102 THE 15ATTLK OF INKKIJMAN. CHAP, VI. »i Period. herent battalions. And in vei[i,liing the value of the-iiiau it was to he 'remembered that, although the protracted 'resistance of skirmishers to formed a*ici' powerful .r.i asses Vt^ould of necessity involve a rapid expenditure of ammunition, there were no means by which the needed supplies of cartridges could be quickly pushed forward to the extreme front, and dealt out to numbers of men, whilst scattered and fighting in cover. Still, Pennefather, as we have seen, could give a reason for his choice of tactics, and one that was not without force. The posi- tions taken up by Penne- father's regimints. VI. Pennefather's instinctive desire to follow this last plan of action was quickened from moment to moment by the evident life and stir of the fights which his obstinate pickets stood waging on the slopes of Shell Hill ; for the mist or incum- bent cloud which obscured all else did not shut out from view the flashes of the musketry, and by these the whole tenor of the strife carried on by the unseen combatants was plainly disclosed. Fired by the sight, and enchanted with the evident tenacity of the resistance, Pennefather began to push forward little bodies of troops in order — for so he expressed it — in order 'to feed ' the pickets.' * On this errand he sent the 30th Kegiment divided into two wings. He pushed
- An elliptic exprcs.sion, meaning plainly, 'to feed (the strife
' maintained by) the pickets.'
