Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/408

 364 THE BATTLE OF INKERMAN. CHAP. VI. 4th Period. Haines forced to relinquish his lodg- ment in tlio Quarry Ra-ine. Haines undertaking the defence of the Barrier ; and consti- tuting the Mainpicket Line. troops engaged on the line of the Tost-road. Ex- cept against that one expedient, the position laid hold of by Haines in the jaws of the Quarry Kavine was one of singular strength ; for whilst aifordiug his men perfect shelter from the enemy's batteries it enabled him to fend back the masses confronting him on the line of the Post-road, and at the same time to harass the troops on his right which stood crowding beneath him in the bed of the chasm ; but he had perceived from the first that he must withdraw his small band from this advanced spot if the eneny should push forward infantry to turn his left ; and, that movement now taking place, he fell back to the main picket wall, or, as most people called it, the Barrier. There, finding himself the senior officer present — for General Goldie was busied at some little distance — Haines prepared to renew that ten- acious defence of the Barrier which others had maintained without ceasing in the First and the Second Periods of the fight. After examining the features of the adjacent ground, he not only consolidated the defence of the Barrier itself, but also planted troops at each flank to protect it against turning movements. Upon ground a good way advanced in the direc- tion of his left front he moreover established an outpost by placing an officer and some men of the 68th under the shelter of a broken wall found standing in that part of the field, with orders to observe the enemy's movements on Shell Hill, and harass his artillerymen there by a careful,