Next, four
companies of the Connaught Rangers stoutly engaged twenty times their
number, and only yielded after a stubborn fight. General Buller came
up next, with a wing of the 77th, which was faced by a solid mass five
times as strong.
"There are the Russians," cried Egerton, who commanded the 77th. "What
shall we do, general?"
"Charge them!" was Buller's prompt reply.
The next instant the slender line, with a joyous hurrah, was engulfed
in a giant column. The effect was instantaneous. The Russian column
reeled before the fiery charge, wavered, then broke and fled.
More to the right, Mauleverer prolonged the line with the 30th, and
gave so good an account of the Russians in his front that they, too,
fell back in disorder; and Bellairs, with a party of the 49th, was
equally triumphant.
Beyond these forces, General Wilders, with whom young McKay now rode
as extra aide, led a fraction of his brigade, including the Royal
Picts, against the Sandbag Battery, a point deemed important because
it commanded the extreme right of the position.
On the far sides of the slopes, beyond the battery were 4,000 Russian
troops, and the mere sight of Wilders with his deployed line sufficed
to shake the steadiness of the foe. The Russian bugles sounded a
retreat, the leading companies faced about, and, communicating the
panic to those behind the hill, the whole mass gave way and ran down
the slope, followed by a destructive fire from the British line.
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