I, noble Cid, will go,
And ambush with three hundred men,
Ere the first cock doth crow:

20 And when against the Moorish men
You, Cid, lead on your powers,
We, dauntless, on the other side
Will fall on them with ours.

21 This counsel pleased the Chieftain well:
He said, it should be so;
And the good Bishop should sing mass,
Ere the first cock did crow.

22 The day is gone, the night is come;
At cock-crow all appear,
In Pedro's church to shrive themselves,
And holy mass to hear:

23 On Santiago there they called,
To hear them and to save;
And that good Bishop, at the mass,
Great absolution gave.

24 Fear not, he cried, when thousands bleed,
When horse on man shall roll!
Whoever dies, I take his sins,
And God be with his soul.

25 A boon! a boon! the Bishop cried,
I have sung mass to-day;
Let me the brunt of battle bear,
Cid, in the bloody fray.

26 Now Alvar Fanez and his men
Had gained the thicket's shade;
And, with hushed breath and anxious eye,
Had there their ambush laid.

27 Four thousand men, in glittering arms,
All issued from the gate;
Whilst the bold Cid, before them all,
On Bavieca sate.

28 They passed the ambush on the left,
And marched o'er dale and down,
Till soon they got the Moorish camp
Betwixt them and the town.

29 The Cid then spurred his horse, and set
The battle in array.
Pero Bermudez proudly bore
His standard on that day.

30 When this the Moors astonied saw,
Allah! began their cry:
The tambours beat, the cymbals rung,
As they would rend the sky.

31 Banner, advance! the Cid he cried,
And raised aloft his sword:
And all the host set up the shout,
St Mary and our Lord!

32 That good Bishop Hieronymo,
Bravely his battle bore;
And shouted, as he spurred his steed,
For bold Campeador!

33 The Moorish and the Christian host
Now mix their dying cries;
And many a horse along the plain,
Without his rider flies.

34 Now sinks the Crescent, now the Cross,
As the fierce hosts assail;
But what against o'erwhelming might
Can valour's self avail?

35 Campeador, all bathed in blood,