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

A SHARP COMBAT. 651contented himseK with sending a small body tomeet Alexander'sadvance, whose force he probably quite underestimated,or may have looked upon as a venturesome patrol.He imagined the king himself to be still on the other side.Not long after Alexander had landed, therefore, the son ofPorus put in an appearance, with two thousand horse and onehundred and twenty chariots. He had been put in commandof the force and sent by his father to hold the approachingMacedonians in check. The king shortly ran across him.He at first thought that Porus was upon him with his entirearmy, ofwhich this was but the van, and sent the horse-archersforward to skirmish with the Indians, while he pausedto give instructions for hurrying up the other troops. Butwhen, on reconnoitring, he coidd see no troops coming upbehind the Indian column, he recognized that he had to domerely with a small force, and at once rode in upon them atthe head of his Companions, and while the light horse skirmishedabout their flanks, the Macedonian cavalry chargedhome. It was rather a combat than a battle. The Macedonianscharged in on the enemy " squadron by squadron," aterm not unfrequently used by Arrian, whose meaning hasalready been discussed.The charge at once broke the enemy's formation, and inthe melee the son ofPorus was killed and four hundred menwere cut to pieces. The chariots were captured ; for, beingvery heavy, — they contained each six men, — their movementswere hampered by the deep mud in this agriculturallowland. The survivors fled ; the Macedonians followed hardupon. Porus soon learned the presence of Alexander. Hesaw that the enemy had outwitted him, had crossed a river heought to have been able to hold, or, at least, in the passageof which he could have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.He must now fight on the plain instead of at the river fords.