V.

or three loose horses came up, and Wombwell, darting CHAP. suddenly forward from between the Russian Lancers who had captured him, seized and mounted one of these riderless chargers, and galloped forward to meet the 4th Light Dragoons, which he then saw retiring. He succeeded in joining the regiment, and, with it, returned to our lines.

of Captain

When Captain Morris (unhorsed and grievously The escape wounded) found himself surrounded by Russian dra- Morris. goons, it was to an officer, as we saw, that he surrendered his sword.* That officer, however, quickly disappeared, and then the Russian horsemen-Morris took them to be Cossacks-rushed in upon their prisoner, and not only robbed him of all he had about him, but convinced him by their manner and bearing that they were inclined to despatch him. Morris, therefore, broke away from them, and ran into the midst of the thickest smoke he could see. Then, a riderless horse passing close to him, Morris caught at the rein, and was dragged by it a short distance, but afterwards fell and became unconscious.

Upon regaining his senses Morris became aware of the presence of a Cossack, who seemed as though he had just passed him, but was looking back in a way which seemed to indicate that he had seen the English officer move, and would therefore despatch him. Morris gathered strength from the emergency, found means to get on his feet, and once more sought shelter in the thickest smoke near him. Whilst standing there, he found himself almost run down by another * See ante, p. 290.

VOL. IV.

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V.

CHAP. loose charger, but was able to catch hold of the horse's rein, and to mount him. He turned the horse's head up the valley, and rode as fast as he could; but just as he fancied he was getting out of the cross-fire his new horse was shot under him, and fell with him to the ground, giving him a heavy fall, and rolling over his thigh. Then again for some time Morris was unconscious; and when he regained his senses, he found that the dead horse was lying across his leg, and keeping him fastened to the ground. He then set to 'work' to extricate his leg, and at length succeeded in doing so. Then, getting on his feet, he ran on as well as he could, stumbling and getting up over and over again, but always taking care to be moving up hill, till at last, when quite worn out, he found himself close to the dead body of an English Staff-officer -the body, he presently saw, of his friend Nolan.

Morris
and Nolan.

Remembering that Nolan had fallen at a very early period in advance of the brigade, Morris inferred that he must be nearly within the reach of his fellow-countrymen; so, being now quite exhausted, he laid himself down beside the body of his friend, and again became unconscious.

Besides the three deep ugly wounds received in his head, Morris, in the course of these his struggles for life had suffered a longitudinal fracture or split of the right arm, and several of his ribs were broken.*

There was a circumstance in the lives of Nolan and Morris which made it the more remarkable that the

* The longitudinal splitting of the arm was of the kind, which, it seems, is scientifically described as a 'Saliswitch fracture.'

V.

dead body of the one and the shattered frame of the CHAP. other should be thus lying side by side. On the flank march, Morris and Nolan, who were great allies, had communicated to each other a common intention of volunteering for any special service that might be required in the course of the campaign; and they found that each of them, in anticipation of the early death that might result from such an enterprise, had written a letter which, in that event, was to be delivered. Morris had addressed a letter to his young wife, Nolan had addressed one to his mother. Under the belief that the opportunity for hazardous service of the kind they were seeking might be close at hand, the two friends had exchanged their respective letters: and now, when they lay side by side, the one dead and the other unconscious, each of them still had in his pocket the letter entrusted to him by the other.*

When Morris recovered his consciousness he found himself in an English hospital tent.† Terribly as he had been wounded and shattered, he did not succumb. +

* The letter found in the pocket of Nolan-i.e., the one addressed to Mrs Morris by her husband-was sent through the usual channels; but it is presumed that counteracting intelligence was sent by the same post. + I believe that the satisfaction of having taken the requisite steps for bringing in the shattered frame of his commanding officer is justly enjoyed by Sergeant O'Hara, the same officer whom we saw exerting himself at the battery captured by the first line. He had been informed by Private George Smith of the spot where Morris lay.

Up to the commencement of the campaign Morris had been keeping himself in an almost constant state of high training;' and, by some, the possession of the bodily force that was needed for enabling him to go through what he did has been attributed in part to that cause,

CHAP.

V.

The rem

nants of the brigade at

Amongst the remnant of our Light Cavalry, now once more gathering together, there was, of course, a sense of the havoc that had been made in what, half an hour before, was Lord Cardigan's splendid brigade; this time. but, for a while, this feeling was much interrupted by the joy of seeing comrade after comrade trail in from out of the fight, and in spite of the ruin their force had incurred, the men were from time to time cheering.

Lord Car

digan's

the men.

When the remnants of the brigade had formed up, address to Lord Cardigan came forward and said, 'Men! it is a mad-brained trick,* but it is no fault of mine.' Some of the men answered, 'Never mind, my lord! we are ready to go again.' Lord Cardigan replied, 'No, no, men! you have done enough.'

It was upon one of the slopes which look southward towards Balaclava that the muster took place; and, for some time, stragglers and riderless chargers were coming in at intervals; but at length there was a numbering of horses, and afterwards the melancholy roll-call began. As often as it appeared that to the name called out there was no one pre

though the indomitable courage and determination of the man were probably his chief resource. Morris was able the following year to take part again in war service, and did not die till the July of 1858. The suppression of the Bengal mutinies had been the task which, in 1857, drew him and his regiment to the East; and it was to the climate of India that at length he surrendered his life. He was much thought of in our army as a valorous and skilled cavalry officer, and with so high a reputation for straightforwardness and accuracy, that once, when a general officer imprudently ventured to put himself in conflict with Morris upon a matter of fact, there was a smile at the 'impar congres'sus,' no one who knew Morris consenting to imagine it possible that he could be the one who mistook.

V.

sent to answer, men contributed what knowledge CHA P. they had as to the fate of their missing comrade, saying when and where they last had seen him. More or less truly, if they knew it not before, men learned the fate of their friends from this dismal inquest. And then also came the time for the final The killing of the and deliberate severance of many a friendship between disabled the dragoon and his charger; for the farriers, with their pistols in hand, were busied in the task of shooting the ruined horses.

*

horses.

suffered

Upon counting the brigade, it appeared that the The losses force, which numbered 673 horsemen when it went by the brigade. into action, had been reduced to a mounted strength of 195; and there was one regiment, it seems, namely the 13th Light Dragoons, which, after the charge, mustered only ten mounted troopers. From a later examination it resulted that, in officers and men killed and wounded, the brigade had suffered losses to the number of 247, of whom 113 had been killed and 134 wounded; and that (including 43 horses shot as unserviceable on account of their wounds) the brigade had 475 horses killed, besides having 42 others wounded.t

It has been stated by one who had good means of

* It will be vain to seek for any correspondence between the result of the first muster and the casualties. Many wounded men and wounded horses might be present at the muster; and on the other hand, neither the unwounded men whose chargers had been killed, nor the unwounded horses which came back into our lines without their riders would contribute to 'the mounted strength' as ascertained at the first muster.

+ These figures may not agree exactly with other returns, but I have good reason for believing them to be accurate.