Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/459

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A rr F.N J) IX. 4 "3 Whon I pce Nnpior wriliiij; that Lf.nd Fitzrny .Snmorpet con]d iln heloie others could fhivlc, I am reiiiindod of a Rinj:;nlar inPt<aiice of the iinconiTnon swiftness with Avhich liis mind -worked. One day in the Peninsula, and at a time Avhen the ITeadquniters Staif were moving' along the road, there was hrought an intercepted despatch, hnt it was iu cipher — in a cipher nnknown. Lord I'itzroy Somerset took up the paper, and, still riding on with the rest of the Staff, began to licnd his mind to the letters and signs. Before he qnitted his saddle, he had pierced the secret, had fonnd out the key, and had read the despatch. — Note to ith Edition. X T E XL Extract from a ]rKMOUA u:r of a Conversation hkld WITH Sir Edmund Lyons, whicu was made by Mr Georgk Locit, i.ate jVIember for Sutherlandshirk, February 10, ISoG, and approved as accurate on the sA^rE DAY nv Sir 1'^dmund.

  • Sebastopol nndouhtedly might have been taken within
  • five days after we landed in the Crimea. He had earn-

' estly pressed that an immediate attempt should be made

  • on it : Lord TJaglan had the .same feeling. After the

' battle of the Alma, the sanie day, he received a note from

  • Lord Raglan requesting that ho would call on him by
  • eight o'clock the folloAving morning. lie prepared to go ;
  • but meanwhile he received a letter from Admiral Dun-
  • da", saying that information had been sent hira by the

' Turkish Admiral, that seven Lussian line-of-battle ships

  • had left the harbour, making apparently for Odessa, and
  • ordering him (Sir Edmund) to get ready to follow them
  • with the steam squadron. Sir Edmund answered that lie

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