outflank me through the hills

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navi - 30 Aug 2010 22:43 GMT

I hear this dell roar in a moment with the joint voice of wind and
fire, I see myself gallop for my soul, and the flying conflagration
chase and outflank me through the hills...

He is imagining what will happen if the dell catches fire.

I have a problem with the last bit. When the fire is chasing him and
outflanking him through the hills, is HE in the hills or in the dell?

The way I see it, he is in the dell and the fire moves in a circle and
comes out in front of him by passing through the hills.

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Cheryl P. - 30 Aug 2010 22:49 GMT

> I hear this dell roar in a moment with the joint voice of wind and
> fire, I see myself gallop for my soul, and the flying conflagration
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> The way I see it, he is in the dell and the fire moves in a circle and
> comes out in front of him by passing through the hills.

Yes, I think you're right. To flank or outflank someone is to move to or
around the sides of that person's position. I think it's a military
term, so is appropriate here in a figurative sense.

And being encircled or cut off by a forest fire is a very real danger.

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Cheryl

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CDB - 31 Aug 2010 02:03 GMT

>> I hear this dell roar in a moment with the joint voice of wind and
>> fire, I see myself gallop for my soul, and the flying conflagration
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> And being encircled or cut off by a forest fire is a very real
> danger.

Stevenson is a writer who follows the rules, as I recall, so the
character is probably in the hills. The phrase "through the hills"
has to apply to both verbs, in the absence of a repeated pronoun
object (chase *me* and outflank me through the hills") to separate
them, and so the unabbreviated sentence is "chase me through the hills
and outflank me through the hills", IMO. If he's galloping away from
the roaring dell (a *small* valley), he's probably going to have to
cross some hills.

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / August 2010

outflank me through the hills