not of recent date, limited to those which had been smuggled across
from England by daring skippers and fishermen. There were several
despatches from St. Petersburg, containing news of fresh victories in
India.

The Russian army had pushed on to Lucknow without any further engagement
worth mentioning having taken place since the battle of Delhi. It seemed
as if the English were for the time unwilling to meet the enemy in the
open field. They apparently calculated that the heat and the enormous
length of their line of communication would prevent the Russians from
reaching the southern provinces in sufficient strength to overcome
an energetic resistance there. But Heideck no longer believed in the
possibility of such a resistance, concluding from the announcement of a
stream of reinforcements arriving through the Khyber Pass that all the
Russian losses would be speedily made up. In his opinion, practically
the only thing left for the English was to embark the remnants of their
army at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and to get a portion at least of
their beaten forces safely out of India.

While he was in his office, despatches were continually arriving from
Wilhelmshaven, Kiel, Brest, and Cherbourg. The intelligence department
of the entire north coast was under Heideck's control.

Except for isolated naval engagements, the strategic position had, on
the whole, remained unaltered for months. Both sides hesitated to risk
a decisive battle. The English fleets did not venture to attack the
enemy's harbours; the combined squadrons of the continental Powers
seemed no more inclined to try their fortune on the open sea. Each was
endeavouring to get in touch with the other, waiting for the favourable
moment when his adversary's weakness might offer the prospect of
successful action.

"The risks these dwellers on the coast run are astonishing," said one of
Heideck's staff. "They cross the Channel in their fishing-boats and slip
by the warships. The man who brought the last English papers told me
that he passed close by them to give the impression that there was
nothing wrong. It needed considerable courage to risk that."

"But the enemy's spies are equally efficient. Yesterday, more by
accident than any merit of my own, I caught a herring fisher in the
mouth of the Schelde who was in English pay; I think I have hit on an
apparently important clue, which I intend to follow up in Antwerp, after
reporting myself to the Chancello