On the evening of the fourth day, for the progress of so great
a multitude was necessarily slow, we camped two miles this side
of the neck or ridge I have spoken of, and our outposts brought
us word that Sorais with all her power was rolling down upon
us, and had pitched her camp that night ten miles the farther
side of the neck.
Accordingly before dawn we sent forward fifteen hundred cavalry
to seize the position. Scarcely had they occupied it, however,
before they were attacked by about as many of Sorais' horsemen,
and a very smart little cavalry fight ensued, with a loss to
us of about thirty men killed. On the advance of our supports,
however, Sorais' force drew off, carrying their dead and wounded
with them.
The main body of the army reached the neck about dinner-time,
and I must say that Nyleptha's judgment had not failed her, it
was an admirable place to give battle in, especially to a superior
force.
The road ran down a mile or more, through ground too broken to
admit of the handling of any considerable force, till it reached
the crest of a great green wave of land, that rolled down a gentle
slope to the banks of a little stream, and then rolled away again
up a still gentler slope to the plain beyond, the distance from
the crest of the land-wave down to the stream being a little
over half a mile, and from the stream up to the plain beyond
a trifle less.
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