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84 turning to offer resistance," and those who escaped the sword were shut up in the fortified towns.

One of these towns, with a citadel situated on a commanding height, was stormed under Alexander's personal direction, and two thousand of the garrison were slain. Another town, against which Perdikkas had been sent, was found to be deserted. The inhabitants fled to the marshes in the river valley, but, even among the reeds and rushes, they could not escape the weapons of the Macedonian cavalry. Alexander then pushed on to the Hydraotes, and overtook the retreating Malloi at the ford, inflicting severe loss upon them. He pursued them to the east of the river into the country now known as the Montgomery District, and took by mining and escalade a town inhabited by Brahmans. The king, with his customary disregard of danger, was the first man to scale the wall. The place was gallantly defended, but in vain. "About five thousand in all were killed, and as they were men of spirit, very few were taken prisoners."

The Malloi, being hard pressed, recrossed the Hydraotes, the passage of which they attempted to defend with fifty thousand men; but they were no match for the Europeans, and fled "with headlong speed" to the strongest fortified town in the neighbourhood. This small town, which cannot be identified precisely, and was situated somewhere near the boundary of the Jhang and Montgomery Districts, eighty or ninety miles to the northeast of Multan, was the scene of one of the most memorable incidents in Alexander's adventurous career,