Scarcely were they gone, when out of the dense thick brushwood, that
grew in clumps and tufts over all the valley, there stole forth two
Russian soldiers, with their bayonets fixed, and their faces distorted
and pale with engendered fanaticism and fury at their defeat. There
was a cruel gleam in their eyes as they crept stealthily about. Either
they feared to fire or their ammunition was expended, for I saw them
deliberately pass their bayonets through the bodies of four or five
wounded men, and pin the writhing creatures to the earth. I lay very
still, expecting that my turn would soon come. The dead horse served
to conceal me for a little; but I panted rather than breathed, and my
breath came in gasps as they drew near me; for on discovering that I
was an officer, my gold wings and lace would be sure to kindle their
spirit of acquisition. I had my revolver in my right hand, and
remembered with grim joy that of its six chambers, three were yet
undischarged. Just as the first Russian came straight towards me, I
shot him through the head, and he fell backward like a log; the second
uttered a howl, and came rushing on with his butt in the air and his
bayonet pointed down. I fired both barrels. One ball took him right in
the shoulder, the other in the throat, and he fell wallowing in blood,
but not until he had hurled his musket at me. The barrel struck me
crosswise on the head, and I again became insensible. Moonlight was
stealing over the valley when consciousness returned again, and I felt
more stiff and more helpless than ever. Something was stirring near
me; I looked up, and uttered an exclamation on seeing our regimental
goat, Carneydd Llewellyn, quietly cropping some herbage among the
débris of dead bodies and weapons that lay around me. Like Caradoc, I
had made somewhat a pet of it. The poor animal knew my voice, and on
coming towards me, permitted me to stroke and pat it; and a strong
emotion of wonder and regard filled my heart as I did so, for it was a
curious coincidence that this animal, once the pet of Winifred Lloyd,
should discover me there upon the field of Inkermann.
After a little I heard a voice, in English, cry, "Here is our goat at
last, by the living Jingo!" and Dicky Roll, its custodian--from whose
tent it had escaped, when a shot from the batteries broke the
pole--came joyfully towards it.
"Roll, Dicky Roll," cried I, "for God's sake bring some of our
fellows, and have me taken from here!"
"Captain Hardinge! are you wounded, sir?" asked the little drummer,
stooping in commiseration over me.
"Badly, I fear, but cannot tell with certainty."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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