The Seed of Empire by Fred M. White

Malden demurred strongly. His German accent was good enough, but the whole plan might be ruined if some question were put to him that he was not in a position to answer promptly. It would be far better to leave the German signaller in blissful ignorance of the fact that he had been discovered, and push on at once, with a view to taking the Uhlans by surprise, especially as they were an isolated body and beyond the reach of help.

"Besides, I haven't finished," he said. "Those chaps know all about the guns, and they haven't worried about them because they regard them as their own absolute property. They have got the guns and the ammunition, and, what is more to the point, they are holding more than a score of our gunners too. Of course, it isn't for me to argue with you, but it seems a pity to risk the success of a coup like this for the possibility of picking up a bit more information. Still, it isn't for me to say."