"If they went straight back, they would run right into the Germans.

There must be a lot of the enemy between us and the Russian lines--their main body, you see.

And my father won't want to fight.

His object is to get back with as many men as possible.

It would be useless to send a thousand Cossacks against an army corps." "Oh, of course! It's wonderful to think of how they got here, Boris, riding right through the enemy's country! It's like the work cavalry did on both sides in our Civil War.