Worshipping the Dead Prince 
like a great, white pillar from the plain in the 
rear of the Ebaddan host. It took him until four 
o’clock, to get his unwieldy masses in fighting 
order, and then the charge was sounded all 
along the line. The lines of the allies were like 
a solid wall. They redeemed their prestige lost 
in the last defeat, displaying wonderful courage, 
for they were outnumbered at least three to one. 
For several hours it was like a volcano in erup¬ 
tion, and when night came on and the lurid 
flames of the blazing muskets lit up the mass of 
white sulphurous smoke that hung over the 
plain and city, the scene was truly appalling, 
made even more so by the fact that the com¬ 
batants were yelling with all their might the 
whole time. The allies humiliated and incensed 
by their recent rout pressed closer and closer 
until in some places the bright threads of fire 
seemed to cross each other. At length the 
astonished Ebaddans, no longer able to stand 
before a fire so galling, broke and fled in dismay, 
pursued for a mile or more by the exultant allies, 
whose fire did not slacken to the last. 
After this unexpected display of spirit on the 
part of the besieged, the enemy changed their 
tactics and tried to weaken them by cutting off 
their supplies of salt, for they knew that food 
183 
