Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/403

 THE FIRST day's MARCH. 373 sion. Along the left flank of the advancing col- CHAP. X XTV nmns, and at a distance from them of some 200 '_ yards, were riflemen in skirmishing order, and a line of skirmishers from the same force closed the rear of the infantry. On the left flank, and nearly in the same alignment as the leading infantry divisions, was the 8th Hussars ; and on the same flank, but in an alignment less advanced than the rearmost of the infantry columns, there was the 17th Lancers. The cattle and the baggage marched in rear of the 3d Division, and so as to be covered towards the left by the 4th Division. Then fol- lowed the rear-guard, and then a line of Eifles disposed at intervals in extended order. Last of all came the 4th Light Dragoons, under Lord George Paget. Thus marched the strength of the "Western The march. Powers. The sun shone hotly, as on a summer's day in England ; but breezes springing fresh from the sea floated briskly along the hills. The ground was an undulating steppe alluring to cav- alry. It was rankly covered with a herb like southernwood ; and when the stems were crushed under foot by the advancing columns, the whole air became laden with bitter fragrance. The aroma was new to some. To men of the western counties of England it was so familiar that it carried them back to childhood and the villajje church ; they remembered the nosegay of ' boy's ' love ' that used to be set by the Prayer-Book of the Sunday maiden too demure for the vanity of flowers.