Page:Xenophon by Alexander Grant.djvu/51

Rh continued harmlessly during the night. In the mean time the party of two thousand effected their operation. They occupied the height pointed out by their guide, and in the morning, under cover of the mist, they stole on the Kurds who were occupying the direct pass, and to the sound of the trumpet, and with a sudden war-cry, they routed them. Cheirisophus and his men at the first trumpet-note came along the direct road to assist, but they found the position already evacuated, and the pass clear. Xenophon, however, went round by the circuitous route, as it was better suited for the baggage-cattle. He had several skirmishes by the way, but at last joined the main body, when Cheirisophus and he parleyed with the natives, who agreed to give up the dead bodies of all slain Greeks in exchange for the prisoner who had served as guide. Funeral-rites were accordingly performed over