Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/405

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 361 advanced position without being involved in com- chap. bat ; but it now was assailed by a strong Eussian column, and began to fall back. The brave Col- ^th Period. one! de Camas himself, however, was still person- ally fronting towards the enemy, when a musket- ball entered his chest, and by thus inflicting a wound which was soon to prove fatal, fulfilled that mystic prognosis of Pennefather's which had been able to read ' death in his face.' Presently, the standard-bearer of the battalion was killed, and the eagle, falling with him to the ground, lay in danger of being captured by the enemy ; but Lieutenant-Colonel Goze, who had succeeded to the command of the regiment, sprang forward, plucked up the fallen banner, raised it high over head, and appealed to the men of the battalion, exhorting them to stand by their flag. Many gathered around him. Whilst still holding the flag-staff he was wounded in the arm ; but with- out suffering the colour to fall a second time to the ground, he committed it to the charge of Lieutenant Bigotte, and the standard was saved from capture. Colonel de Camas, was carried some way with his retreating battalion upon the back of a soldier, but after a while, and, as is said, at his own request, he was laid upon the ground, and suffered to fall alive into the hands of the enemy.* The battalion, still falling back, ill treatment of the wounded man. He was found dead after the battle with no other wound than the one he had received in the chest whilst bravely confronting the enemy.
 * In this instance happily there occurred, it is believed, no