orning an opulent and prosperous community, was at
night a ruined and captive city, with its ferocious conquerors sleeping
amidst their slaughtered victims.

[Illustration: LIBERATION OF THE CAPTIVES FROM THE DUNGEON OF ORAN.]

LIBERATION OF THE CAPTIVES FROM THE DUNGEON OF ORAN.

It was an almost incredible victory, considering the rapidity with which
it had been achieved. On the morning of the 16th the fleet of transports
had set sail from Spain. On the night of the 17th the object of the
expedition was fully accomplished, the army being in complete possession
of Oran, a strongly manned and fortified city, taken almost without loss.
Ximenes, to whose warlike enthusiasm this remarkable victory was wholly
due, embarked in his galley the next morning and sailed along the city's
margin, his soul swelling with satisfaction at his wonderful success. On
landing, the army hailed him as the true victor of Oran, a wave of
acclamations following him as he advanced to the alcazar, where the keys
of the fortress were put into his hands. A few hours after the surrender
of the city a powerful reinforcement arrived for its relief, but on
learning of its loss the disconcerted Moors retired. Had the attack been
deferred to the next day, as Navarro proposed, it would probably have
failed. The people of Spain ascribed the victory to inspiration from
heaven; but the only inspiration lay in the impetuous energy and
enthusiasm of the cardinal. Yet at that period it was by no means uncommon
to invent stories of miracles, and it is soberly asserted that the sun
stood still for several hours while the action went on, Heaven repeating
the miracle of Joshua, and halting the solar orb in its career, that more
of the heathen might be slaughtered. The greatest miracle of all would
have been had the sun stood still nowhere else than over the fated city of
Oran.

It may not be amiss to add to this narrative an account of a second
expedition against Africa, made by Charles V. some thirty years later, in
which Heaven failed to come to the aid of Spain, and whose termination was
as disastrous as that of the expedition of Ximenes had been fortunate.

It was the city of Algiers that Charles set out to reduce, and, though the
season was late and it was the time of the violent autumnal winds, he
persisted in his purpose in spite of the advice of experienced mariners.
The expedition consisted of twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse,