"
"Please say no more, Major; I see I was a fool."
"Still," Captain O'Connor said, "you must own, Major, that one does like
to win against odds."
"Quite so, O'Connor; individuals who may survive such a battle no doubt
would be glad that it was a superior force that they had beaten, but then
you see battles are not fought for the satisfaction of individuals.
Moreover, you must remember that the proportion of loss is much heavier
when the numbers are pretty equally matched, for in that case they must
meet to a certain extent face to face. Skill on the part of the general
may do a great deal, but in the end it must come to sheer hard fighting.
Now, I expect that to-morrow, although there may be hard fighting, it is
not upon that that Sir Arthur will principally rely for turning the French
out of those strong positions.
"He will, no doubt, advance directly against them with perhaps half his
force, but the rest will move along on the top of the heights, and so
threaten to cut the French line of retreat altogether. Laborde is, they
say, a good general, and therefore won't wait until he is caught in a
trap, but will fall back as soon as he sees that the line of retreat is
seriously menaced. I fancy, too, that he must expect Loison up some time
tomorrow, or he would hardly make a stand, and if Loison does come up,
Ryan's wish will be gratified and we shall be having the odds against us.
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