laurence understood his constraint , and his reluctance to speak ; granby could neither speak in favor of a course which would almost certainly result in his being the most senior candidate available when the egg should hatch ; nor protest against one which would require him to make the attempt to harness a hatchling under the most dire circumstances , in the midst of a battlefield , the egg barely in their hands for a few weeks , of a rare breed almost unknown to them , and almost certainly no future chance of promotion if he failed .