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

646 PLACE OF CROSSING.the horses would not remain quiet on the rafts during thepassage if they saw the elephants on the farther bank ; andhe knew that he could never get them to land. Even hisinfantry was unused to them. Alexander had also ascertainedthat Abisares, king of Cashmir, far from remaining faithfulto his jjromises, was preparing to send his entire force to theassistance of Porus. This made it all the more important tocross the river before the junction of these armies. But hecould not force, he must seize a passage by stealth.Topography of theHydaspes, after Cunningham.The right bank of the river, where Alexander had hiscamp, for a distanceand hilly.of many miles up and down, was highThe bank on which Porus stood was a wide fertileplain. This afforded Alexander the marked advantage ofhiding his own movements while those of Porus were easilyobservable.When Alexander saw that he had confused Porus as tointentions, and that the Indian king had ceased to march outto meet his feigned crossings, but remained inhiscamp, merelyoccupying the places where crossings were most likely toattempted, he made his preparations for a real crossing, meanwhilekeeping up his feints with intermittent regularity.beHe