Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/422

 378 THE BATTLL: of INKERMAN. CHAP, sky-line ; and from time to time when the smoke ^^- lifted, or the blaze of an enemy's gun shot out ith Period, ii^g column of light, he could see the dark, busy figures of the opposing gunners, and catch fitful glimpses of havoc in the wake of his eighteen- pound shot. No extraneous force interposing to turn the scale either way, this conflict between a numer- ous field-artillery on the one side and two heavy cTuns on the other, was left to work out its own conclusions ; and at first, there seemed ground for believing that the fire of several batteries con- verging upon one narrow spot, must sooner or later overcome the little band of artillerymen who were working their two eighteen-pounders from behind a mere embryo parapet some twenty- four inches in height ; but at the end of a quarter of an hour it could be seen that our gunners were conquering for themselves a comparative immunity. The slaughter, the wreck, the con- tusion they spread in the enemy's batteries had by that time weakened his fire, and henceforth every instant it began to seem more and more plain that this was an unequal conflict. The liann our iirtillerymen suffered was only, after all, ' severe loss,' whilst the harm they inflicted might rather be called * devastation.' Every min- ute, the ascendant they already had won was gaining them an ascendant yet greater. During the second quarter of an hour they only lost two or three men ; yet, whilst thus lightly stricken themselves, thcv were able, no less than at first, Ascendant obtained by the two eiglitccn- poimders.