one o’clock
The staff comes cantering back , and another hour goes by in silence ; and then from the Highlanders half a mile away on the left of the handful of cavalry there rises a sound of jubilation . And round the camp fires at night , when the fight is over and the English are in possession of the field , the men learn the reason of the cry . Sir Colin Campbell has sent round the word that the men are to break their cartridge packets , and lay the cartridges loose in their pouches , and this is the first word of real business . Now at one o'clock , or near it , the note passes along the line from east to west , and the men are afoot again , and marching forward two deep against those solid masses of grey human masonry , and that gash upon the hill-side which is by and by to burst like a volcano into flame . There goes the first boom of cannon from the Russian side , and a round shot sends the earth spluttering amidst the staff as it canters by once more , plumes waving , and epaulets , and scabbards , and gold lace , and all the fine tinsel of war , as yet unsoiled , glittering in the sunshine . This is no day for a cavalryman to win honour . Here we sit on the hill-side with a downward slope before us , and an upward slope beyond , and the unmounted men are working their way onward and upward , whilst we are held inactive .