Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/494

 450 THE BATTLE OF INKEEMAN. CHAP. -But it happened that the Czar's greatest soldier ^^- was riding in this part of the field. Colonel de nu renod. Todleben at once apprehended the full extent of tiou by ^^' the peril, and instantly judged that the assail- Todieben. auts should be — not simply checked and fended off with a light hand, but — peremptorily stopped in their advance by interposing ample masses betwixt them and the obstructed artillery. As a first means of facing the onset he laid hold of a company of the Ouglitz regiment — the nearest foot - soldiers at hand — and sent it forward in skirmishing order to confront the assailants. He stopped the march of the whole Boutirsk regi- ment — a force more than 3000 strong — throw- ing forward two of its battalions in a double line of company columns, and holding the two other battalions in reserve. To give confidence to the infantry he even threw forward four guns — followed afterwards by more — and caused them to open fire upon our slender thread of soldiery. Stopped thus in the midst of their onset upon the flank of the troubled artillery, the venture- some company of the ' Fiftieth ' could now do no more than ply the fire of their rifles ; and Tod- leben meanwhile despatched Skariatine to Ad- miral Istomine, requesting that a number of sailors might be sent up to aid the artillerymen. Skariatine— a young naval officer of great zeal ' train] les tirailleurs enneinis abrites ilcrrifere les buissons ' s'approchfercnt si prfes de nos pieces qu'ils etaient snr le point ' de .Vcn emparer.' — Defmse de Sebastopol, ji. 480.