The Three Commanders Part 31

"He's saying something pretty strong, if we are to judge by his gestures," observed Jack; "see, he is pointing with his sword up the valley. No, it must be at the Russians on the causeway. He's ordering the cavalry to do just what those infantry fellows ought to have done long ago; and so they would have done it if they had had their will."

"I know that aide-de-camp," remarked one of the party; "he is Captain Nolan, he belongs to General Airey's staff."

Directly afterwards Lord Lucan was seen addressing Lord Cardigan, who immediately galloped forward towards where the light cavalry were drawn up.

"See, the regiments of light cavalry are forming line; they are going to attack the Russians near the redoubts, after all," exclaimed Jack. "The heavy cavalry is preparing to support them; they will drive away the Russians as chaff before the wind."

After this, few remarks were made by any of the group, so deeply interested were they in watching what was going forward. Lord Cardigan was seen to place himself at the head of the light cavalry, while Lord Lucan came closer to them. All eyes, however, were riveted on Lord Cardigan and the light cavalry; he could easily be distinguished by his commanding yet slight figure, as he sat upon his tall charger at a distance of some five horses' lengths in front of the line, which now began to advance. The spectators expected to see the light cavalry wheel with their left shoulders forward towards the Russians on their right front, whom it was supposed they were about to attack. Instead of doing so, Lord Cardigan, sitting in his saddle, with his face down the valley, galloped on straight before him. Scarcely had he gone a hundred paces, when a figure, recognised at once as that of Captain Nolan, was seen to dash out from the left of the line and to gallop diagonally across the front. The aide-de-camp was waving his sword, pointing eagerly towards the Russians on the right, who were engaged in endeavouring to carry off the guns captured from the Turks.

He had just pa.s.sed Lord Cardigan when a sh.e.l.l burst close to him, and his horse, wheeling suddenly, dashed back towards the advancing ranks.

At the same moment, his sword falling from his hand, while his arm remained extended, a fearful shriek, unlike anything human, burst from him, and his horse pa.s.sing between the 13th Light Dragoons, he at length fell to the ground a lifeless corpse. If, as it seems certain, his object had been to point out the direction the cavalry were to charge, Lord Cardigan took no notice of it, but continued on right down the valley towards the Russian guns and ma.s.ses of Russian hors.e.m.e.n at its eastern end.

"Good heavens! they will be annihilated!" exclaimed Jack. "Where are they going?"

Well might he have said that, for in a short time from the heights on either side the Russians began to pour down showers of shot and sh.e.l.l and rifle b.a.l.l.s upon the devoted band. Many were seen to drop; riderless horses came galloping back, some falling in their course, others uttering cries of agony from the wounds they had received. Here and there human forms could be distinguished, some lying in the quiet of death, others writhing on the ground or endeavouring to drag themselves back up the valley.

Now the guns in front sent forth their deadly missiles, filling the air with dense clouds of smoke, into which the cavalry charged with headlong speed.

While the Light Brigade was thus rus.h.i.+ng on apparently to utter destruction, the heavy cavalry was advancing, following Lord Lucan.

"Can he be going to lead them to the destruction to which he has consigned the light cavalry?" exclaimed one of the naval officers.

"Thank Heaven, no," observed Jack; "they have had a taste already of what they would have to go through. See, they've halted; though why he does not lead them up to attack the Russians on his right I cannot make out."

The heavy cavalry had already lost several men under the withering fire to which they had been exposed during the few minutes their advance had lasted, and they were now compelled to remain inactive while the action was going forward, as their brethren of the light cavalry had been in the morning. It was pretty evident that Lord Lucan could not be aware of the enemy on his right, or he would at once have found ample work for his heavy hors.e.m.e.n. At this juncture a portion of the French cavalry, the famous regiment D'Allonville, was observed to be moving forward, sweeping round the western base of the Fedoukine Hills, up which they charged, rus.h.i.+ng forward as fast as the uneven nature of the ground would allow them at the Russian infantry and artillery which had so long been posted there. As they approached, the artillery limbered up and galloped off to the eastward, while the infantry quickly retreated, though not till many of the gallant Frenchmen's saddles had been emptied.

Several minutes of awful suspense had pa.s.sed away since the last of the red line of light cavalry had been seen rus.h.i.+ng into the cloud of smoke.

