, 1879-05-29
The Light Brigade.

.,n snnrring his horse forward a few
paces, he SAID
eiienco that battery
a.Ny God my brother CALCULATED.
r,.n grasping my hand, he said
'"v'. a.Fred, my dear fellow, good-by; we
io,,t know what may happen; God bless
ron, keep close to mo-
aWhat more he might have said was
,,.t in Lord Cardigans ringing shout of
"ChargeH :
1--WE went in at i trot; the trot was
,,,rced to canter and the canter to
aallop Through tho lines / could see
lord lord Cardigan several horse-lengths
ahead. riding as steadily as if he were
~ a parade. Now, to tell the plain
tr,tb when we had ridden a short dis
lance, say 100 PAGES, | felt terribly
seraid The truth flashed upon me in a
moment that we were riding into po,
o;t;on that would expose us to fire on
hotb Aanks, as well rs the fire from the
battery in front Of us, which we had
bosn instructed to silence. said to
yovself, This is q ride to death : but |
said it loud enough for my brother to
hear, and he answered me and said
"'There goes the first :
:sThe first was Lord Lucan's aid-de-
camp, Captain Nolan, who, after max
ing slight detour, was crossing our left
to ioin us in the charge. A cannon ball
had lust cut him in two as my brother
spoke. ...
"My heart leaped into my mouth and
I almost shrieked with fear, but i re-
strained myself, and setting my teeth
hard / rode on. A moment later the
rifle bullets from the sharp.shootcrs on
the hillside began towhistle about our
ears. Saddles were enlptied at every
step, Then came the whistling shot and
the shrieking shell; and tore through
our squadrons, mangling men and
horses, plowing bloody burrows through
and through the ranks. Then my fears
lef. me. My whole soul became filed
with spirit for revenge, and | believe
the same spirit animated every man in
the ranks. Their eyes flashed and they
ground their teeth and pressed closer
together. Tno very horses caught the
mad spirit, and plunged forward as if
impatient to lead us to our revenge and
theirs. At this time there was not
much to be seen A heavy dense smoke
hung over the valley, but the flaming
mouths Of the guns revealed themselves
to our eyes at every moment as they
GelChed iortI their murderous contents
OF shot and she'll - rfs -.
"Now a shot tore through our ranks,
cutting n red line from flank to flank,
then o shell plowed an oblique and
bloody furrow from our right front to
our left rear. Anon ricochetiny shot
rose over our fro 1t ranks, fell into our
center and hewed its way to the rear,
making terrible havoc in it's passage.
Obi that was o ride Horses ran rider
less, and bareheaded, and splashed with
the blood Of their comrades pressed
closer and closer and ground their teeth
harder and mentally swore deadlier
revenge as their number grew smaller.
"Alone and in front rode Cardigan,
still keeping the same distance ahead.
His charger was headed for the center Of
the battery. Silently we followed him.
Upto this time neither my brother OF
myself had received the slightest scratch,
although we were now riding side by side
with comrades, who at the start were
separated from us by several files, We
reached the battery at last. Up to this
time we had ridden in silence, but what
yell burst from lis as we plunged in
among the Russian gunncrs Well
would it have been for Them had they
Killed us all before we reached them.
They had done too little and too much.
They had set us OH fire with passion.
Only blood could quench our thirst for
revenge We passed through the
battery like o whirlwind, sabring the
gannes on our passage. don't believe
one of them lived TO tell the tale Of that
ride. Ont of the battery and in.o the
orlgade-an army it was of cavalry.
Our charge was resistless.
"Ihe Russians fell before our sabres
ss corn falls before the reaper. They
seemed to have no power of resistance.
Nnd there was no lack Of material to
work upon. They closed in upon us
ana surrounded us on every side, but we
sewed oar way through them as men
new their way through virgin forest,
ead only stopped when we reached the
'ahk Of the Tehernava river.
Wheeling here, we proceeded to cut'
Our way back again. On the return ride
l was assailed by i gigantic Russian