thers brought the rude weapons of the
mountaineers. But among them were strong hands and stout hearts, summoned
by the drums of Pelayo to the reconquest of Spain.

Word soon came to Al Horr, the new emir of Spain, that a handful of
Christians were in arms in the mountains of the northwest, and he took
instant steps to crush this presumptuous gathering, sending his trusty
general Al Kamah with a force that seemed abundant to destroy Pelayo and
his rebel band.

Warning of the approach of the Moslem foe was quickly brought to the
Spanish leader, who at once left his place of assembly for the cave of
Covadonga, a natural fortress in Eastern Asturia, some five miles from
Caggas de Onis, which he had selected as a place strikingly adapted to a
defensive stand. Here rise three mountain-peaks to a height of nearly four
thousand feet, enclosing a small circular valley, across which rushes the
swift Diva, a stream issuing from Mount Orandi. At the base of Mount
Auseva, the western peak, rises a detached rock, one hundred and seventy
feet high, projecting from the mountain in the form of an arch. At a short
distance above its foot is visible the celebrated cave or grotto of
Covadonga, an opening forty feet wide, twelve feet high, and extending
twenty-five feet into the rock.

The river sweeps out through a narrow and rocky defile, at whose narrowest
part the banks rise in precipitous walls. Down this ravine the stream
rushes in rapids and cascades, at one point forming a picturesque
waterfall seventy-five feet in height. Only through this straitened path
can the cave be reached, and this narrow ravine and the valley within
Pelayo proposed to hold with his slender and ill-armed force.

Proudly onward came the Moslem captain, full of confidence in his powerful
force and despising his handful of opponents. Pelayo drew him on into the
narrow river passage by a clever stratagem. He had posted a small force at
the mouth of the pass, bidding them to take to flight after a discharge of
arrows. His plan worked well, the seeming retreat giving assurance to the
Moslems, who rushed forward in pursuit along the narrow ledge that borders
the Diva, and soon emerged into the broader path that opens into the
valley of Covadonga.

They had incautiously entered a _cul-de-sac_, in which their numbers were
of no avail, and where a handful of men could hold an army at bay. A small
body of the best armed of the Spaniards occupied the cave, the other