ith water for the host.

At Accho, in the land of the Canaanites, the fleets of the Syrians,
Phoenicians and Ionians belonging to Persia, and the auxiliary ships
from Cyprus and Samos, won by the efforts of Phanes, were assembled.
The case of the Samian fleet was a remarkable one. Polykrates saw in
Cambyses' proposal a favorable opportunity of getting rid of all
the citizens who were discontented with his government, manned forty
triremes with eight thousand malcontent Samians, and sent them to
the Persians with the request that not one might be allowed to return
home.--[Herod. III. 44.]

As soon as Phanes heard this he warned the doomed men, who at once,
instead of sailing to join the Persian forces, returned to Samos and
attempted to overthrow Polykrates. They were defeated, however, on land,
and escaped to Sparta to ask help against the tyrant.

A full month before the time of the inundation, the Persian and Egyptian
armies were standing face to face near Pelusium on the north-east coast
of the Delta.

Phanes' arrangements had proved excellent. The Arabian tribes had kept
faith so well that the journey through the desert, which would usually
have cost thousands of lives, had been attended with very little loss,
and the time of year had been so well chosen that the Persian troops
reached Egypt by dry roads and without inconvenience.

The king met his Greek friend with every mark of distinction, and
returned a friendly nod when Phanes said: "I hear that you have been
less cheerful than usual since the death of your beautiful bride. A
woman's grief passes in stormy and violent complaint, but the sterner
character of a man cannot so soon be comforted. I know what you feel,
for I have lost my dearest too. Let us both praise the gods for granting
us the best remedy for our grief--war and revenge." Phanes accompanied
the king to an inspection of the troops and to the evening revel. It was
marvellous to see the influence he exercised over this fierce spirit,
and how calm--nay even cheerful--Cambyses became, when the Athenian was
near.

The Egyptian army was by no means contemptible, even when compared with
the immense Persian hosts. Its position was covered on the right by the
walls of Pelusium, a frontier fortress designed by the Egyptian kings as
a defence against incursions from the east. The Persians were assured by
deserters that the Egyptian army numbered altogether nearly six hundred
thousand men. Beside a grea