The guns which had dealt death into their ranks had ceased to roar; but what had become of them or of the brave hors.e.m.e.n it was impossible to say. At length here and there a single horseman was seen moving slowly back, he or his charger sorely wounded. Now more and more appeared, several, alas! being seen to drop as they retired; the whole centre of the valley, as far as the eye could reach, being strewed with the bodies of men and horses. As the cloud of smoke cleared off, a dark ma.s.s only could be discerned in the distance, the glitter of sword-blades and the confused murmur of voices which came up the valley alone indicating that the fight was still raging, sounds ever and anon of musketry being added to it.

At length the numbers of those who were coming up the valley increased; among them appeared the tall form of their leader, he and his horse uninjured. Then came larger parties, followed again by single hors.e.m.e.n and men on foot, still exposed to the fire from the causeway. Presently a number of Cossacks came galloping after the fugitives, spearing some and taking others prisoners; but just then the Russian guns on the Causeway Ridge again opened, and the Cossacks were compelled to abandon the pursuit, many of those whom they had surrounded making their escape.

The naval officers now rode back to the slope at the foot of the Chersonese, on which considerable groups had a.s.sembled, and towards which the gallant men who had come out from amid that valley of death were now collecting. The officers were speaking eagerly together; surgeons who had hurried down were attending to the wounded; several parties were on their way into the valley to endeavour to bring in those who were on the ground still, unable to move.

Among the last to come in was an officer on a weary horse, which could scarcely drag itself up the valley; numerous persons went forward to meet him. "That is Lord George Paget," said one of the naval officers.

He had, with Colonel Douglas, led out the remnant of the 4th Light Dragoons and a portion of the 11th Hussars; not only had the brigade, though separated into several bands, broken through the guns, but, driving the Russian hors.e.m.e.n before them, and finally breaking through all opposition, had made their way again up the valley, pa.s.sing directly in front of a large body of Russian Lancers, and once more, under a fire of shot and sh.e.l.l, they returned to the foot of the Chersonese. The naval officers could not, naturally, tear themselves from the scene.

For some time stragglers and riderless chargers were coming in, and then there was the numbering of horses, and afterwards the melancholy roll-call. Of the gallant brigade, which half an hour before had numbered nearly 700 hors.e.m.e.n, not 200 now remained fit for duty. A hundred and thirteen men had been killed, 134 wounded; while close upon 500 horses were killed or rendered unfit for service.

Now came the sad work of searching for the slain who could be reached and brought in for burial; but numbers still lay where the fire of the Russian batteries commanded the ground, as they could not be interred till a cessation of arms was agreed on for the purpose. Many a gallant trooper hurried forward notwithstanding to search for his wounded officers or comrades, and several were thus saved from peris.h.i.+ng on the battlefield.

Another scene took place, trying to many a trooper who had managed to bring his wounded steed out of the fight. The farriers went round to examine those which had been rendered unserviceable by their hurts.

Some of the men pleaded hard for those that were condemned, in the hopes that they might recover, but the farriers knew well that they would never again be fit to carry their riders in the fight.

"Shure, it's myself would rather have been wounded than the poor baste,"

exclaimed an Irish trooper, throwing his arm round his horse's neck; "you wouldn't have shot me, at all events. Just be after letting him live for a few days, at laste, and I'll see what I can do to doctor him."

"I'm obeying orders, Pat; I tell you, if he gets stiff he'll never carry you fifty yards, much less the mile and a half you galloped over this afternoon," was the answer.

Poor Pat, whose hacked blade showed the deadly work he had been doing, burst into tears, as the farrier led off his well-beloved horse to the spot appointed for its execution, where, with upwards of forty others, it was shot.

As it was too late by this time to go on to the Guards' camp, Jack considering it his duty to sleep on board, and having had the satisfaction to hear that Sidney was well, and of sending him a message, he and his party returned to Balaclava. Tom and Archie were full of the exploits they had witnessed, and so excited did they become in describing them to their messmates, that they declared they would give up the service, and try and get their friends to obtain them commissions in the cavalry.

"Which means that your friends are to buy you commissions, which will cost them some thousands to begin with, besides finding you five or six hundred a year to enable you to live like the rest of your brother officers," observed the a.s.sistant-surgeon. "I should just like to have the fortune which is lost to his family by each of the poor fellows who bit the dust this afternoon in yonder valley of death. I'd quit the service, you may depend on that, and buy a good practice on sh.o.r.e, with enough to set up my carriage at once." The next morning Tom and Archie had changed their minds, and had resolved to continue serving their Queen and country afloat.

