Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/347

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 303 and were presently on the Post-road. Following chap, its course they passed over the Barrier, and de- ^^' seended some hundreds of yards into the Quarry 2d Period. Ravine, hut by that time they were in a dispersed state. Lieutenant Vaughan chanced to be with the foremost of the pursuing soldiery, and he found himself in command of ahout a score of men belonging partly to his own regiment — the 20th — but partly also to the Guards and regiments of the 2d Division. With the aid of a volunteer officer (Lieutenant Johnson of the Indian Irregular Cavalry) he formed up his men across the road, and moved steadily forward, pushing always be- fore him the enemy's disordered troops. He was approaching the part of the Quarry Eavine where it makes a sudden bend in its course, when, on looking towards the crest straight before him, he saw a Russian light battery brought rapidly on to its edge ; and presently he and his men were under its plunging fire. In a moment he saw what to do. Choosing out a few of the Guards and other men armed with the rifle,* he bade them disregard altogether the enemy's infantry, sight their pieces for 300 yards, and steadily shoot at the battery. He was so well obeyed by his marksmen — they knelt down and took aim with studious, deliberate care — that the battery, after the infantry of the 4th Division (except Horsford's battalion of Rifles) was armed almost entirely with the 'smooth-bore,' there being only about 35 rilles in each of the ' red regiments.
 * It should be remembered that not only the 20th, but all