Page:Xenophon by Alexander Grant.djvu/54

44 Tiribazas, anxiety about which had probably been the cause of his conciliating them, and they made themselves at home in the surrounding hamlets. They were now about 4000 feet above the sea, and it was near the end of November. The sight of watch-fires in the neighbourhood, and other signs of hostility caused the army to bivouac together in the open air. But vast quantities of snow fell during the night, covering men and beasts, and in the morning they were numbed with cold, and Xenophon had to set the example of rising to cut firewood. Then they lit many fires, and the men anointed themselves with unguents which they found in the villages. After this they sent out a clever Greek captain with some men to reconnoitre, and they succeeded in bringing in a Persian captive. This man, being questioned, told them what troops the satrap had, and that he was preparing to intercept them in a pass which lay upon their line of march.

With the greatest energy the generals determined to sally forth and attack Tiribazus where he was, before he could occupy the pass. They succeeded in doing so. They surprised his camp among the mountains, killed some of his men, dispersed the rest, took his tent, his horses, and his couches with silver feet, and made prisoners of his bakers and cup-bearers. The next day they pushed forward with the utmost expedition, and got through the pass which was to have been held against them. Marching through deep snow for three days, they came to what is now called the Murád-sú, being the easterly branch of the Eu-