eastern margin. There was therefoi'e, with a part of each force, a tendency to incline towards its then left ; thus observing, at some points, that very same 'rule of the road' which obtains on an English highway. The lakoutsk battalion, however, though disclosing