One aspect of these night missions that informs the poetics of the ambush theme is the lack of sure visual knowledge in the dark. Odysseus can see someone, but cannot yet be sure who he is or why he is there. We have already seen manifestations of this aspect of ambush, such as when Nestor tells the man he cannot see well enough to recognize that he should speak out and not sneak up on him (10.82–85). Odysseus displays his talent for ambush by anticipating that this man may be the enemy and by employing a strategy that gives them the advantage. See also the section on the sensory and spatial aspects of the night in “The Poetics of Ambush.”