Then, it is true, there went up one simultaneous and mighty roar of: "The Child! Death to Jana! The Child! The Child!" But this happened a few minutes later.
As we drew near the enemy I saw that they had massed their footmen in a dense body, six or eight lines thick.

There they stood to receive the impact of our charge, or rather they did not all stand, for the first two ranks were kneeling with long spears stretched out in front of them.
I imagine that their appearance must have greatly resembled that of the Greek phalanx, or that of the Swiss prepared to receive cavalry in the Middle Ages.

On either side of this formidable body, which by now must have numbered four or five hundred men, and at a distance perhaps of a quarter of a mile from them, were gathered the horsemen of the Black Kendah, divided into two bodies of nearly equal strength, say about a hundred horse in each body.
As we approached, our triangle curved a little, no doubt under the direction of Harut.

A minute or so later I saw the reason.

It was that we might strike the foot-soldiers not full in front but at an angle.