Jack, finding that he could not sail till the evening, went on sh.o.r.e, taking the two mids.h.i.+pmen with him, to make another attempt to visit Sidney. Having obtained the steeds they had ridden the previous day, they took the way to the Col, halting on the first high ground they reached. They saw that the Russians still retained in considerable force the redoubts they had won from the Turks.

"They seem unpleasantly close to our lines," observed Tom to Archie; "our fellows must keep pretty wide awake, or they will be taking us by surprise some fine morning."

"Trust Sir Colin Campbell for that," answered Archie; "we Highlanders are not men to be found napping in the face of an enemy."

They had not gone far when they met Lord Raglan and some of his staff, and presently afterwards Sir Colin Campbell came up, when an earnest conversation took place between the two generals. Jack was moving on with his two mids.h.i.+pmen, when an aide-de-camp overtook him, from whom he heard that it was in contemplation to abandon Balaclava, that the s.h.i.+ps'

guns and stores not in use were to be embarked, and that all the vessels not required were to go out of the harbour, or to be moved lower down towards its mouth. Disappointed again, Jack had to return on board to carry out his orders. He, however, gave the mids.h.i.+pmen leave to go as far as the Guards' camp, with directions to return immediately they had communicated with Sidney.

In high glee they rode on, determined, if possible, not to be again stopped. Having pa.s.sed through the Col, they skirted the edge of the Chersonese to the right, when a windmill, for which they were told to steer their course, appeared in sight. After going about two miles they reached the Guards' camp, on some level ground at the top of the plateau. Sidney was seated in his tent, unwashed and unshaven, wrapped in his greatcoat, looking very unlike the trim Guardsman Tom had hitherto seen him. He had just come in from the trenches. Having thanked the two mids.h.i.+pmen for the welcome provisions they brought him, he made them sit down, one on a portmanteau turned sideways, the other on his only spare camp-stool.

"So you have come to witness the glories of war, Tom," said Sidney, with a faint smile; "for my part, I confess I wish we could have another stand-up fight, and get over the work in the trenches. I can tell you it is not very pleasant to stand out in the cold for hours together, with the chance of being shot at any moment."

"Archie and I couldn't help wis.h.i.+ng that we were dragoons, with the chance of charging the enemy in the magnificent way we saw General Scarlett and his heavy cavalry do yesterday," said Tom.

"Such a chance doesn't come more than once in a campaign, and you wouldn't exactly wish to perform the feat the unfortunate light cavalry had to go through yesterday, from what I hear," answered Sidney. "Stick to the navy, lads; you have the best of it."

Luncheon was scarcely over, when a rattling fire was heard, followed by the sound of heavy guns. "There's something going forward," cried Sidney, going out of the tent. In an instant the whole camp was astir.

The bugles sounded, and the brigade of Guards fell in, orders having been received to march northward along the heights, in the direction of Inkerman. The mids.h.i.+pmen, forgetting the caution they had received to return immediately to Balaclava, hurried forward, taking their way somewhat to the left of the line on which the Guards had marched, who were thus on their right.

"Push along!" cried Tom; "we haven't much time to lose, and we must see some of the fun at all events."

The direction they had taken led them along a high spur of the hill, past a small body of soldiers, some of whom called to them; but, not hearing what they said, they went on; when, coming to the extreme end of the spur, they saw a deep glen before them. Plunging into it, they quickly climbed up on the other side, when they again found themselves on high ground. Just as they reached it, the loud rattle of musketry saluted their ears, and they caught sight of a large body of Russians making their way over another hill on their right, their advance opposed by some English light troops who were skirmis.h.i.+ng in their front. On looking back, somewhat to their right, they caught sight of a brigade of English troops drawn up, and apparently standing at their ease, spectators of the fight. They could make out, however, in front of them, two or three batteries of guns. On came the Russians; every moment it seemed as if a general battle would begin.

"I wish we had rifles," cried Tom, "we'd go and join those brave fellows, and help to keep the Russians back."

"No, no," answered Archie, "that isn't our duty; the soldiers can do very well without us."

"Well, then, let's go to our left, where I see some bluejackets," said Tom, who had been looking through his telescope; "to my mind we ought then to be about-s.h.i.+p, and find our way to where we left our horses, or we shall be getting into a sc.r.a.pe."

