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

604 ALEXANDER IN JEOPARDY.joining ladder went Abreas, a soldier who received doublepay for his consjjicuous valor. The other ladders weredelayed.Alexander, from whose fiery ardor the barbariansretired, swung himself up on the battlements, and frayed aplace for himself with his sword. This was the affair of aninstant. The hj^paspists, anxious for his safety, crowded uponthe two ladders in such number as to break them down.Alexander was left standing with only Peucestas, Abreas andLeonnatus upon the wall in the midst of his enemies ; but soconspicuous was his bearing and gallantry, that none camewithin reach of his sword but to fall. The barbarians hadrecognized him by his armor and white plumes, and the multitudeof darts which fell upon him threatened his life at everyinstant.The Macedonians below implored him to leap downinto their outstretched arms. Nothing daunted, however, thedescendant of the ^acidse scorned one backward step, andcalling on every man to follow who loved him, Alexanderleaped down inside the wall, and with his three companions,backing up against it, held his own with wonderful countenance.In a brief moment he had killed a number ofIndians, and had slain their leader who ventured against him.But Abreas fell dead beside him with an arrow in his forehead,and Alexander was at the same instant pierced throughthe corselet by an arrow whose point penetrated the lung.Yet he bravely defended himself tillhe fell exhausted by lossof blood, and over him, like lions at bay, but glowing withthe halo which only crowns the brave, stood Peucestas defendinghim with the sacred shield, and Leonnatus with hissword, both dropping blood from countless wounds. It seemedthat the days of all three were numbered.The Macedonians, meanwhile, some with the ladders nowarriving, some on the backs of the rest and some by meansof pegs inserted in the earth or between the bricks of the