On the 25th, then, the English and French, leaving the Belbek, began to march in a south-easterly direction, which soon brought them into a wood so thick and entangled as to present serious obstacles to the orderly movement of troops, and in which part of them were actually compelled to direct their movements by the aid of the compass. On emerging from its intricacies Lord Kaglan, who was riding considerably in advance with his staff, came suddenly upon a large body of Russian infantry, which proved to be the rear-guard of a strong detachment, also executing a "flank movement" on Bakschiserai.
Our Artillery and Cavalry soon came up, and, after a few rounds from the guns and a charge from the Cavahy, the astonished Russians once more took to their heels, without having inflicted the slightest loss on their opponents, and leaving behind them in their flight an enormous quantity of baggage of every description, and several waggons laden with powder. The victors in this easy skirmish continued their march, and halted for the night in the little hamlet of Traktir, on the Tchernaya, since celebrated as the scene of the complete discomfiture of the Russians on the 16th of August, in their obstinate and repeated efforts to carry the bridge which crosses the river at that point, and thus to turn the position of the French and Sardinians. On the following day Lord Eaglan reached Balaklava, and after a faint show of resistance from the Genoese fort, whose ruins crown one of the heights overlooking the harbour, but which was speedily subdued by the fire of Her Majesty's ship Agamemnon, and of the Eiflea and some of the Light Division, the place surrendered at discretion, and the Commandant, with the fifty or sixty men who formed its garrison, were made prisoners. The Acjamemnon had arrived thus opportunely, thanks to the energy and enterprise of Lieutenant Maxse, R.N., who, on the preceding day, volunteered to Lord Raglan to return alone' through a difficult country infested with Cossacks, and to communicate the movements of the Armies to the Fleets. During the march of the 25th the French had been constantly taking ground to the left, and thus, when the Allies sat down before Sebastopol, the relative position of the two Armies, which had been preserved hitherto from the landing, was reversed, the left attack falling to the lot of the French, who immediately established their base of operations at Kamiesch, and the surrounding creeks, while the whole of the right attack, from Inkermann to the ravine at the head of Dockyard Creek, was at first undertaken by the English. Considerable disappointment was at first felt by both Armies, when it was found that no immediate assault was intended, but that recourse would be had to the slower and less exciting operations of a regular siege; and the voice of more than one high in authority in the British army was, it is stated, raised in favour of the prompter and more vigorous course of action. The counsels of caution, however, prevailed, though it is questionable whether, could the trials and disasters of the coming winter have been foreseen, any risks would not have been encountered for the sake of avoiding, if possible, such terrible calamities. There is considerable discrepancy of opinion as to what the fortifications on the South side actually were at this period, but the only permanent ones were the Malakoff Tower and a low crenellated wall on the western side of Dockyard Creek.
From the moment, however, that the South side was threatened, the Russians employed themselves day and night in throwing up earthworks and batteries, which proceeded more than j)ari passu with our own siege-works, since the enemy pressed even women and children into the service, thus rendering available the whole population of the town. Every preparation indeed was now being made on the part of the besieged for a desperate defence, and the extraordinary resolution adopted and carried out by Princff Menschikoff, of sinking several of the largest ships of the Russian Navy across the great mouth of the harbour, announced that no sacrifice would be shrunk from which could contribute to this end.
THE EAST.
Aktiar, the modern Sebastopol, was long an almost unnoticed village on the southern shore of the harbour, and would appear to have been indebted for its present eminence to the piercing eye and quick military intuition of Suwarrow, that strange compound,
"Hero, buffoon, half demon, <and half dirt,"