Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/367

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 323 constituted at this time the main body of Colonel ciiaf. Warren's regiment. ' The bank of smoke lying between Shell Hill ^cZPenod and Home Eidge owed its source almost all at stances , „ . 1 T 1 • tending to this time to the fire ot the contendmg batteries, mask the enemy's and of foot-soldiers waging their war along the advance. flanks of the assailant force ; for in his direct front, the enemy was so weakly opposed as to be able to make good his advance without any diffi- cult fighting ; and the score or two of English receding before him had long since expended their cartridges. So circumstanced, those few English soldiers were hardly distinguishable in the battle-field at even a few yards' distance ; and on the other hand, being sullen and weary and brave, they did not come hastening in with the speed that is commonly used by men who no longer resist. So, upon the whole, this great Eussian at- tack was not only proceeding through its present stage with a quiet and unostentatious despatch, but even under such conditions that observers look- ing down from Home Eidge might mistake what were really some portions of the enemy's loosely formed vanguard for English troops in retreat. Colonel Warren, having Lieutenant- Colonel The loo T>,i !• •! -11 1- 1 Mien of the Daubeney at his side, was still within the bulge .')5thsur- prised and of the crestwork when some grey-coated soldiery 'i"ven back were observed coining quietly up from the front. The Colonel however believed, as did indeed all his people, that the men he saw were English troops slowly retiring, and went en undistracted with the task of the moment — namely, that of