146 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. cbap. front towards the enemy's right flank. The oper- ' ation by which the whole regiment thus fronted to its right with each squadron at once in its place, was made easy and quick by the circumstance that it had been moving ' left in front.' The enemy made a hasty endeavour to cover the flank thus threatened by an evolution from the rear of his masses ; but the troops which he moved for the purpose were too late to complete their manoeuvre, and Colonel Hodge had the satis- faction of seeing that although Eussian horsemen engaged in this attempt were interposing them- selves between him and the flank of the column, they might be struck in the midst of their effort by the charge of his 4th Dragoon Guards. In the days of his boyhood when Hodge steered the ' Victory,' there used to be a terse order which readily came to his lips as often as the boat crossed the river ; and now when he had come to be so favoured by Fortune as to find himself at the head of his regiment with no more than a convenient reach of fair galloping ground between him and the flank of the enemy's column, the remainder of the business before him was exactly of such kind as to be expressed by his old Eton word of command. What yet had to be done could be compassed in the syllables of : — ' Hard all ' across.' * For bringing under one view the several posi- tions from which the Eussian column was destined
- The direction given l>y the steerer to the crew of an Eton
longboat when about to cross the river.
