CHAPTER VI: A CHANGE OF SCENE.
Hector gained great credit from the report of the manner in which the force had been enabled to draw off without loss from the enemy's guns, owing to his forethought in bringing with him the means of spiking them, and also for his success in checking the advance of the enemy along the ramparts.
"You see, messieurs," Turenne said to the members of his staff, who, with the exception of Hector, were together on the day after his return to Susa, "how important it is for officers, before setting out on an expedition, to think seriously over every contingency that may happen.
Now the vast proportion of officers consider that all the thinking has to be done by the general, and that they only have to obey orders.

No doubt that is essential, but there may be numerous little matters in which an officer may render great service.

This young captain of ours did not content himself with leading the company to which I appointed him through the gateway.

Before leaving Susa he must have thought over every incident likely to occur.

As the leading company he would know that it would be his business to clear the ramparts, to check any parties of the enemy coming along that way, and it would be only natural for him to determine to use the enemy's cannon to keep them at bay.
"This would probably have occurred to most officers placed as he was.
But he did not stop there--he must have thought over the events that would probably follow the entry.