ahead, and, being left alone with their wives, stripped them of
their garments, lashed them with thorns, kicked them with their spurs, and
finally left them for dead on the blood-stained ground, and rode on to join
their escort. Suspecting foul play, and fearing the worst, Felez Munoz
cleverly managed to separate himself from the party, and, riding swiftly
back to the banks of the Douro, found his unhappy cousins in a sorry
plight. He tenderly cared for their wounds, placed them upon his horse, and
took them to the house of a poor man, whose wife and daughters undertook to
nurse them, while Felez Munoz hastened back to Valencia to tell the Cid
what had occurred. The Cid Campeador then swore that he would be avenged;
and as Alfonso was responsible for the marriage, he applied to him for
redress.

"'Lo! my daughters have been outrag'd!
For thine own, thy kingdom's sake,
Look, Alfonso, to mine honor!
Vengeance thou or I must take.'"
_Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).

The king, who had by this time learned to value the Cid's services, was
very angry when he heard how the Infantes of Carrion had insulted their
wives, and immediately summoned them to appear before the Cortes, the
Spanish assembly, at Toledo, and justify themselves, if it were possible.
The Cid was also summoned to the same assembly, where he began by claiming
the two precious blades Tizona and Colada, and the large dowry he had given
with his daughters. Then he challenged the young cowards to fight. When
questioned, they tried to excuse themselves by declaring that the Cid's
daughters, being of inferior birth, were not fit to mate with them.

[Sidenote: Embassy from Navarre.] The falseness of this excuse was shown,
however, by an embassy from Navarre, asking the hands of the Cid's
daughters for the Infantes of that kingdom, who were far superior in rank
to the Infantes of Carrion. The Cid consented to this new alliance, and
after a combat had been appointed between three champions of his selection
and the Infantes of Carrion and their uncle, he prepared to return home.

As proof of his loyalty, however, he offered to give to Alfonso his
favorite steed Babieca, an offer which the king wisely refused, telling him
that the best of warriors alone deserved that peerless war horse.

"''Tis the noble Babieca that is fam'd for speed and force,
Among the Christians nor the Moors there is not such another o