d fled from the field of the Guadalete
was an old and valiant Gothic noble, Pelistes by name, who had fought in
the battle front until his son sank in death and most of his followers had
fallen around him. Then, with the small band left him, he rode in all
haste to Cordova, which he hoped to hold as a stronghold of the Goths. But
he found himself almost alone in the town, most of whose inhabitants had
fled with their valuables, so that, including the invalids and old
soldiers found there, he had but four hundred men with whom to defend the
city.

A river ran south of the city and formed one of its defences. To its banks
came Magued,--led, say some of the chronicles, by the traitor, Count
Julian,--and encamped in a forest of pines. He sent heralds to the town,
demanding its surrender, and threatening its defenders with death if they
resisted. But Pelistes defied him to do his worst.

What Magued might have found difficult to do by force he accomplished by
stratagem. A shepherd whom he had captured told him of the weakness of the
garrison, and acquainted him with a method by which the city might be
entered. Forcing the rustic to act as guide, Magued crossed the river on a
stormy night, swimming the stream with his horses, each cavalier having a
footman mounted behind him. By the time they reached the opposite shore
the rain had changed to hail, whose loud pattering drowned the noise of
the horses' hoofs as the assailants rode to a weak place in the wall of
which the shepherd had told them. Here the battlements were broken and
part of the wall had fallen, and near by grew a fig-tree whose branches
stretched towards the breach. Up this climbed a nimble soldier, and by
hard effort reached the broken wall. He had taken with him Magued's
turban, whose long folds of linen were unfolded and let down as a rope, by
whose aid others soon climbed to the summit. The storm had caused the
sentries to leave their posts, and this part of the wall was left
unguarded.

In a short time a considerable number of the assailants had gained the top
of the wall. Leaping from the parapet, they entered the city and ran to
the nearest gate, which they flung open to Magued and his force. The city
was theirs; the alarm was taken too late, and all who resisted were cut
down. By day-dawn Cordova was lost to Spain with the exception of the
church of St. George, a large and strong edifice, in which Pelistes had
taken refuge with the remnant of his men.