But one army of a hundred
thousand can beat two of seventy-five thousand apiece, meeting them at
different times. So our attack will stop. We shall leave a covering
force here at Gumbinnen--or perhaps all our troops here will stay, but
on the defensive, while others are rushed up from Grodno to outflank
them, not on their right, as they hoped, but on their extreme left!"
He was silent for a moment.
"I need one man here," he said. "One man, to keep the engine running for
the dynamo. Everyone else must leave this house. You, Boris Petrovitch,
most of all--you and your cousin. I am responsible to your father for
your safety for it is through my fault that the plans were badly made."
"But why must you stay, Ivan?" asked Boris.
"I must stay until I am ordered away," said Ivan. "But it will not be
safe here after daylight--perhaps there will be trouble even before
that. Yes, I think it will be very soon now."
"Well, I think I shall stay," said Fred.
"No," said Ivan. "Listen! If you go now, quickly, you can get away in
the car. Here is the road you must follow." He took a map and pointed.
"See--swing west first, and then south--far south.
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