Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

524 A REPULSED ATTACK.entrance thi'ough the breach. Alexander had met with thestanchest troops he encountered in this region. The nightwas spent in preparation. These backsets woukl not do. Theking was on his mettle. By the next morning he had gotready a bridge to throw from thetower to the wall, and hadselected the shield-bearing guards, who had in similar fashioncaptured Tyre, to charge over it and drive the defendersfrom the breaches.The preparations were duly completed ; the bridge wasthrown ; the gallant hypaspists made the assault with alltheir usual dash, and with theconfidence bred of a hundredvictories thus snatched. But the bridge, hastily built andbeing overcharged by the ardor of the men, who crowdedupon each other in their efforts to outdo themselves, broke,and a number of Macedonians were dumped pell-mell into theditch. Perceiving their advantage, the eager barbarians notonly showered stones, beams, fire-balls, and all manner of missilesupon the luckless wounded men below, but with a greatshout of triumph made an immediate sortie from the sidegates between the towers ofthe to^vn, and inflicted much losson the mass of struggling humanity in the ditch.Alexanderwas fain to sound the recall. He immediately ordered infresh troops, and it was by the heroic efforts of Alcestas' taxisalone that the wounded and dead were rescued without stillgreater loss. Several detachments had got isolated in thegeneral attack, had not heard the trumpet signal, and had tobe withdrawn by the advance of other troops, which was donewith some difficulty.On the succeeding day another bridge was thrown in thelike manner ; but the Indians defended themselves with theutmost gallantry ; Alexander still made no greater progress.It must have been a novelty to the Macedonians to find themselvesthus matched. Nor, indeed, would the town have