But despite every effort Timur saw that failure would come if he stayed there. He was met by preponderant and crushing numbers at last. So he put men and baggage in seventy strong boats and his chosen warriors in the twelve covered barges; and they sped down the swift river at night by the light of many torches fixed on the boats of his flotilla. The boats snapped a chain stretched across from one bank to the other by Mongols near Benakit, and passed along, hunted by the enemy on both sides. Timur learned now that Juchi had posted a large corps of men on the two banks, close to Jend, captured recently; he learned also that balistas were ready and that a bridge of boats had been made near the same place. He debarked higher up, therefore, and took to horse to avoid capture. Pursued by the enemy, he gave battle till his baggage was brought near him. He repeated this day after day till forced at last to abandon the baggage. Finally, having lost all his men, he was alone and pursued by three Mongols. He had only three arrows left, one of these had no metal point on it; he shot that and put out an eye of the nearest pursuer. Then he cried to the other men: “There are two arrows still in my quiver, ye would better go back with your eyesight.” They did so. Timur Melik made his way to Urgendj, and joined Jelal ud din, whom he followed till the death of that sovereign. Meanwhile Jinghis moved against Bokhara with his main forces and arrived at that city during June of 1219. On the way he seized Nur and Charnuk, which he pillaged; then he took from those places all stalwart men useful in siege work. Bokhara, the great city with a garrison of twenty thousand, was invested on all sides, and attacked by relays of fresh warriors, who gave neither respite nor rest to it. After some days the defenders lost hope of success and resolved to burst through in the night time, trusting in that way to save themselves. They fell on the Mongols unexpectedly, and scattered them, but instead of pursuing this advantage and fighting, those escaping defenders hastened forward. The Mongol troops rallied, and hunted the fugitives to the river, where they cut down nearly all of them. Next morning early, the Ulema and notables came out to give homage to the great Mongol Khan, and open the gates to him. Jinghis rode in, and going to the main mosque of the city entered it on horseback. Dismounting near the minbar, or pulpit, he ascended some steps of it and said to the people who assembled there quickly before him: “The fields now are stripped; feed our horses in this place!”