Samson business. It makes me shudder to think, even now, of what might
have happened to thee."

"There was not much danger," said he; "for all I had to do was to
withdraw, and there was an end to the matter. I have often and often been
in greater danger than that. For instance, I was in the army of Xerxes,
compelled to enter it simply because I happened to be in Persia.
My sympathies were entirely with the Greeks. My age did not protect me at
all. Everybody who in any way could be made useful was dragged into that
army. It was known that I had a knowledge of engineering and surveying,
and I was taken into the army to help build bridges and lay out camps.

"Here it was that I saw the curious method of counting the soldiers which
was adopted by the officers of Xerxes's army. As you may have read, ten
thousand men were collected on a plain and made to stand close together
in a mass nearly circular in shape. Then a strong fence, with a wide gate
to the west and another to the east, was built around them, and I was
engaged in the constructing and strengthening of this fence. When the
fence was finished, the men were ordered to march out of the inclosure,
and other soldiers marched in until it was again entirely filled. This
process was repeated until the whole army had been in the inclosure. Thus
they got rid of the labor of counting--measuring the army instead of
enumerating it. But the results were not accurate. I was greatly
interested in the matter, and on three occasions I stood at the exit gate
as the soldiers were coming out, and counted them, and the number never
amounted to ten thousand. One counting showed less than seven thousand,
--the men did not pack themselves together as closely as they were packed
the first time,--so I am confident that Xerxes's army was not so large as
it was reported to be.