s, and, although chafing angrily at inaction, conceived that
it was his bounden but distasteful duty to halt where he was.

"Why don't he let us loose at them? Was there ever such a chance?"
muttered Hugo Wilders, audibly, and within earshot of his chief. He
was again riding as extra aide to Lord Cardigan, who turned fiercely
on the speaker.

"How dare you, sir, question my conduct? You shall answer for your
insubordination--"

"Let me implore you, my lord, to advance," said another voice,
entreating earnestly, that of Captain Morris, a cavalry officer who
knew war well, and who was, for the moment, in command of a
magnificent regiment of Lancers.

"It is not your business to give me advice," replied the general,
haughtily. "Wait till I ask for it."

"But, my lord, see! the Russians are reeling from the charge of the
Heavies. Now if ever--"

"Enough, Captain Morris. My orders were to defend this position; and
here I shall stay. I was told to attack nothing unless they came
within reach. The enemy has not yet done that."

So the chance of annihilating the Russian cavalry was lost, and the
Light Brigade thought that its chances of distinction were also gone
for the day. Alas! the hour of its trial was very close at hand.

Lord Raglan had waited anxiously for the infantry divisions he had
ordered up. The first, under the Duke of Cambridge, was now close at
hand, and the fourth, led by Sir George Cathcart, had arrived at a
point whence it might easily have reached out a hand to recover the
redoubts. But Cathcart's advance was so leisurely that Lord Raglan
feared he would be too late to prevent the Russians from carrying off
the guns they had captured from the Turks. The enemy, it must be
understood, were showing manifest signs of despondency: their
shattered cavalry had gone rapidly to the rear, and their infantry had
halted irresolute, inclined also to retreat.

"This is the moment to strike them," decided Lord Raglan. "They are
evidently losing heart, and we ought to get back the redoubts easily.
I will send the cavalry. They are almost on the spot, and at any rate
can get quickly over the ground. Ride, sir," to an aide-de-camp, "and
tell Lord Lucan to recover the heights. Tell him he will have
infantry, two whole divisions, in support."

They watched the aide-de-camp deliver his message; but still Lord
Lucan, who was in supreme command of the cavalry, made no move.

"What is he at?" cried Lord Raglan, testi