Part 14 (2/2)
”Nonsense! I will see to that with the adjutant. We do not sail for two hours at least; you will have plenty of time.”
Sergeant Hyde, although unwillingly, accepted the trust, and thus met Mariquita for the first time.
CHAPTER X.
A GENERAL ACTION.
A long low line of coast trending along north and south as far as the eye could reach; nearest at hand a strip of beach, smooth s.h.i.+ngle cast up by the surf of westerly gales; next, a swelling upland, dotted with grazing cattle, snug homesteads, and stacks of hay and corn; beyond, a range of low hills, steep-faced and reddish-hued.
The Crimea! The land of promise; the great goal to which the thoughts of every man in two vast hosts had been turned for many months past.
On the furze-clad common of Chobham camp, on the long voyage out, at Gallipoli, while eating out their hearts at irritating inaction; on the sweltering, malarious Bulgarian plains, fever-stricken and cholera-cursed; at Varna, waiting impatiently, almost hopelessly, for orders to sail, twenty thousand British soldiers of all ranks had longed to look upon this Crimean sh.o.r.e. It was here, so ran the common rumour, that the chief power of the mighty Czar was concentrated; here stood Sebastopol, the famous fortress, the great stronghold and a.r.s.enal of Southern Russia; here, at length, the opposing forces would join issue, and the allies, after months of tedious expectation, would find themselves face to face with their foe.
No wonder, then, that hearts beat high as our men gazed eagerly upon the Crimea. The prospect southward was still more calculated to stir emotion. The whole surface of that Eastern sea was covered with the navies of the Western Powers. The long array stretched north and south for many a mile; it extended westward, far back to the distant horizon, and beyond: a countless forest of masts, a jumble of sails and smoke-stacks, a crowd of fighting-s.h.i.+ps and transports, three-deckers, frigates, great troopers, ocean steamers, full-rigged s.h.i.+ps--an Armada such as the world had never seen before. A grand display of naval power, a magnificent expedition marshalled with perfect precision, moving by day in well-kept parallel lines; at night, motionless, and studding the sea with a ”second heaven of stars.”
Day dawned propitious on the morning of the landing: a bright, and soon fierce, sun rose on a cloudless sky. At a given signal the boats were lowered--a nearly countless flotilla; the troops went overboard silently and with admirable despatch, and all again, by signal, started in one long perfect line for the sh.o.r.e. Within an hour the boats were beached, the troops sprang eagerly to land, and the invasion was completed without accident, and unopposed.
The Royal Picts, coming straight from Gibraltar, had joined the expedition at Varna without disembarking. The regiment had thus been long on s.h.i.+p-board, but it had lost none of its smartness, and formed up on the beach with as much precision as on the South Barracks parade. It fell into its place at once, upon the right of General Wilders's brigade, and that gallant officer was not long in welcoming it to his command.
Everyone was in the highest health and spirits, overflowing with excitement and enthusiasm. At the appearance of their general, the men, greatly to his annoyance, set up a wild, irregular cheer.
”Silence, men, silence! It is most unsoldierlike. Keep your shouting till you charge. Here, Colonel Blythe, we will get rid of a little of this superfluous energy. Advance, in skirmis.h.i.+ng order, to the plateau, and hold it. There are Cossacks about, and the landing is not yet completed. But do not advance beyond the plateau. You understand?”
The regiment promptly executed the manoeuvre indicated, and gained the rising ground. The view thence inland was more extended, and at no great distance a road crossed, along which was seen a long line of native carts, toiling painfully, and escorted by a few of the enemy's horse.
”We must have those carts.” The speaker was a staff-officer, the quartermaster-general, an eagle-eyed, decisive-speaking, short, slender man, who was riding a splendid charger, which he sat to perfection. ”Colonel Blythe! send forward your right company at the double, and capture them.”
”My brigadier ordered me not to advance,” replied the old colonel, rather stolidly.
”Do as I tell you; I will take the responsibility. But look sharp!”
Already, no doubt under orders from the escort, the drivers were unharnessing their teams, with the idea of making off with the cattle.
The skirmishers of the Royal Picts advanced quickly within range, and opened fire--the first shots these upon Russian soil--and some of them took effect. The carts were abandoned, and speedily changed masters.
”We shall want those carts,” said old Hyde, abruptly, to his friend the sergeant-major. They had watched this little episode together.
”Yes, I suppose they will come in useful.”
”I should think so. Are you aware that this fine force of ours is quite without transport? At least, I have seen none. Do you know what that means?”
”That we shall have to be our own beasts of burden,” said McKay, laughing, as he touched his havresack. It was comfortably lined with biscuit and cold salt pork--three days' rations, and the only food that he or his comrades were likely to get for some time.
”I'm not afraid of roughing it,” said the old soldier. ”I have done that often enough. We have got our greatcoats and blankets, and I daresay we shan't hurt; but I have seen something of campaigning, and I tell you honestly I don't like the way in which we have started on this job.”
”What an inveterate old grumbler you are, Hyde! Besides, what right have you to criticise the general and his plans?”
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