The first sign of unwariness would begin and end the battle.
"Way of the Lawless"
Max Brand
Whatever the strict propriety of his conduct in this case, it was sufficiently doubtful to excite a just suspicion that Hillyar would not be deterred, by over-delicacy about the neutrality of the port, from seizing any advantage offered him by the unwariness of his enemy; and so the event proved.
"Admiral Farragut"
A. T. Mahan