Yet, searching the map again, I could not believe that any mortal commander would see any chance in the adjacent peaks, even if he thought them unfortified.

That was information confined to the Turkish and German staff.

But if it could be conveyed to the Grand Duke he would have Erzerum in his power in a day.

Otherwise he would go on battering at the Deve Boyun ridge for weeks, and long ere he won it the Gallipoli divisions would arrive, he would be out-numbered by two to one, and his chance would have vanished.
My discovery set me pacing up and down that cellar in a perfect fever of excitement.

I longed for wireless, a carrier pigeon, an aeroplane--anything to bridge over that space of half a dozen miles between me and the Russian lines.