rge of the `Heavies', and they bit their lips and swore beneath their
breath, itching to be let loose, and show their comrades that they too
could ride straight, ay, and fight too, till death settled their account
if need be. As the Russian cavalry came flying in clouds over the
Causeway heights, their eagerness made them almost unmanageable, and
loud growls of anger and vexation came from the ranks. But Lord
Cardigan, who was in command, had orders to defend his position, and to
strike at anything that came within distance of him. Undoubtedly this
was the opportunity he should have taken, but he chose to forego it, and
thereby allowed the Russians to escape, while his men looked on and
fumed with rage and disappointment, and Tony and Phil hid in the
vineyard and thought all manner of awful things.

But now the enemy commenced to remove the guns from the captured Turkish
redoubt, and an order reached Lord Lucan--who commanded the combined
brigades of cavalry, heavy and light--to recapture the Causeway heights.
Lord Raglan had, however, omitted to provide the necessary infantry
supports, and in consequence the movement was delayed. Then a second
and more peremptory order was sent to Lord Lucan, by means of Nolan, a
noted cavalry officer, who believed that all things were possible with
that arm of the service.

_Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front_, it
ran, _and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns_.

"To the front? What front? Surely not right up the valley and into the
very jaws of the Russian army!" everyone will mutter.

Lord Lucan also was bewildered. Long ago the captured Turkish redoubts
had sunk into insignificance, and the guns now most in evidence were
those right up the valley. That too was "front" to Lord Lucan. Then
what could be the meaning of this message? "Attack what? What guns are
we to attack?" he asked anxiously, fixing his eyes upon the batteries on
the Causeway heights, and then upon those at the tip of the valley.

"There," replied Captain Nolan, with something akin to a sneer, and in
tones which angered Lord Lucan. "There, my lord, is your enemy, and
there your guns." And he pointed away up the valley to the Russian
batteries occupying a commanding position nearly two miles away.

It was a monstrous error, for how could horsemen hope to live and be
effective after such a ride, when cannon fired directly into their
front, while the heights on e