The Persians were but a very little distance from the crest of the mountain when the first Hellenes reached it. The advantage was now with them, and they at once charged. Back fled the Persians by any path they could find, and soon there was no longer a trace either of the detachment that had been posted on the hill, or of the main army advancing along the plain. The road was free, and a short march brought the Hellenes to some villages where they could rest after the fatigues of the day. There they found abundance of food, and were able moreover to take as spoil a number of cows and other animals, for it happened, fortunately for the Hellenes, that a great number were just then collected at that place in order to be ferried across the Tigris. This was their last encounter with Tissaphernes. Since his shameful betrayal of their generals, he had for twenty days been following in their track, as a pack of hounds pursues a noble stag, who nevertheless saves himself by his courage and endurance. Taking into consideration the enormous difference in point of numbers, the loss sustained by the Hellenes during these twenty days was very slight. They had been more than a match for Tissaphernes and his great army, and might well feel proud of their superiority to the cowardly mob of Barbarians. XXVIII THE RIVER OR THE MOUNTAINS? But although they had now seen the last of Tissaphernes, the Hellenes were still a very long way from the end of their journey. Difficulties of another and more serious kind still lay before them, and the question of their further route caused the generals great anxiety. For in front of the fruitful valley in which they were encamped, there stretched before them a stern and rugged mountain-country inhabited by a nation of savages. The limit of this mountain district was the river Tigris, and the only way of avoiding it was by crossing the Tigris. No path could be found by which they could pass between the mountains and the river, for immense rocks stretched out far over the water, so that there was not space for even a single person to go by. But the river was far too deep and broad to be forded, and they had no other means of crossing. When they tried to measure its depth with their long spears, they could not reach the bottom, even close to the shore. Whilst the generals were consulting together as to what could be done, a Rhodian soldier came to them to ask for an audience, and said, ‘If you will promise me a talent of silver,[15] and provide me with all that I shall need for carrying out my plan, I will build you a bridge over the Tigris capable of bearing two thousand hoplites.’ [15] A talent was equal to 243_l._ 15_s._ of our money.