Let us now turn to the more imposing body of Eussian horsemen, who, confident in their overwhelming superiority of numbers, are descending the hill ground in our front, in spite of a well-directed fire from the Marine batteries on the hills, evidently bent on the utter annihilation of the handful of British squadrons opposed to them. On they come, steadily, but slackening their pace, as they approach, in two lines, each nearly double as long as ours, and thrice as deep; but, scarcely have they reached the plain, when the English trumpets ring out the charge, and the Heavy Cavalry Brigade, under Bi'igadier-General Scarlett, advances to meet them. In front ai'e the Scots Greys and the Enniskillen Dragoons, with the 5th Dragoon Guards supporting them in second line, aided by a flank attack of the 4th Dragoon Guards.
On dash the Greys and Enniskilleners, burning with ardour, and urged by a spirit of nobSfe and fraternal emulation; and as they near the hostile squadrons a clear, ringing cheer, whose thrilling tones waken simultaneous yet contrasting echoes in the hearts of friend and foe, rises to the welkin, and dominates for the moment over the deep thunder of the artillery; and now —
" the storm
Of galloping hoofs bare on the ridge of spears
And riders front to front, until they closed
In the middle with the crash of shivering points,
And thunder. On his haunches rose the steed,
And into fiery splinters leaped the lance.
And out of stricken helmets sprang the fire.
Part sat like rocks: part reeled, but kept their seats:
Part rolled on the earth, and rose again and drew:
Part stumbled, mixed with floundering horses.
With stroke on stroke horses and horsemen came, As comes a pillar of electric cloud,
THE EAST.
Playing off the roofs, and sucking up the drains,
And shadowing down the champain till it strilces
On a wood, and tal^os and breaks, and cracks and splits,
And twists the grain with such a roar that the earth
Eeels, and the herdsmen cry."
The first line of the Eussians received the impetuous attack right in the centre, and strove, Hke a huge serpent coiHng up its vast extremities, to overlap and strangle its foe in a fatal embrace; but in vain; the deadly folds are severed at countless points by the relentless steel of the assailant, who, while the disjecta memhva are striving with a languid vitality to reunite for fresh defence, has won his resistless way through the very heart of the supporting squadrons. The work thus nobly commenced was as gallantly completed, and while the enemy were attempting to rally from the terrific shock of the first charge, the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards rushed on with the force of a pent-up torrent, and with an enthusiasm only equalled by that of their glorious predecessors, in a few moments turned the first discomfiture of the Russian cavalry into an utter and disgraceful rout.
"Thus," says Lord Lucan, "under every disadvantage of ground, these eight small squadrons succeeded in defeating and dispersing a body of cavalry estimated at three times their number, and more; " and, it may be added, with a loss which was absolutely trifling in comparison to the results obtained. Up to this period, with the. exception of the capture of the redoubts, a loss which there was every apparent probability of being able to remedy before the close of the engagement, the advantage had been decidedly on our side, and nothing had occurred to presage the catastrophe so shortly to occur, and beside whose tragic interest the minor incidents of this most eventful day sink into utter comj^arative insignificance.
At ten o'clock, the Guards and Highlanders, composing the First Division, and who had been ordered up as soon as the threatening movements of the Russians were known at headquarters, arrived on the plains, and were shortly afterwards followed by the Fourth Division under Sir George Cathcart. The Cavalry were then on the left of our position facing the enemy, the Light Cavalry Brigade being on the left flank forward, and the Heavy Brigade en echelon in reserve, with guns on the right; — the Fourth Division occupied the centre — and the First Division took the extreme right, facing the captured redoubts, from which the Russians opened on them with such guns as had not been spiked. A small body of the Chasseurs d'Afrique also arrived at this moment, and took their place in advance of the ridges on our left. Lord Raglan, who had arrived on the field shortly after eight o'clock, and who had watched with the most intense anxiety the events hitherto narrated, now perceived a movement on the part of the enemy with the object of carrying off the guns which had been abandoned by the Turks, and, desirous to