Tristan Hughes

So it's probably not the losses that are reported, the numbers of casualties are probably greatly exaggerated, but it's still a nasty moment for an army that's already tired.

And the fact that it is tired means that some of them are reaching the end of their tether and more vulnerable to collapse before they get there.

So it's a very odd thing where you have another epic, you have this golden Alexander moment, but then the whole setting for it all, why this is happening in the first place, because there's nothing there worth conquering in this area.

And as you say, if there had been any attempt to keep in touch with the fleet, that's long since failed.

But again, once Alexander's committed to something, Alexander doesn't quit.

He keeps going.

And of course, he does get away with it in the end.

They do get through.

But it's, you know, after suffering an awful lot, after losing quite a lot of people.

But there's also the Nearchus.

They've given him up for dead.

They think the fleet's been lost.

Oh, they think the fleet's gone.

Yeah.

So he appears and they don't believe who he is at first.

Because by this time, the army's recovered.

So it's the other way around where he's gone and it's just they've not heard anything.

They don't really have that much sense of how far it is.

And they just think they've gone.

And there have been problems.