self to God and the Virgin, spurred forward and plunged into the thick
of the fight. And ever as he rode, by his side rode the archbishop,
wearing his chasuble and bearing aloft the cross. The Moorish troops, who
had been jeering at the king and the cross-bearing prelate, drew back
before this impetuous assault, which was given force by the troops who
crowded in to the rescue of the king. The Moors soon yielded to the
desperate onset, and were driven back in wild disarray.

This was the beginning of the end. Treason in the Moorish ranks came to
the Christian aid. Some of Mohammed's force, who hated him for having
cruelly slain their chief, turned and fled. The breaking of their centre
opened a way for the Spaniards to the living fortress which guarded the
imperial tent, and on this dense line of sable lancers the Christian
cavalry madly charged.

In vain they sought to break that serried line of steel. Some even turned
their horses and tried to back them in, but without avail. Many fell in
the attempt. The Moslem ranks seemed impervious. In the end one man did
what a host had failed to perform. A single cavalier, Alvar Nunez de Lara,
stole in between the negroes and the camels, in some way passed the
chains, and with a cheer of triumph raised his banner in the interior of
the line. A second and a third followed in his track. The gap between the
camels and the guard widened. Dozens, hundreds rushed to join their daring
leader. The camels were loosened and dispersed; the negroes, attacked
front and rear, perished or fled; the living wall that guarded the emperor
was gone, and his sacred person was in peril.

Mohammed was dazed. His lips still repeated from the Koran, "God alone is
true, and Satan is a betrayer," but terror was beginning to stir the roots
of his hair. An Arab rode up on a swift mare, and, springing to the
ground, cried,--

"Mount and flee, O king. Not thy steed but my mare. She comes of the
noblest breed, and knows not how to fail her rider in his need. All is
lost! Mount and flee!"

All was lost, indeed. Mohammed scrambled up and set off at the best speed
of the Arabian steed, followed by his troops in a panic of terror. The
rout was complete. While day continued the Christian horsemen followed and
struck, until the bodies of slain Moors lay so thick upon the plain that
there was scarce room for man or horse to pass. Then Archbishop Rodrigo,
who had done so much towards the victory, stood before Moham