He chose the latter of the two alternatives.  He sent forward the legions of Anion, Phra, Phtah, and Sutkhu, which constituted the main body of his troops, and prepared to follow them with his household chariotry.  At the very moment when this division was being effected, the Hittites, who had been represented by the spies as being far distant, were secretly massing their forces to the north-east of Qodshu, ready to make an attack upon the Pharaoh’s flank as soon as he should set out on his march towards Khalupu.  The enemy had considerable forces at their disposal, and on the day of the engagement they placed 18,000 to 20,000 picked soldiers in the field.* Besides a well-disciplined infantry, they possessed 2500 to 3000 chariots, containing, as was the Asiatic custom, three men in each.**

* An army corps is reckoned as containing 9000 men on the wall scenes at Luxor, and 8000 at the Eamesseum; the 3000 chariots were manned by 9000 men.  In allowing four to five thousand men for the rest of the soldiers engaged, we are not likely to be far wrong, and shall thus obtain the modest total mentioned in the text, contrary to the opinion current among historians.

* The mercenaries are included in these figures, as is shown by the reckoning of the Lycian, Dardanian, and Pedasian chiefs who were in command of the chariots during the charges against Ramses II.

The Egyptian camp was not entirely broken up, when the scouts brought in two spies whom they had seized—­Asiatics in long blue robes arranged diagonally over one shoulder, leaving the other bare.  The king, who was seated on his throne delivering his final commands, ordered them to be beaten till the truth should be extracted from them.  They at last confessed that they had been despatched to watch the departure of the Egyptians, and admitted that the enemy was concealed in ambush behind the town.  Ramses hastily called a council of war and laid the situation before his generals, not without severely reprimanding them for the bad organisation of the intelligence department.  The officers excused themselves as best they could, and threw the blame on the provincial governors, who had not been able to discover what was going on.  The king cut short these useless recriminations, sent swift messengers to recall the divisions which had started early that morning, and gave orders that all those remaining in camp should hold themselves in readiness to attack.  The council were still deliberating when news was brought that the Hittites were in sight.

[Illustration:  195.jpg TWO HITTITE SPIES BEATEN BY THE EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the picture in the temple at
     Abu Simbel.

Their first onslaught was so violent that they threw down one side of the camp wall, and penetrated into the enclosure.  Ramses charged them at the head of his household troops.  Eight times he engaged the chariotry which threatened to surround him, and each time he broke their ranks.  Once he found himself alone with Manna, his shield-bearer, in the midst of a knot of warriors who were bent on his destruction, and he escaped solely by his coolness and bravery.  The tame lion which accompanied him on his expeditions did terrible work by his side, and felled many an Asiatic with his teeth and claws.*