hment. "Young 'un, I never
see yer so wound up afore. I never thought yer was that bloodthirsty.
Me and all yer mates took yer for one of them quiet kind of coves what
takes a lot of rousing. But now--blow me--I can see yer monkey's up,
and I'll have to keep an eye on yer, else yer'll be trying to fight the
whole of them Russian coves alone." Then, having smiled once more at
Phil, the honest fellow's face suddenly assumed a sterner look, his eyes
glistened and his cheeks flushed, while he hurriedly fumbled at the
fastening of his ammunition-pouch. "Beat 'em, Phil, old boy! in course
we will. If the Grenadier Guards don't find their way to the top of
that there hill, and take every one of them big guns yer see, it'll be
because there ain't none of 'em left to do it. We'll manage it or die
on the way."

And indeed, to look at the disposition of the Russian troops and guns
made by General Menschikoff, there was every possibility that before
they were forced to retire many a gallant British and French soldier
would be laid low upon the grass. In front of the Allies stretched the
river Alma, forming a sharp bend, the apex of which was opposite the
division between French and English troops, and pointed towards the
Russians. In the bend was the village of Bourliouk, soon to be the
scene of sharp skirmishing, and on the right a road crossed the river
and ascended the opposite bank, which at that point sloped easily
towards a conical hill known as Telegraph Hill. To the right of this
road, and exactly facing the French and Turkish troops, there was a
steep cliff on the other side of the river. Up this, however, two roads
ran, one of which was available for guns.

In front of the British, grassy slopes descended to gardens and
vineyards which stretched to the river-bank, and through them passed a
broad post-road from Sebastopol to Eupatoria, crossing the Alma by a
bridge, and ascending between Telegraph Hill and another height known as
Kourgani Hill. On either side of this road the banks of the river
ascended in easy slopes, and here it was that Menschikoff had disposed
his forces, planting a formidable battery of fourteen guns, of large
calibre, behind an earthwork thrown up on a terrace one hundred yards
from the water, while farther to the left was another battery, the two
supported by nine field-batteries of eight guns each--a truly formidable
armament.

"Heavens! what guns!" Phil heard one of the officers mu