Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/285

 FOR THE INVASION. 255 CHAPTER XVI. On the evening; of the loth of July Marshal St CIIAP. XVI Arnaud received a telegraphic despatch from his L. Government. The despatch had been forwarded tions"orTh« by way of Belgrade, and was in cipher. The tiiec'rhnoa P, , , Tr> i. c icacli the message came in an imperiect state, iart or Aiued cai:»F. it was intelligible, but the rest was beyond all the power of the decipherer; yet the interpreted symbols showed plainly that the whole message, if only it could be read, would prove to be one of deep import. It forbade jNIarshal St Arnaud from making any advance towards the Danube, and told him to look to the event of his army being conveyed from Varna by the fleet. This was all that could be deciphered. There were the mystic letters and figures which laid down, as was sur- mised, the destiny of the Allied armies, and no one could read. At night Colonel Trochu came to Lord Raglan's quarters, and communicated all that could be gathered from the telegraphic despatch. The English General had just received the Duke of Newcastle's letter of the 28th, but had not vet broken the seal of it. Now, how-