spies whom they had captured, and who had evidently been sent out to bring to Mauthnuro the final information which would enable him to time his stroke. The

unfortunate men were put to the question by means of a sound beating, and made confession under the stick. 'His Majesty said to them, "Where is the abominable chief of the Kheta? Verily I have heard that he is in the country

of Aleppo." They replied, "Behold, the abominable chief of the Kheta standeth, and multitudes of the districts are with him; he hath brought them with him in vast numbers from all the provinces of the country of the Kheta, and from the country of Naharina, and from the whole country of Qedi. They are provided with footmen, and with cavalry fully equipped, and they are like the sand of the seashore for multitude; and, behold, they are drawn up in fighting order, but are concealed behind the abominable city of Qedesh."'*

On receiving this astounding intelligence, Pharaoh at them a most once summoned his officers before him, gave royal rating for the slackness with which their scouting had been conducted, and sent hurried orders to bring up the division of Ptah from the ford of Shabtuna. But even while his orders were being issued, the enemy had struck his first blow with complete success. The men of the division of Ra were marching on in absolute ignorance of the danger which awaited them, and no doubt pleased with the prospect of rest and food after their long and weary march. Suddenly they were struck, as if by a thunderbolt, by the charge of the whole Hittite chariot brigade, which Mauthnuro had quietly passed over the water at the south of Qedesh. Now, whilst His Sacred Majesty was sitting and talking with his officers, the abominable prince of the Kheta came, together with his footmen and cavalry and the multitudes of people who were with him, and they crossed over the canal at the south of Qedesh, and came upon the soldiers of His Majesty, who were marching along in ignorance of what was happening.' Taken in flank, tired, hungry, and absolutely unprepared, the Egyptian infantry was broken at the first shock, and rushed in utter rout for the only hope of safety, the encamped division of Amen. Almost as soon as the news * Budge, 'Egyptian Reading-Book,' p. xli.

of the disaster reached the king, the fugitives burst into his camp with the Hittite chariots hard upon their heels. The division of Amen was demoralized by this sudden flood of pursuers and pursued, and promptly took to flight also, leaving Ramses in a most unenviable position. Two of his divisions-and these probably the best troops of his army-were scattered to the winds; the third was miles south of him, and cut off from him by the victorious Hittite force; while the fourth division was so far away that the king never even sent orders to bring it up.

In this desperate strait, Ramses, who had failed so utterly as a general, showed that he had at least the courage of a good man-at-arms. Leaping into his chariot, het charged headlong upon the Hittite chariot brigade as it advanced, flushed with victory, and doubtless disordered by the pursuit. His own statement that he was 'all alone, no other with him,' must probably be taken as a rhetorical flight; but he can have had only the few household troops who had not been swept away in the rout of the two divisions. His boldness saved the situation. That happened which has happened on numberless fields to victorious cavalry, spent with the exertion of a long charge. The onslaught of the king and of his fresh household troops broke in turn the disordered Hittite ranks, and the enemy's chariot brigade was driven back upon the Orontes. Charging repeatedly, Ramses pressed his advantage, and the Hittite king, who was watching the fortunes of the combat from the eastern bank of the river, where he held in reserve a body of 8,000 spearmen, saw all his plans being upset and his chariotry being hurled into the water by the Pharaoh's desperate attack. Mauthnuro's own brother fell in the rout of the so lately victorious chariotry, together with many other chiefs, among them the shieldbearer of the Hittite king, and his 'writer of books,' or scribe, whose occupation might have kept him in a safer