Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/429

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 385 certainly wiLluMit lii.s knowino it — in an isolated chap. VI course of action. ' General Bosquet has not veiled the surprise ^ffci'ewd. ^ Sur[iriso fell with which he first looked upon the field of byuosquet battle. In comparison with what his imagina- ingthcfleid ^ » of battle. tion had pictured, there was but little, to see. Informed by words so elastic as ' division,' ' brigade,' and ' the Guards,' he plainly had failed to conceive the exceeding scantiness of the num- bers with which our people were maintaining their hold ; but, if he at first looked out wistfully for the gathered thousands of an English army, the scenes which now opened before him as he rode on and on, were scarce such as to sustain Ins illusions. Of the very existence of that English infantry Thcscenea presented to which had long been defendnig Mount Inkerman Msobser- ,.,.., vation. the indications he was able to see proved slight and obscure. He says he observed sentries pac- ing amongst the ruins of Pennefather's camp, and from time to time came upon soldiers M-alking back one by one from the front.* High above on the right, where there sauntered a red-coated officer with a singularly unconcerned air, some great part of the day. The bulk of the soldiers thus walking back were men who had exhaustr-d their cartridges. At first, there were numbers of men who, finding themsclve.s without ammunition, and without the guidance of their officers, fell back of their own accord, but afterwards, as we saw, ' word was ' passed * directing those who had emptied their pouches to go back and replenish them. A keen observer has assured me that amongst the whole number of men he saw thus walking back from the front there was not one officer. VOL. VI. 2 B
 * ■ uiion cntcr-
 * This spectacle was one that prevailed more or less during a