on him, "or if he
be fled" (so the reply concluded), "we will there deliberate on the
best course." The deputation received the answer and reported it to
the soldiers. The suspicion that he was leading them against the king
was not dispelled; but it seemed best to follow him. They only
demanded an increase of pay, and Cyrus promised to give them half as
much again as they had hitherto received--that is to say, a daric and
a half a month to each man, instead of a daric. Was he really leading
them to attack the king? Not even at this moment was any one apprised
of the fact, at any rate in any open and public manner.

IV

From this point he marched two stages--ten parasangs--to the river 1
Psarus, which is two hundred feet broad, and from the Psarus he
marched a single stage--five parasangs--to Issi, the last city in
Cilicia. It lies on the seaboard--a prosperous, large and flourishing
town. Here they halted three days, and here Cyrus was joined by his
fleet. There were thirty-five ships from Peloponnesus, with the
Lacedaemonian admiral Pythagoras on board. These had been piloted from
Ephesus by Tamos the Egyptian, who himself had another fleet of
twenty-five ships belonging to Cyrus. These had formed Tamos's
blockading squadron at Miletus, when that city sided with
Tissaphernes; he had also used them in other military services
rendered to Cyrus in his operations against that satrap. There was a
third officer on board the fleet, the Lacedaemonian Cheirisophus, who
had been sent for by Cyrus, and had brought with him seven hundred
hoplites, over whom he was to act as general in the service of Cyrus.
The fleet lay at anchor opposite Cyrus's tent. Here too another
reinforcement presented itself. This was a body of four hundred
hoplites, Hellenic mercenaries in the service of Abrocomas, who 3
deserted him for Cyrus, and joined in the campaign against the king.

From Issi, he marched a single stage--five parasangs--to the gates of
Cilicia and Syria. This was a double fortress: the inner and nearer
one, which protects Cilicia, was held by Syennesis and a garrison of
Cilicians; the outer and further one, protecting Syria, was reported
to be garrisoned by a body of the king's troops. Through the gap
between the two fortresses flows a river named the Carsus, which is a
hundred feet broad, and the whole space between was scarcely more than
six hundred yards. To force a passage here would be impossible, so
nar