Sentence:  It was the opinion of some of us that these must be part of the Committeemen who had been in the Battle of the North Bridge , which entitled them to a sort of veteran status , and we felt that if they employed this tactic , it was <WSD>likely</WSD> enough the best one . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  has a good chance of being the case or of coming about