The troops the Duke expected
did not come in; instead of the 90,000 he wanted, but 30,000 mustered.
"It is no go," Blackett said to his friend with a groan.
At this juncture the Emperor Leopold died, and the Archduke's elder
brother Joseph succeeded him.
"Spain is bound in the long run to drop into the hands of either
France or Austria," the two young officers agreed. Already the lads
were beginning to take an interest in great matters of state, as was
natural in the case of well-educated and intelligent youngsters. And
they felt that when either event should happen it would be a bad day
for the rest of Europe.
Baffled in his great scheme, Marlborough set his hand to another
important work. Across the province of Brabant in Flanders the French
held a wonderful belt of strongholds, stretching from Namur to
Antwerp. No invasion of France could possibly be made from the
Netherlands so long as Louis held this formidable line of defences.
Moreover, the near presence of these fortresses to Holland was a
standing threat to the Dutch, and, when Marlborough made known his
plans to them, they for once fell in with them.
Thus it happened that Lieutenant Blackett and his friend Cornet
Fairburn found themselves once more in the thick of war.
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