Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/246

 JJ1G THE VEIL BETWEEN OPPOSED ARMIES. CHAPTER VIII. BEBASTOPOL AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT. — GENERAL TODLEBEN WOUNDED. — HIS DEFENCE OF SE- BASTOPOL. CHAP. VIII. The veil between warring armies ; netween and its be- siegers. Between any two modern armies opposing each other in war, though not, for the moment, in battle, there always hangs more or less thickly a dim, confusing mist, which neither the one nor the other can all at once lift by aid of deserters or spies ; and, because excluding sound knowledge whilst also leaving free room for the play of con- jecture, this ceaselessly interposed veil must often of course have its share in determining the will of commanders, forcing each, after all, to depend a good deal on his powers to divine things un- known; so that neither perhaps will attack, un- less he proves strong at imagining the unhopeful state of his adversary. If, when our siege-guns ceased firing on the tin lining of the 18th of June, the baffled and troubled besiegers could only have looked through the ' veil,' they perhaps might have taken Sebas-