.

NUMBER THREE.

The scattered fugitives of the Christian army spread terror throughout the
land. The inhabitants of the towns and villages gathered around them as
they applied at their gates for food, or laid themselves down, faint and
wounded, beside the public fountains. When they related the tale of their
defeat, old men shook their heads and groaned, and the women uttered cries
and lamentations. So strange and unlooked-for a calamity filled them with
consternation and despair; for it was long since the alarm of war had
sounded in their land: and this was a warfare that carried chains and
slavery, and all kinds of horrors, in its train.

Don Roderick was seated with his beauteous queen, Exilona, in the royal
palace which crowned the rocky summit of Toledo, when the bearer of
ill-tidings came galloping over the bridge of the Tagus. 'What tidings
from the army?' demanded the king, as the panting messenger was brought
into his presence. 'Tidings of great wo!' exclaimed the soldier. 'The
prince has fallen in battle. I saw his head and surcoat upon a Moorish
lance; and the army was overthrown and fled!'

At hearing these words, Roderick covered his face with his hands, and for
some time sat in silence; and all his courtiers stood mute and aghast, and
no one dared to speak a word. In that awful space of time passed before
his thoughts all his errors and his crimes, and all the evil that had been
predicted in the necromantic tower. His mind was filled with horror and
confusion, for the hour of his destruction seemed at hand: but he subdued
his agitation by his strong and haughty spirit; and, when he uncovered his
face, no one could read on his brow the trouble and agony of his heart.
Still, every hour brought fresh tidings of disaster. Messenger after
messenger came spurring into the city, distracting it with new alarms. The
infidels, they said, were strengthening themselves in the land; host after
host were pouring in from Africa: the sea-coast of Andalusia glittered
with spears and scimitars. Bands of turbaned horsemen had overrun the
plains of Sidonia, even to the banks of the Guadiana. Fields were laid
waste, towns and cities plundered, the inhabitants carried into captivity,
and the whole country lay in smoking desolation.

Roderick heard all these tidings with an undaunted aspect; nor did he ever
again betray sign of consternation: but the anxiety of his soul was
evident in his warlike preparations. He issued