CHAPTER XXXII.--IN THE TRENCHES.

It was while the infantry and Naval Brigade were still before

Sebastopol, toiling, trenching, and pounding with cannon and mortar at

all its southern side, we had our ardour fired, our enthusiasm

kindled, and our sorrow keenly excited by the tidings of that glorious

but terrible death ride, the charge of the six hundred cavalry at

Balaclava; and of how only one hundred and fifty came alive out of

that mouth of fire, the valley where rained "the red artillery"--the

13th Hussars were said to have brought only twelve men out of the

action, and the 17th Lancers twenty--and how nobly they were avenged

by our "heavies" under the gallant Scarlett; and of the stern stand

made against six thousand Russian horse by the "thin red line" of the

Sutherland Highlanders.

On the day these tidings were circulated in the trenches by many who

had witnessed the events, we seemed to redouble our energies, and shot

and shell were poured with greater fury than ever on the city, while

sharper, nearer, and more deadly were the contests of man and man in

the rifle-pits between it and the trenches. Then followed the sortie

made by Menschikoff, supposing that most of the allied forces had been

drawn towards Balaclava--a movement met by the infantry and artillery

of the second division under Sir De Lacy Evans, and repulsed with a

slaughter which naturally added to the hatred on both sides; and

innumerable were the stories told, and authenticated, of the Russians

murdering our helpless wounded in cold blood. On the night of the 2nd

November I was again in the trenches opposite to the eastern flank of

Sebastopol, the whole regiment being on duty covering the batteries

and working-parties.

The day passed as usual in exciting and desultory firing, the Russians

and our fellows watching each other like lynxes, and never missing an

opportunity for taking a quiet shot at each other. A strong battalion

of the former was in our front, lurking among some mounds and thick

_abattis_, formed of trees felled and pegged to the earth with their

branches towards us; and above the barrier and the broken ground that

lay between it and the advanced trench-ground, strewed with fragments

of rusty iron nails, broken bottles, and the other amiable contents of

exploded bombs, torn, rent, upheaved, or sunk into deep holes by the

explosion of mines and countermines, shells and rockets, we could see

their bearded visages, their flat caps and tall figures, cross-belted

and clad in long gray shapeless coats, as from time to time they

yelled and started up to take aim at some unwary Welsh Fusileer,

heedless that from some _other_ point some comrade's bullet avenged

him, or anticipated his fate. To attempt a description of the trenches

to a non-military reader, in what Byron terms "engineering slang,"

would be useless, perhaps; suffice it to say that we were pretty

secure from round shot, but never from shells, the trenches or zigzags

being dug fairly parallel to the opposing batteries, with a thick bank

of earth towards Sebastopol, a banquette for our men to mount on when

firing became necessary.

Near us was a battery manned by our Royal Artillery--the guns being

run through rude portholes made in the earthen bank, with the addition

of sand-bags, baskets, and stuffed gabions, to protect the gunners.

All was in splendid order there: the breeching-guns ever ready for

action; the sponges, rammers, and handspikes lying beside the wheels;

the shot piled close by as tidily as if in Woolwich-yard; the carbines

of the men placed in racks against the gabions; the officers laughing

over an old _Punch_, or making sketches, varied by caricatures of the

Russians, their men sitting close by in their greatcoats, smoking and

singing while awaiting orders, and listening with perfect indifference

to the casual dropping fire maintained by us against the enemy in the

abbatis or pits along our front, though almost every shot was the

knell of a human existence.

Death and danger were now strangely familiar to us all, and we cared

as little for the _whish_ of a round bullet or the sharp _ping_ of the

Minie, while it cut the air, as for the deep hoarse booming of the

breaching-guns; it was the cry of "bomb!" from the look out men, that

usually made us start, and sprawl on our faces, or scamper away, for

shelter, to crouch with our heads stooped in our favourite or fancied

places of security among the gabions, till a soaring monster, with

death and mutilation in its womb, with its hoarse puffing that rose to

a whistle, concussed all the air by the crash of its explosion.

Our men were all in their greatcoats, with their white belts outside;

and, save when a section or so started angrily to arms, as those

fellows in the abattis became more annoying, they sat quietly on the

ground or against the wall of the trench, smoking, chatting with

perfect equanimity, and occasionally taking a sip of rum or raki from

their canteens; for, after weeks and months of this kind of duty,

especially after the severity of the Crimean war set in, our older

soldiers seemed utterly indifferent as to whether they lived or died.

All of them, even such boys as Tom Clavell, had been front to front

with death, again and again. Among ourselves, even, there was an

incessant scramble for food; hence in the expression of their

faces and eyes there was something hard, set, fierce, and

undefinable--half-wolfish at times, devil-may-care always; for in a

few weeks after the landing at Eupatoria, they had seen more and lived

longer than one can do in years upon years of a life of peace.

"What do you see, Hugh, that you look so earnestly to the front?" I

asked of Price, who was lying on his breast with a rifle close beside

him, and his field-glass, to which his eyes were applied, wedged in a

cranny between two sand-bags.

"A Russian devil has made a bolt out of the abattis into yonder hole

made by a shell."

"And what of that?"

"I am waiting to pot him, as he can't stay there long," replied Price,

usually the best of good-natured fellows, but now looking with a

tiger-like stare through the same lorgnette which he had used on many

a day at the Derby, and many a night at the opera; "there he comes,"

he added. In a moment the Minie rifle, already sighted, was firmly at

the shoulder of Price, who fired; a mass like a gray bundle, with

hands and arms outspread, rolled over and over again on the ground,

and then lay still; at _another_ time it might have seemed most

terribly still!

"Potted, by Jove!" exclaimed Hugh, as he restored the rifle to

Sergeant Rhuddlan, and quietly resumed his cigar.

"A jolly good shot, sir, at four hundred yards," added the

non-commissioned officer, as he proceeded to reload and cap.

At that time the life of a Russian was deemed by us of no more account

than that of a hare or rabbit in the shooting season; but, if reckless

of the lives of others, it must be remembered that we were equally

reckless of our own; and, with all its horrors, war is not without

producing some of the gentler emotions. Thus, even on those weary,

exciting, and perilous days and nights in the trenches, under the

influence of _camaraderie_, of general danger, and the most common

chance of a sudden and terrible death, men grew communicative, and

while interchanging their canteens and tobacco-pouches they were apt

to speak of friends and relations that were far away: the old mother,

whose nightly prayers went up for the absent; the ailing sister, who

had died since war had been declared; the absent wife, left on the

shore at Southampton with a begging-pass to her own parish; the little

baby that had been born since the transport sailed; the old fireside,

where their place remained vacant, their figure but a shadowy

remembrance; the girls they had left behind them; their

disappointments in life; their sorrows and joys and hopes for the

future; the green lanes, the green fields, the pleasant and familiar

places they never more might see: and officers and privates talked of

such things in common; so true it is that

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

On the 3rd of November, Caradoc and I were sitting in a sheltered

corner, between the gabions, chatting on some of the themes I have

enumerated, when a little commotion was observable among our men, and

we saw the adjutant and the major--the worthy holder of Toby Purcell's

spurs, he who had carried off the first gun at Alma, B-- of ours,

and who, since Colonel Chesters was killed, had commanded the

regiment--coming directly towards us.

"What the deuce is up?" said I.

"Their faces look important," added Caradoc.

"Sorry to disturb you; not that there is much pleasure here,

certainly," said the major, smiling; "but the adjutant tells me that

you, Hardinge, are the first officer for duty."

"We are all on duty," replied I, laughing; "if we are not, I don't

know what duty is. Well, major, what is to be done?"

"You are to convey a message from Lord Raglan into Sebastopol."

"To Sebastopol?"

"Yes, to that pleasant city by the sea," said the adjutant.

"To Prince Menschikoff?"

"No," replied the major; "to the officer commanding the nearest post."

"Under a flag of truce?"

"Of course; it would be perilous work otherwise."

"About what is the message?"

"The capture of Major MacG--, of the 93rd, who was carried off by a

kind of sortie the other night, and who is supposed to have been

afterwards killed in cold blood."

The seizure of the major of the Sutherland Highlanders, a brave old

fellow who had on his breast medals for Candahar, Afghanistan, and

Maharajapore, had created much interest in the army at this time, when

we so readily believed the Russians liable to commit atrocities on

wounded and prisoners.

"Lord Raglan wishes distinct information on the subject," added the

adjutant, after a pause.

"All right, I am his man," said I, starting up and looking carefully

to the chambers and capping of my Colt, ere I replaced it in its

pouch; and knocking some dust and mud off my somewhat dilapidated

regimentals, added, "now for a drummer and a flag of truce."

"You are to go to the officer in command of that bastion on the

Russian left," said the major.

"To that wasp of a fellow who is so active, and whose scoundrels have

killed so many of our wounded men, firing even on the burial parties?"

"The same. You must be sharp, wary, and watchful."

"His name?"

"Ah, that you may perhaps learn, not that it matters much; even Lord

Raglan cannot know that; but, doubtless, it will be something like a

sneeze or two, ending in 'off' or 'iski.'"

"Success, Harry!" cried Caradoc.

A few minutes after this saw me issue from the trenches of the right

attack, attended by Dicky Roll, with his drum slung before him; in my

right hand I carried a Cossack lance, to which a white handkerchief of

the largest dimensions was attached to attract attention, as the

Russians were not particular to a shade as to what or whom they fired

on, and the cruel and infamous massacre of an English boat's crew at

Hango was fresh in the minds of us all; consequently I was not without

feeling a certain emotion of anxiety, mingled with ardour and joy at

the prospect of Estelle seeing my name in the despatches, as Dicky and

I now advanced into the broken and open ground that lay between our

parallel and the abattis, amid which I saw head after head appear, as

the white emblem I bore announced that _pro tem_, hostilities in that

quarter must cease, by the rules of war.

Dicky Roll, who, poor little fellow, had been fraternally sharing his

breakfast and blanket with the goat, and did not seem happy in his

mind at our increasing proximity to "them Roosian hogres," as he

called them, beat a vigorous _chamade_ on his drum, and I waved my

impromptu banner. I was glad when a Russian drum responded, as flags

of truce had been more than once fired upon, on the miserable plea

that communications under them were merely designed for the purpose of

gaining intelligence, of reconnoitring Sebastopol and its outposts.

Hence our progress was watched with the deepest interest by the whole

regiment and others, all of whom were now lining the banquette of the

parallels, or clustering at the embrasures and fascines of the

breaching batteries.