V.

It was well perhaps, after all, that Scarlett, in lead- CHAP. ing the charge, was extravagantly ahead of his troops; for it seems he was able to drive so far into the column as to be protected by the very bodies of his adversaries from the shock which must needs be inflicted by the Greys and Inniskillings when charging the front of the column.

Scarlett

column.

From the moment when the Brigadier had thus General established himself in the midst of his foes, it resulted, in the of course, that his tenure of life was by the sword, and not by the sword which is a metaphor, but by that which is actual, and of steel. Scarlett, it seems, had no pretension to be more than a passably good swordsman, and he had the disadvantage of being nearsighted; but he knew how to handle his weapon, and in circumstances which exposed him to attack from several at the same time, he had more need of such unflagging industry of the sword-arm as might keep the blade flashing here, there, and on all sides in quickly successive whirls, than of the subtle, the delicate skill which prepares men for combats of two.

encounter

with the

Russian

officer in

front of

the col

umn.

It was partly, perhaps, from the circumstance of Elliot's Elliot's approaching him on the side of his sword-arm that the Russian officer in front of the column chose the aide-de-camp for his antagonist instead of the chief; but, be that as it may, he faced Elliot as he approached, and endeavoured to cut him down. Evading or parrying the cut, Elliot drove his sword through the body of the assailant, and the swiftness with which he was galloping up whilst delivering this thrust was so great that the blade darted in to the

V.

CHAP. very hilt; but until the next moment, when Elliot's charger had rushed past, the weapon, though held fast by its owner, still could not be withdrawn. Thence it resulted that the Russian officer was turned round in his saddle by the leverage of the sword which transfixed him. In the next instant, Elliot, still rushing forward with great impetus, drove into the column between the two troopers who most nearly confronted him, and then, with a now reeking sword, began cleaving his way through the ranks. Shegog and the trumpeter came crashing in after; so that not only Scarlett himself, but all the three horsemen who constituted his immediate following, were now engulfed in the column.

The three

horsemen

who rode

with Scarlett were now all,

like their chief, engulfed in the col

umn.

The ancient friendship between the Scots

the Innis

killing Dragoons.

A singular friendship had long subsisted between the Scots Greys and the Inniskilling Dragoons. It dated from the time of that famous brigade in which Greys and three cavalry regiments were so brought together as to express by their aggregate title the union of the three kingdoms, yet offer a sample of each ;* but the circumstance of the Greys and the Inniskillings having been brigaded together in the great days can hardly be treated as alone sufficing to account for the existence and duration of this romantic attachment; for it so happens that the sentiment which thus bound together the thistle and the shamrock has never included the rose. The friendship between the Scottish and the Irish regiment had the ardour of personal friendship, and a tenacity not liable to be relaxed by

* The Union Brigade.' The regiment which in that historic brigade represented England was the 'Royals.'

V.

mere death; for a regiment great in history bears so CHAP. far a resemblance to the immortal gods as to be old in power and glory, yet have always the freshness of youth. Long intervals of years often passed in which the Greys and the Inniskillings remained parted by distance, but whenever it became known that by some new change of quarters the two regiments would once more be brought together, there used to be great joy and preparation; and whether the in-marching regiment might be the Greys or the Inniskillings, it was sure to be welcomed by the other one with delight and with lavish attentions.

When last the sworn friends were together in what they might deign to call fighting, they were under the field-glass of the great Napoleon. Then, as now, the Greys charged in first line, and on the left of the Inniskillings.*

acteristics

Of the two comrade regiments, each had its distin- The distinguishguishing characteristics. The Inniskillings, with still ing charsome remaining traces in their corps of the old war- of the two like Orange enthusiasm, were eager, fiery, impetuous.† regiments. The Scots Greys, with a great power of self-restraint, were yet liable to be wrought upon by their native inborn desire for a fight, till it raged like a consuming passion. From the exceeding tenacity of their nature,

* It had been intended by Lord Uxbridge that they should act in support, but circumstances superseded his directions, and caused them to charge in first line.

+ The proportion of the regiment recruited from Ireland was very much smaller than it had been in former times, but still the Orange element, coupled with the force of regimental tradition, was enough to warrant the statement contained in the text.

CHAP. it resulted that the combative impulses, when long V. baffled by circumstances, were cumulative in their

The tem

per of the

Greys at

this time.

Unavoidable slow

advance

in its earlier moments.

effect; and the events of the day-the capture of British guns under the eyes of our horsemen-the marching, the countermarching, the marching again, without ever striking a blow, and finally, the dainty dressing of ranks under the eyes of the enemy's hostall these antecedent trials of patience had been heating and still heating the furnace by the very barriers which kept down the flame. If, with the Inniskillings, the impetuosity I spoke of was in a great measure aggregate, that yearning of the Scots for close quarters was, with many, the passion of the individual man, and so plain to the eye that the trooper became something other than a component part of a machine-became visibly a power of himself. English officers who were combative enough in their own way, yet saw with wonder not unmingled with a feeling like awe that long-pent-up rage for the fight which was consuming the men of the Greys.

In the earlier part of the advance now at length ness of the commenced by the three squadrons, there was nothing that could much impress the mind of an observer who failed to connect it in his mind with the prospect of what was to follow; and a somewhat young critic was heard to condemn the advance by declaring it 'tame.' The truth is-and that we discovered before, whilst tracing the steps of Scarlett-that the Greys had to pick their way as best they could through the impediments of the camp; and although Colonel Dalrymple White with the 2d squadron of the Inniskillings had

V.

clear ground before him, he was too good an officer CHAP. to allow the fiery troops he was leading to break from their alignment with the obstructed regiment on his left.

of the

tary exten

sion of

our line

whilst ad

vancing.

But when the Greys got clear of the camping-ground, Progress both they and the Inniskilling squadron on their right advance. began to gather pace; and when the whole line had settled into its gallop, there began to take effect that spontaneous change of structure which often attends cavalry charges, for the front rank began to spread Involunout, and from time to time the rear-rank men, as opportunities offered, pushed forward into the openings thus made for them. This change was carried so far that in large portions of the line, if not through its whole extent, the two ranks which had begun the advance were converted by degrees into one. The three hundred,' whilst advancing as they did at first in two ranks, were enormously outflanked by the enemy, and it seems that from this circumstance men were instinctively led to give freer scope to the impulses which tended to a prolongation of front.

sian horse

There was now but small space between our slender The Rusline of three hundred' and the dark serried mass men began which had received their leader into its depths; and to fireresorting the Russian horsemen-so ill-generalled as to be still arms. kept at the halt-began here and there firing their carbines. Colonel Griffith, commanding the Greys, was so struck, it seems, by a shot in the head as to be prevented from continuing to lead on his regiment. The two squadron-leaders of the Greys were in

* See footnote ante, p. 152.