Just at the moment of expected victory misfortune overtook them and brought their structure down in ruins.

And because the seed they have sown is not physical, but mental and moral, the fruition is long postponed.
Walter Scott tells the story of a wounded knight, who took refuge in the castle of a baron that proved to be a secret enemy and threw the knight into a dungeon; one day in his cell the knight heard the sound of distant music approaching.

Drawing near the slit in the tower, he saw the flash of swords and heard the tramp of marching men.

At last the wounded hero realized that these were his own troops, marching by in ignorance of the fact that the lord of this castle was also the jailer of their general.

While the knight tugged at his chain, lifted up his voice and cried aloud, his troops marched on, their music drowning out his cries.