ats and asses. They have only to
be flayed, and their skins inflated, and they will readily give us a
passage. I shall want also the straps which you use for the baggage
animals. With these I shall couple the skins to one another; then I
shall moor each skin by attaching stones and letting them down like
anchors into the water. Then I shall carry them across, and when I
have fastened the links at both ends, I shall place layers of wood on
them and a coating of earth on the top of that. You will see in a
minute that there's no danger of your drowning, for every skin will be
able to support a couple of men without sinking, and the wood and
earth will prevent your slipping off."

The generals thought it a pretty invention enough, but its realisation
impracticable, for on the other side were masses of cavalry posted and
ready to bar the passage; who, to begin with, would not suffer the 12
first detachment of crossers to carry out any item of the programme.

Under these circumstances, the next day they turned right about face,
and began retracing their steps in the direction of Babylon to the
unburnt villages, having previously set fire to those they left, so
that the enemy did not ride up to them, but stood and stared, all
agape to see in what direction the Hellenes would betake themselves
and what they were minded to do. Here, again, while the rest of the
soldiers were busy about provisions, the generals and officers met in
council, and after collecting the prisoners together, submitted them
to a cross-examination touching the whole country round, the names,
and so forth, of each district.

The prisoners informed them that the regions south, through which they
had come, belonged to the district towards Babylon and Media; the road
east led to Susa and Ecbatana, where the king is said to spend summer
and spring; crossing the river, the road west led to Lydia and Ionia;
and the part through the mountains facing towards the Great Bear, led,
they said, to the Carduchians (1). They were a people, so said the
prisoners, dwelling up on the hills, addicted to war, and not subject
to the king; so much so that once, when a royal army one hundred and
twenty thousand strong had invaded them, not a man came back, owing to
the intricacies of the country. Occasionally, however, they made truce
or treaty with the satrap in the plain, and, for the nonce, there
would be intercourse: "they will come in and out amongst us," "and we
wil