Perhaps he thought his obstinate Macedonians would yield. But although it grieved them to thwart their king, the soldiers remained firm.
On the third day Alexander left his tent and offered sacrifices to the gods, as he always did before beginning a new adventure. But the signs were unfavourable, and against this the king was not proof. So he sent to tell the army that he had determined to lead them in the direction of home.
In a transport of joy the faithful Macedonians hastened to the king’s tent. Some of them wept as they thanked ‘the unconquered king that he had permitted himself to be conquered for once by his Macedons.’
CHAPTER CI
ALEXANDER IS WOUNDED
Alexander determined to begin the homeward journey by sailing down the Hydaspes to the Indus in order to reach the ocean.
The king himself with part of the army embarked in the ships which awaited them on the Hydaspes. The rest of the army was divided into two companies, and marched on either bank of the river, one being under Hephæstion, the king’s friend.
On the way the fleet and the army joined their forces in order to subdue some of the warlike tribes that refused to submit to them.
One of these tribes, the Malli, Alexander pursued to their chief city, which stood where the town of Multan has since been built.
The city was easily taken, but not so the citadel in which the Malli had taken refuge.