f their rifles like trickling
lines of electric light. Elsewhere, from the cliffs above the Vid,
globes of fire were seen to rend the mists, as cannon played their part
in the deadly game, while the fearful cries of maddened and wounded men
mingled with the crashing of artillery. Here and there numerous
bullock-wagons were seen rolling slowly along, and horses and cattle
were galloping wildly about the plain. It was a scene that might have
made the flesh of the most callous people creep with pitying horror.

Advancing as far as possible under cover of their bullock-wagons, the
Turks began to play their part with vigour, but the Russians opened on
them from one of their batteries with shell and shrapnel, whilst the men
in the trenches sent a rain of bullets from their Berdan breech-loaders.
The terrified oxen, tearing about madly, or falling, soon rendered the
wagon-cover useless. Then the Turks forsook it, and, with a wild shout,
charged the first line of trenches. These were held by a Siberian
regiment. The Turks swept over them like a tornado, poured into the
battery, where the artillerymen, who stood to their guns like heroes,
were bayoneted almost to a man. Thus the first investing circle was
broken, but here Ottoman courage was met by irresistible force, and
valour quite equal to its own, and here the tide of battle turned.

Nicholas Naranovitsch, despatched by General Strukoff, galloped towards
the scene of action.

"Come, Dobri!" he cried, with blazing eyes that told of excitement
almost too strong to be mastered, "there is work for you and me now."

Petroff, mounted and ready, awaiting the orders of his master, sprang
out at the summons from a troop of the first brigade of grenadiers, who
were at she moment preparing to advance. They dashed forward. An order
had been intrusted to Nicholas, but he never delivered it. He was met
by advancing hosts of the enemy. He turned aside, intending to execute
his mission, if possible, by a detour. In this effort he was caught up,
as it were, and carried on by the Russian grenadiers, who flung
themselves on the Turks with irresistible fury. In another moment his
horse fell under him. Dobri instantly dismounted, but the horse which
he meant to offer to his master also fell, and the two were carried
onward. The opposing forces met. A hand-to-hand fight ensued--man to
man, bayonet to bayonet. The Turks clung to the guns in the captured
battery with obstinate