Not less had been the slaughter outside the work known as the Little Redan, where the French attack had been repulsed with prodigious loss.
The houses of the portion of the town nearest the batteries were found full of dead men who had crawled in when wounded in front.

As a considerable number of the Russian steamers of war were still floating under the guns of their batteries on the north side, preparations were made at once to mount two heavy guns by the water-side; but the Russians, seeing that the last remains of their fleet would speedily be destroyed, took matters in their own hands, and on the night of the 11th the six steamers that remained were burnt by the Russians.
After the din which had raged so fiercely for the previous four days, and the dropping fire which had gone on for a year, the silence which reigned was strange and almost oppressive.

There was nothing to be done.

No turn in the trenches or batteries to be served, nothing to do but to rest and to prepare for the next winter, which was now almost upon them.
A week after the fall of Sebastopol the anniversary of the battle of Alma was celebrated.

What great events had taken place since that time! None of those who had rested that night on the vine-clad hill they had won, dreamed of what was before them, or that they were soon to take part in the greatest siege which the world has ever known.