"We have a chance. Will they know how to make use of it? I believe so--First of all, our right must hold out. Castelnau is down there, he is the only man who has held his own. Then you see Von Kluck is clearly leaving Paris on one side. He does not set much store by the place, only sees it in the stake of victory. That is perhaps a mistake, perhaps _the_ mistake. Perhaps our one object was to get him to make that mistake!" He took a deep breath: "Dreher, listen to this! If we were in the camp in force--and why shouldn't we be?--if we had had time to concentrate several corps there, a hundred thousand men say, which I believe is the case--if we threw ourselves on their flank, imprudently uncovered--if at that precise instant our other armies made headway against them--if Von Kluck were suddenly to find himself wedged in a vice...." The captain pulled up short. Was he afraid of having said too much, of having ventured too far in his bold inferences? He went on: "However, they may be tempted to keep us as a last resource." But he could not bear this idea, and refuted it himself instantly: "No, a thousand times no! A bad calculation. All the forces on the spot, and at the right moment! That was what was wanted!" He interrupted himself again, with beads of perspiration on his forehead ... and suddenly said in a detached tone of voice: "I say that to you, but I know nothing, nothing. The staffs are the only judges. Are our numbers sufficient? Is our combination assured, and the enemy's compromised?" An aeroplane passed by. The captain raised his arm: "Is it that bird that is bringing decisive information?" "Or the order to attack?" I murmured. He was silent, and I could get no more out of him but idle generalities, but I read in his eyes, and face his approbation of my wish, the conformity of our desire. CHAPTER XV A WORD IN SEASON I was in a state of great excitement when I left him--a mixture of hope and anguish aroused by the ascendency of his words. They had been so clear and categorical, too. I could so vividly imagine the movement of salvation within our reach. The German right, harassed by a dizzy offensive, no doubt experiencing difficulties in the replenishment of supplies, after having lightly embarked on this broad movement of conversion--with us as a living menace on its flank, well supported by the camp (were our numbers large enough? That was the chief point), well rested and provided with ammunition ... what a lot of trumps we should hold in the advantage of taking them by surprise; the consciousness of the justice of our cause, the strength drawn from contact with our Mother City. I was possessed with the idea that a decision was urgent. Was not this the day and the hour, even the minute, that historians would designate to all eternity as that in which our supreme chance of victory occurred?