The actual portion of the latter followed those who bore the scaling ladders, twenty of which were apportioned5 to the Buffs; and no time was to be lost now, as the Russians from the Malakoff, inflamed6 by blood, defeat, and fury, were rushing down in hordes7 to aid in the defence of the Redan. In crossing the open ground between our trenches8 and the point of attack, some of the ladders were lost or left behind, in consequence of their bearers being shot down; yet we reached the edge of the ditch and planted several without much difficulty, till the Russians, after flocking to the traverses which enfiladed them, opened a murderous fusillade upon those who were crossing or getting into the embrasures, when we planted them on the other side; and then so many officers and men perished, that Windham and three of the former were the only leaders of parties who got in untouched.
The scene in the ditch, where the dead and the dying, the bleeding, the panting, and exhausted10 lay over each other three or four deep, was beyond description; and at a place called the Picket11 House was one solitary12 English lady, watching this terrible assault, breathless and pale, putting up prayers with her white lips; and her emotions at such a time may be imagined when I mention that she was the wife of an officer engaged in the assault, Colonel H----, whose body was soon after borne past her on a stretcher.
When my ladder was planted firmly, I went up with the stormers, men of all regiments14 mixed pell-mell, Buffs and Royal Welsh, 90th and 97th. A gun, depressed15 and loaded with grape, belched16 a volume of flame and iron past me as I sprang, sword in hand, into the embrasure, firing my revolver almost at random17; and the stormers, their faces flushed with ardour and fierce excitement, cheering, stabbing with the bayonet, smashing with the butt-end, or firing wildly, swarmed18 in at every aperture19, and bore the Russians back; but I, being suddenly wedged among a number of killed and wounded men, between the cannon and the side of the embrasure could neither advance nor retire, till dragged out by the strong hand of poor Charley Gwynne, who fell a minute after, shot dead; and for some seconds, while in that most exposed and terrible position, I saw a dreadful scene of slaughter20 before me; for there were dense21 gray masses of the Russian infantry22, their usually stolid23 visages inflamed by hate, ferocity, by fiery24 vodka, and religious rancour, the front ranks kneeling as if to receive cavalry25, and all the rear ranks, which were three or four deep, firing over each other's heads, exactly as we are told the Scottish brigades of the "Lion of the North" did at Leipzig, to the annihilation of those of Count Tilly.
We were fairly IN this terrible Redan; but the weakness of our force was soon painfully apparent, and in short, when the enemy made a united rush at us, they drove us all into an angle of the work, and ultimately over the parapet to the outer slope, where men of the Light and Second Divisions were packed in a dense mass and firing into it, which they continued to do even till their ammunition26 became expended27, when fresh supplies from the pouches28 of those in rear were handed to those in front. An hour and a half of this disastrous29 strife30 elapsed, "the Russians having cleared the Redan," to quote the trite31 description of Russell, "but not yet being in possession of its parapets, when they made a second charge with bayonets under a heavy fire of musketry, and throwing great quantities of large stones, grape and small round shot, drove those in front back upon the men in rear, who were thrown into the ditch. The gabions in the parapet now gave way, and rolled down with those who were upon them; and the men in rear, thinking all was lost, retired32 into the fifth parallel."
Many men were buried alive in the ditch by the falling earth; Dora's admirer, poor little Torn Clavell of the 19th, among others, perished thus horribly. Just as we reached our shelter, there to breathe, re-form, and await supports, I saw poor Phil Caradoc reel wildly and fall, somewhat in a heap, at the foot of the gabions. In a moment I was by his side. His sword-arm had been upraised as he was endeavouring to rally the men, and a ball had passed--as it eventually proved--through his lungs; though a surgeon, who was seated close by with all his apparatus33 and instruments, assured him that it was not so.
"I know better--something tells me that it is all over with me--and that I am bleeding internally," said he, with difficulty. "Hardinge, old fellow--lift me up--gently, so--so--thank you."
I passed an arm under him, and raised his head, removing at the same time his heavy Fusileer cap. There was a gurgle in his throat, and the foam34 of agony came on his handsome brown moustache.
"I am going fast," said he, grasping my hand; "God bless you, Harry35--see me buried alone."
"If I escape--but there is yet hope for you, Phil."
But he shook his head and said, while his eye kindled36,
"If I was not exactly the first man in, I was not long behind Windham. I risked my life freely," he added, in a voice so low that I heard him with difficulty amid the din9 of the desultory37 fire, and the mingled38 roar of other sounds in and around the Malakoff; "yet I should like to have gone home and seen my dear old mother once again, in green Llangollen--and her--she, you know who I mean, Harry. But God has willed it all otherwise, and I suppose it is for the best. . . . Turn me on my side . . . dear fellow--so. . . . I am easier now."
As I did what he desired, his warm blood poured upon my hand, through the orifice in his poor, faded, and patched regimentals, never so much as then like "the old red coat that tells of England's glory."
"Have the Third or Fourth Division come yet? Where are the Scots Royals?" he asked, eagerly, and then, without waiting for a reply, added, very faintly, "If spared to see her--Winny Lloyd--tell her that my last thoughts were of her--ay, as much as of my poor mother . . . and . . . that though she will get a better fellow than I----"
"That is impossible, Phil!"
