Then he sat back with a
sigh of relief.
"We were in time!" he said. "These troops back here are the ones that
were supposed to be massing behind Liok, to resist the feint we were
making there. They are too clever, those Germans! They have their
airships to tell them the truth, and their railways to move men swiftly
from one side to another. But they have not enough men! We shall beat
them yet. Our attack will stop. See--look here!"
He moved to a table, and with pens and pencils made a rough diagram of
the position.
"They gave up Gumbinnen without a fight, and formed in a half circle
behind. They had so few men there that it was an invitation to us to try
to outflank them. Our right could sweep out and draw in behind their
left--so. And then their supporting troops could outflank our right, in
turn, and it would be caught between two fires! They have fewer troops
than we in East Prussia to-day, but ours are separated, while they
risked all to bring all theirs together at this one point and left the
south unguarded from Mlawa to Liok! Oh, it was daring--Napoleon might
have planned that!"
"I see," said Fred. "Then when they had won here, they could have used
their railway to move troops southward?"
"Exactly so! A hundred and fifty thousand men all together can beat a
hundred thousand, if all else is equal.
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