It is said that without more ado, savage and mad with anger as he was, he ordered one of his staff to take his troopers and ride at once to Cyrus and his men, and there deliver this message: [10] "I should never have dreamed that Cyrus could have acted towards me with such scant respect, or, if he could have thought of it, that the Medes could have borne to desert me in this way.

And now, whether Cyrus will or no, I command the Medes to present themselves before me without delay." [11] Such was the message.

But he who was to take it said, "And how shall I find them, my lord ?" "Why," said Cyaxares, "as Cyrus and his men found those they went to seek." "I only asked," continued the messenger, "because I was told that some Hyrcanians who had revolted from the enemy came here, and went off with him to act as guides." [12] When Cyaxares heard that, he was the more enraged to think that Cyrus had never told him, and the more urgent to have his Medes removed from him at once, and he summoned them home under fiercer threats than ever; threatening the officer as well if he failed to deliver the message in full force.
[13] So the emissary set off with his troopers, about one hundred strong, fervently regretting that he had not gone with Cyrus himself.

On the way they took a turning which led them wrong, and they did not reach the Persians until they had chanced upon some of the Assyrians in retreat and forced them to be their guides, and so at last arrived, sighting the watch-fires about midnight.

[14] But though they had got to the camp, the pickets, acting on the orders of Cyrus, would not let them in till dawn.