to pass in order to reach the enemy. The king had taken
precautionary measures against any possible attempt of the natives to
cut the main column during this crossing of the mountains. His position
might at any moment have become a critical one, had the allies taken
advantage of it and attacked each battalion as it issued on to the plain
before it could re-form. But the Prince of Qodshu, either from ignorance
of his adversary's movements, or confident of victory in the open,
declined to take the initiative. Towards one o'clock in the afternoon,
the Egyptians found themselves once more united on the further side of
the range, close to a torrent called the Qina, a little to the south of
Megiddo. When the camp was pitched, Thutmosis announced his intention of
engaging the enemy on the morrow. A council of war was held to decide
on the position that each corps should occupy, after which the officers
returned to their men to see that a liberal supply of rations was served
out, and to organise an efficient system of patrols. They passed round
the camp to the cry: "Keep a good heart: courage! Watch well, watch
well! Keep alive in the camp!" The king refused to retire to rest until
he had been assured that "the country was quiet, and also the host, both
to south and north." By dawn the next day the whole army was in motion.
It was formed into a single line, the right wing protected by the
torrent, the left extended into the plain, stretching beyond Megiddo
towards the north-west. Thutmosis and his guards occupied the centre,
standing "armed in his chariot of electrum like unto Horus brandishing
his pike, and like Montu the Theban god." The Syrians, who had not
expected such an early attack, were seized with panic, and fled in the
direction of the town, leaving their horses and chariots on the field;
but the citizens, fearing lest in the confusion the Egyptians should
effect an entrance with the fugitives, had closed their gates and
refused to open them. Some of the townspeople, however, let down ropes
to the leaders of the allied party, and drew them up to the top of the
ramparts: "and would to heaven that the soldiers of His Majesty had not
so far forgotten themselves as to gather up the spoil left by the vile
enemy! They would then have entered Megiddo forthwith; for while the men
of the garrison were drawing up the Lord of Qodshu and their own prince,
the fear of His Majesty was upon their limbs, and their hands failed
them b