"She can never get one who . . . . who loves her more. The time is near now when I shall be but a memory to her and you . . . . and to all our comrades of the old 23rd."
His lips quivered and his eyes closed, as he said, with something of his old pleasant smile,
"I am going to heaven, I hope, Harry--if I have not done much good in the world, I have not done much harm; and in heaven I'll meet with more red coats, I believe, than black ones . . . . and tell her . . . tell Winny----"
What I was to tell her I never learned; his voice died away, and he never spoke39 again; for just as the contest became fiercer between the French and the masses of Russians--temporarily released from the Redan or drawn40 from the city--his head fell over on one side, and he expired. I closed his eyes, for there was yet time to do so. Poor Phil Caradoc! I looked sadly for a minute on the pale and stiffening41 face of my old friend and jovial42 chum, and saw how fast the expression of bodily pain passed away from the whitening forehead. I could scarcely assure myself that he was indeed gone, and so suddenly; that his once merry eyes and laughing lips would open never again. Turning away, I prepared once more for the assault, and then, for the first time, I perceived Lieutenants43 Dyneley and Somerville of ours lying near him; the former mortally wounded and in great pain, the latter quite dead.
My soul was full of a keen longing44 for vengeance45, to grapple with the foe46 once more, foot to foot and face to face. The blood was fairly up in all our hearts; for the Russians had now relined their own breastworks, where a tall officer in a gray capote made himself very conspicuous47 by his example and exertions48. He was at last daring enough to step over the rampart and tear down a wooden gabion, to make a kind of extempore embrasure through which an additional field-piece might be run.
"As you are so fond of pot-firing," said Colonel Windham to the soldiers, with some irritation49 at the temporary repulse50, "why the deuce don't you shoot that Russian?"
On looking through my field-glass, to my astonishment51 I discovered that he was Tolstoff. Sergeant52 Rhuddlan of ours now levelled his rifle over the bank of earth which protected the parallel, took a steady aim, and fired. Tolstoff threw up his arms wildly, and his sword glittered as it fell from his hand. He then wheeled round, and fell heavily backward into the ditch--which was twenty feet broad and ten feet deep--dead; at least, I never saw or heard of him again.
Just as a glow of fierce exultation53, pardonable enough, perhaps, at such a time (and remembering all the circumstances under which this distinguished54 Muscovite and I had last met and parted), thrilled through me, I experienced a terrible shock--a shock that made me reel and shudder55, with a sensation as if a hot iron had pierced my left arm above the elbow. It hung powerless by my side, and then I felt my own blood trickling56 heavily over the points of my fingers!
"Wounded! My God, hit at last!" was my first thought; and I lost much blood before I could get any one, in that vile57 burly-burly, to tie my handkerchief as a temporary bandage round the limb to stanch58 the flow.
I was useless now, and worse than useless, as I was suffering greatly, but I could not leave the parallel for the hospital huts, and remained there nearly to dusk fell. Before that, I had seen Caradoc interred59 between the gabions; and there he lay in his hastily-scooped grave, uncoffined and unknelled, his heart's dearest longings60 unfulfilled, his brightest hopes and keenest aspirations61 crushed out like his young life; and the evanescent picture, the poor photo of the girl he had loved in vain, buried with him; and when poor Phil was being covered up, I remembered his anecdote62 about the dead officer, and the letter that was replaced in his breast.
Well, my turn for such uncouth63 obsequies might come soon enough now. In the affair of the Redan, if I mistake not, 146 officers and men of ours, the Welsh Fusileers, were killed and wounded; and every other regiment13 suffered in the same proportion.
The attack was to be renewed at five in the morning by the Guards and Highlanders, under Lord Clyde of gallant65 memory, then Sir Colin Campbell; but on their approaching, it was found that the Russians had spiked66 their guns, and bolted by the bridge of boats, leaving Sebastopol one sheet of living fire. Fort after fort was blown into the air, each with a shock as if the solid earth were being split asunder67. The sky was filled with live shells, which burst there like thousands of scarlet68 rockets, and thus showers of iron fell in every direction. Columns of dark smoke, that seemed to prop64 heaven itself, rose above the city, while its defenders69 in thousands, without beat of drum or sound of trumpet70, poured away by the bridge of boats. When the last fugitive71 had passed, the chains were cut, and then the mighty72 pontoon, a quarter of a mile in length, swung heavily over to the north side, when we were in full possession of Sebastopol!
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1
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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2
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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apportioned
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| vt.分摊，分配（apportion的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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6
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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8
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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12
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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13
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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15
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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belched
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| v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气） | |
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17
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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18
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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19
aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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20
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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21
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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23
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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27
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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28
pouches
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| n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋 | |
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29
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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trite
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| adj.陈腐的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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38
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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39
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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40
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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41
stiffening
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| n. (使衣服等)变硬的材料, 硬化 动词stiffen的现在分词形式 | |
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42
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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43
lieutenants
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| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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44
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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45
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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46
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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48
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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49
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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50
repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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51
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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52
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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53
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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54
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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55
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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56
trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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57
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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stanch
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| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
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interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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62
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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63
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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64
prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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65
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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spiked
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| adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的 | |
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asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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68
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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69
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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70
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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71
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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72
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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