218 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. in<!' at a critical inomeiit, took occasion to consult I ' about the way in which they should fight out the battle. AVlien their conversation had ended, Prince Gortschakoff walked up the hillside to- wards a column he wanted to meet.* The shot which dismounted Prince Gortscha- koff, his departure from the ground where the Vladimir stood, the spruce beauty of the slender red line which had brought it to bay, and the steadiness of the fire with which the brave column had been plied for now several minutes — all these were causes which helped to distress the left Vla- dimir battalions ; and although it was the turning movement on the right of the Eussian columns which made it a thing of sheer need to move, and to move at once,"!- still, it would seem that General Kvetzinski's measures for dealing with the new emergency were forestalled by what he presently saw on his left front ; and the event which was destined to put its actual and direct governance upon this part of the battle was the still pending fight between the left Vladimir battalions and the Grenadier Guards. J
- All this is told by Prince Gortscliakofl' himself with sim-
plicity and apparent truthfulness. It is plain that his fall had shaken and confused liim. -|- Kvetzinski says, ' The decisive moment I had been fearinf» ' and expecting had arrived : the English moved higher up in ' three lines, and threatened to turn our right wing.' t ' The left wing,' he says, 'began to falter, leaving my left ' side exposed.' I nndenstand him to be speaking of troops on the immediate left of the column with which he was riding, and not ot any troops on the left of the whole Division which he commanded, because the retreat of the troops in the Pass had taken place before the time of which he is speaking.
