Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/493

 THE MAIN FIGHT. 449 disposed on Mount Inkerman. Descending from chap. his post on the Victoria Ridge, with one company " of the 50th Regiment* Colonel Waddy found ^^'^Penoj ° '' Colonel means to cross over the depths of the Careenage waddy-s '■ '-' enterpriH« Ravine, and thence make his way up to the north- western angle of Mount Inkerman. Once there, he began to advance through a covert of brush- wood against the huge artillery train then re- treating across his front by the West Sapper's Road. Chance at first seemed to favoiir his enter- prise; for not only was he upon the flank of a retreating artillery, with its gunners, its guns, its gun-carriages, its drivers, its waggons, its great teams of draught - horses, all jammed into one crowded column of route several hundred yards deep, but he approached it besides at a time when — overtaken by missiles which threw down som.e of its tumbrils — the mass had been brought to a lock, and when, moreover, the infantry — not dreaming of any attack on ground so close to Sebastopol — was taking a route lower down, which passed along the shore of the gulf The enemy considered that his hampered train of artillery was simply helpless against infantry, and being prevented by the brushwood from detecting the paucity of his assailants, he seems to have believed for a moment that the enormous prize they were coveting must be upon the very point of falling into their hands.f t * Profitant de cet obstacle [i.e., the lock in the artillery VOL. VI. 2 F
 * The No. 7 company, with a strength of 56 men.