six horsemen approached so near that they were on the
point of discovering the Christian ambush. De Vargas gave the word, and
ten horsemen rushed upon them; in an instant four of the Moors rolled in
the dust; the other two put spurs to their steeds and fled toward
their army, pursued by the ten Christians. About eighty of the Moorish
van-guard came galloping to the relief of their companions; the
Christians turned and fled toward their ambush. De Vargas kept his
men concealed until the fugitives and their pursuers came clattering
pell-mell into the glen. At a signal trumpet his men sallied forth
with great heat and in close array. The Moors almost rushed upon
their weapons before they perceived them; forty of the infidels were
overthrown, the rest turned their back. "Forward!" cried De Vargas; "let
us give the van-guard a brush before it can be joined by the rear." So
saying, he pursued the flying Moors down hill, and came with such force
and fury upon the advance-guard as to overturn many of them at the first
encounter. As he wheeled off with his men the Moors discharged their
lances, upon which he returned to the charge and made great slaughter.
The Moors fought valiantly for a short time, until the alcaydes of
Marabella and Casares were slain, when they gave way and fled for the
rear-guard. In their flight they passed through the cavalgada of cattle,
threw the whole in confusion, and raised such a cloud of dust that the
Christians could no longer distinguish objects. Fearing that the king
and the main body might be at hand, and finding that De Vargas was badly
wounded, they contented themselves with despoiling the slain and taking
above twenty-eight horses, and then retreated to Castellar.

When the routed Moors came flying back upon the rear-guard, Muley Abul
Hassan feared that the people of Xeres were in arms. Several of his
followers advised him to abandon the cavalgada and retreat by another
road. "No," said the old king; "he is no true soldier who gives up his
booty without fighting." Putting spurs to his horse, he galloped forward
through the centre of the cavalgada, driving the cattle to the right and
left. When he reached the field of battle, he found it strewed with the
bodies of upward of one hundred Moors, among which were those of the
two alcaydes. Enraged at the sight, he summoned all his crossbowmen and
cavalry, pushed on to the very gates of Castellar, and set fire to two
houses close to the walls. Pedr