conspicuous, exposed to an artillery fire that will shave the ground the
moment they break from cover, and for half the distance to a sheet of
rifle bullets in which nothing can live. In short, if the enemy is
there, it would be madness to attack him in front; he must be maneuvered
out by the immemorial plan of threatening his line of communication, as
necessary to his existence as to the diver at the bottom of the sea his
air-tube. But how ascertain if the enemy is there? There is but one way:
somebody must go and see. The natural and customary thing to do is to
send forward a line of skirmishers. But in this case they will answer in
the affirmative with all their lives; the enemy, crouching in double
ranks behind the stone wall and in cover of the hedge, will wait until
it is possible to count each assailant's teeth. At the first volley a
half of the questioning line will fall, the other half before it can
accomplish the predestined retreat. What a price to pay for gratified
curiosity! At what a dear rate an army must sometimes purchase
knowledge! "Let me pay all," says this gallant man - this military
Christ!

There is no hope except the hope against hope that the crest is clear.
True, he might prefer capture to death. So long as he advances, the line
will not fire, - why should it? He can safely ride into the hostile
ranks and become a prisoner of war. But this would defeat his object. It
would not answer our question; it is necessary either that he return
unharmed or be shot to death before our eyes. Only so shall we know how
to act. If captured - why, that might have been done by a half-dozen
stragglers.

Now begins an extraordinary contest of intellect between a man and an
army. Our horseman, now within a quarter of a mile of the crest,
suddenly wheels to the left and gallops in a direction parallel to it.