Could they succeed in utterly demolishing that bulwark in the course of the day?
If so, how were they to be dislodged before their work was perfected?
It was difficult to assault their position.
Three thousand Hollanders, Antwerpers, Englishmen--"mad bulldogs all," as Parma called them--showing their teeth very mischievously, with one hundred and sixty Zeeland vessels throwing in their broadsides from both margins of the dyke, were a formidable company to face.
"Oh for one half hour of Alexander in the field!" sighed one of the Spanish officers in council.

But Alexander was more than four leagues away, and it was doubtful whether he even knew of the fatal occurrence.
Yet how to send him a messenger.

Who could reach him through that valley of death?
Would it not be better to wait till nightfall?
Under the cover of darkness something might be attempted, which in the daylight would be hopeless.

There was much anxiety, and much difference of opinion had been expressed, when Camillo Capizucca, colonel of the Italian Legion, obtained a hearing.

A man bold in words as in deeds, he vehemently denounced the pusillanimity which would wait either for Parma or for nightfall.