To reach the spot at which Tom pointed they had again to descend into another valley, and to climb up some steep height; but this was a feat they easily performed. Scarcely, however, had they got there than they caught sight of a body of redcoats farther down the glen, firing rapidly as they retired before a dense ma.s.s of Russians. The English soldiers they made out in a short time to be Guardsmen, who, though retreating, were doing so with a definite object, and were certainly not running away. The mids.h.i.+pmen soon saw, a little in the rear of where they were standing, a trench towards which apparently the Guards were making their way. Archie suggested that they also should get behind the trench, and there do their best to help the Guards in resisting the enemy. Tom agreed that it was the wisest thing they could do. Scarcely had they got behind it than the English soldiers, numbering no more than sixty men, who had hitherto been retreating, came to a halt; and, getting behind the trench, stood shoulder to shoulder, as if determined to bar the farther progress of the Russian column. In vain the Russian officers endeavoured to get their men to advance; whenever they did so, they were met by a rattling fire, and a bristling line of bayonets.

Thousands might have been in their rear, but they could make no impression on the gallant little band.

Scarcely had the Guards come to a halt than from the very midst of the Russian column two persons sprang out, and were received in their midst with a shout of joy. They proved to be one of their captains and a sergeant, whom they supposed had been taken prisoners or killed by the Russians. The officer advised the mids.h.i.+pmen to go, as they could do no good where they were.

"But before we wish you good-bye, sir, may we ask how you managed to get out alive from among so many Russians?" inquired Tom.

"In a very unexpected manner," answered the officer. "I had gone on with the sergeant to some distance ahead of the men, when, on turning an angle, we found ourselves confronted by a whole ma.s.s of Russians hurrying up at a great rate, apparently intending to effect a surprise.

The first men we saw fired at us, and, after we had retreated up the hill, several followed, intending to make us prisoners, but we knocked them over with the b.u.t.ts of our rifles. We then found ourselves hurried along by the advancing ma.s.ses of the enemy. As we had on our greatcoats, the fresh men did not recognise us, and, by taking care not to keep near the same persons longer than we could help, we were carried on till we caught sight of our own men directly in front of us; and the Russians thinking we were going to lead them against their foes, we were able, without a blow aimed at us, to leap into the midst of our friends."

"It was indeed a wonderful escape," said Tom; "but I wish you would let us stop and help you; we could use our rifles as well as your men."

To this the officer would not consent, again urging them to make good their retreat while they could do so without risk. After going a little way up the valley, they began to ascend the steep side of the hill to a place where they were protected from the shot which flew high over the heads of the gallant band below. On reaching the summit, they saw before them a battery manned by English sailors. They made their way into it, and as it was upon high ground, they could see, on their right, vast ma.s.ses of Russians, who, having driven back the English skirmishers, now crowned the top of a high hill. The enemy soon afterwards, bringing up several field-pieces, began to fire at the English brigade in their front. Scarcely had they begun to do so than the English guns rapidly replied, their shot taking fearful effect upon the closely-pressed body of Russians, which seemed rent and torn in every direction by the iron showers hurled into their midst. For some time the Russians stood their ground bravely, and, more ma.s.ses coming on, they threatened not only to cut off the gallant little band in the valley below, but to surround the battery in which the mids.h.i.+pmen were posted, and towards which several of the enemy's guns were now directed.

The shot came flying into and around it; the bluejackets who manned the guns returned the fire with interest. But first one was struck, then another and another, and there appeared every probability that the battery would be overwhelmed.

Dangerous as was the position into which the mids.h.i.+pmen had got, they were ashamed to retreat. Several more men had been killed, when a sergeant hurried into the battery, ordering the naval officer in command to spike his guns and retreat. "When my captain directs me to do so, I will obey," was the answer. "In the meantime, this gun will be of service." As he spoke, the Russians, who had been driven from the hill on the right, were seen climbing up the sides of the valley, threatening to take the battery in reverse. Not a moment was to be lost; by immense exertion part of the parapet was thrown down. "Lend a hand, all of you," cried the naval officer. His appeal was responded to. The gun being slued round by the sailors and a few soldiers, the mids.h.i.+pmen exerting themselves with hearty goodwill, it was fired directly down upon the enemy with such effect that they immediately abandoned their intention of making their way in that direction, and retreated with the rest of the attacking force towards Sebastopol.