Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/139

 WHEN ABANDONED BY THE AKMY. 109 koff resolved to make an effort to awaken the chap. sleeper from his dream of security. But this was '_ only a part of what his foresight enabled him to do ; for, having discovered the capacity of Col- onel de Todleben, and knowing how likely it was that the issue of the conflict which he perceived to he impending might be governed by a skil- ful application of the engineer's resources, Prince Gortschakoff determined that he would not only entrust to the Colonel the duty of conveying his warnings to the Headquarters in the Crimea, but would introduce liim to Prince Mentschikoff, as an officer capable of being of great use to him in the business of fortification. This the Prince might well do; for Colonel de Todleben was mas- ter of the art of military engineering, llis devo- tion to the study of his profession had been un- stinted ; and indeed there was a period when his practice of the business of mining had kept him mainly underground during a third part of each year ; but although his craft had been learnt at all this vast cost of toil, he was saved from the mistake of over-valuing it by his strong common- sense, but also, perhaps, by his wholesome experi- ence of the trenches before Silistria, and the rough tasks of war in the Caucasus. Therefore, when- ever his art was not really applicable, it did not seem so in his eyes. How and when to apply it to the business of war he exactly knew. He was about thirty-seven years old. On the 22d of August, Colonel de Todleben reached Sebastopol, and presented to Mcntschi-