porting distance of that at the end. Consequently there is an excellent description of the scene in Tennyson's lines,
" 'Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them,
Volley'd and thunder'd.'
ALFRED TENNYSON.
"The charge was made very reluctantly by Lord Cardigan, as you may well believe, but he had no alternative other than to obey the order of his superior. There was never a more brilliant charge. The column advanced at a trot for the first half of the distance, and afterwards at a gallop; the Russian cannon made huge gaps in the ranks, but they were closed up, and on and on swept the heroes, up to and beyond the Russian cannon—
" 'Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke,
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.'
"According to one authority, out of six hundred and seventy British horsemen that went to the charge, only one hundred and ninety-eight returned. Another authority gives the total loss in killed, wounded, and captured as four hundred and twenty-six. Five hundred and twenty horses were lost in the charge."
"Here is Balaklava," said the guide, as the carriage stopped at a turn in the road overlooking the valley.
Our friends stepped from the vehicle and sat down upon a little mound of earth, where they tried to picture the scene of the dreadful October day of 1854. Of the actors and spectators of that event very few are now alive.
The Doctor completed the recitation of the poem, and his youthful
