300 
RUSSIAN FiELD ARTILLERY. 
very strong under-current of truth. Whilst I was examining the 
wagons, I could not repress a smile as I heard the infantry soldiers, 
who were close to me, eulogizing the artillery most enthusiastically. 
Up to that day we had only been an impediment to the infantry. 
It is, no doubt, disagreeable to see the infantry soldier, encumbered 
as he is with his own equipment, obliged to afford assistance to the 
horses when they got into difficulties in bad ground. But,it can't be 
helped " ; the guns must march; every soldier knew this, and assisted 
with superhuman strength, trusting in advance to the future assistance 
of the artillery. 
This confidence was well justified by the event.* 
Part II. 
At half-past four in the afternoon the column, evacuating Jeni Saara, 
began its march, taking the main road in a westerly direction, and at 
nine o'clock it came in sight of the village of Karabunar, which was 
in flames. As we approached the village the flames became extin¬ 
guished, and we encamped in the neighbourhood, in an unreaped field 
of wheat. At four a.m. on the 19th, we resumed our march on the 
same road, which, after some kilometres, became very steep. 
It will be advantageous here to say a few words about the general 
appearance of the country. The road that leads from Karabunar to 
Eski Saara runs in a direction from E. to W. Two or three kilometres 
on the north, and parallel to it, runs the crest of the lesser Balkan, 
whose southern face is covered with woods, vines, and orchards. 
Between the road and the foot of the mountain there are stretches of 
wheat fields, maize, brushwood, and vines. At the left of the road is 
the Yalley of Maritza, rather narrow, and cultivated generally, with 
here and there copses of trees and thickets. A few kilometres on we 
came to a fairly thick wood, commencing at the same road, and 
extending in a southerly direction, and afterwards turning and extend¬ 
ing along the right of the road. Between the wood and the mountain 
were fields of maize and vines, and some isolated trees. The general 
incline of the road was to the south. The object of the above- 
mentioned halt was to wait for the 4th Brigade of Rifles to come up (they 
had left Jeni Saara in the morning), and when they joined us we pur¬ 
sued our course until we heard, at eight o'clock, the sound of a cannonade 
in our front. 
* The •whole of this narrative is precisely analagous to what might be written of our last 
campaign. The Plasencia gun and that of 10 centimetre were our triumph, they were the natural 
friends of the valiant and enduring infantrymen. Not a man shirked yoking himself to the traces 
or the wheels, in order to get over a bad place,* and now artillery is no longer considered 
impedimenta, and shares equally with cavalry and infantry the glories of the battle field. 
