270 BATTLE OF THK ALMA. CHAT, defeat; Imt tlii.s time the wail was the wail f.f ' eight Lattalioiis ; and the warlike grief of tlio soldiery could no longer kindle the fierce intent which, only a little before, had s})urred I'orward the Vladimir column. Hope had lied. After having been parted from one another by the nature of the ground, and thus thrown for some time into echelon, the battalions of Sir Colin's brigade were now once more close abreast ; and since the men looked upon ground where the grey remains of the enemy's broken strengtli were mournfully rolling away, they could not but see that this, the revoir of the Highlanders, had chanced in a moment of glory. Knowing their hearts, and deeming that the time was one when the voice of his people might fitly enough bt; heard, the Chief touched or half lifted his hat in the way of a man assenting. Then along the Kourgan^ slopes, and thence west almost home to the Causeway, the hillsides were made to resound with that joyous, assuring cry, which is the na- tural utterance of a northern people so long as it is warlike and free.* Descending into the hollow where the van- quished troops flooded down, the waves of sound lit upon the throng and touched it, some imag- ined, as a breath of air touches a forest, lightly stirring its numberless leaves. And, in truth, it
- Many of our people who had heard the cheers of llio
Iligldanders wore liinderod from seeing theni b}' the bend of the ground, and they supposed that the cheers were uttered in charging. It was not so, Tlic Iliglihmder.s advanced in silence.
