nd alarm-fires were lighted on the mountains, signals that the
Moors were on the ravage, at sight of which the peasants were accustomed
to drive their flocks and herds to places of refuge. He sent couriers
also spurring in every direction, summoning all capable of bearing arms
to meet him at Castellar. This was a town strongly posted on a steep
height, by which the Moorish king would have to return.

Muley Abul Hassan saw by the fires blazing on the mountains that the
country was rising. He struck his tents, and pushed forward as rapidly
as possible for the border; but he was encumbered with booty and with
the vast cavalgada swept from the pastures of the Campina de Tarifa. His
scouts brought him word that there were troops in the field, but he made
light of the intelligence, knowing that they could only be those of the
alcayde of Gibraltar, and that he had not more than a hundred horsemen
in his garrison. He threw in advance two hundred and fifty of his
bravest troops, and with them the alcaydes of Marabella and Casares.
Behind this van-guard followed a great cavalgada of cattle, and in the
rear marched the king with the main force of his little army.

It was near the middle of a sultry summer day when they approached
Castellar. De Vargas was on the watch, and beheld, by an immense cloud
of dust, that they were descending one of the heights of that wild and
broken country. The van-guard and rear-guard were above half a league
asunder, with the cavalgada between them, and a long and close forest
hid them from each other. De Vargas saw that they could render but
little assistance to each other in case of a sudden attack, and might
be easily thrown into confusion. He chose fifty of his bravest horsemen,
and, making a circuit, took his post secretly in a narrow glen opening
into a defile between two rocky heights through which the Moors had to
pass. It was his intention to suffer the van-guard and the cavalgada to
pass, and to fall upon the rear.

While thus lying perdu six Moorish scouts, well mounted and well armed,
entered the glen, examining every place that might conceal an enemy.
Some of the Christians advised that they should slay these six men and
retreat to Gibraltar. "No," said De Vargas; "I have come out for higher
game than these; and I hope, by the aid of God and Santiago, to do good
work this day. I know these Moors well, and doubt not but that they may
readily be thrown into confusion."

By this time the