The young Emir had listened to the
rapid relation of events given by Ibrahim,
with the deepest interest, all the while
galloping onward to the gates. The populace,
who were non-combatants, were
crowding out of the portal, each carrying
some valuable, and every face expressive
of the deepest alarm.

Several of the men who were escaping
from the scene of battle, recognised
Abdelasis at the head of his score of
horsemen and shouted his name to those
around, and in accents of gratification
and welcome.

`Allah be praised! Abdelasis lives,
and is entering the city! Now the power
of the cruel Algezir will fall. Long live
Abdelasis, the son of Musa, the Caliph!
The mantle of the Prophet descends upon
him.'

`Long live Priuce Abdelasis!' shouted
his followers, uow catching up the cry,
and making it ring again, till it resounded
into the streets of the city.

`All true Moslems, who are for order
and just rule, let them follow me this
day!' cried the Prince. `Come to my
palace and you shall find arms. Let us
onward.'

With these words the youthful Emir
dashed forward, and rode with speed
through the arched gate-way, the people
crowding close to the pillars on the right
and left, to suffer him to pass with his
troop. After entering the city, he turned
short to the right, to avoid the crowd
in the main thoroughfare, and by a narrow
and unfrequented street, rode at top
speed towards his palace. Suddenly on
turning an angle in the street, he came
upon a party of the followers of Algezir,
pursuing a larger force of the Emirs;
for the conclave of Emirs had united
their troops to oppose the common foe
Algezir. The pursued were fighting
but in confusion and panic; while the
Algezirs, about thirty in number, press
them closely, and with courage.—
No sooner did Abdelasis see how affair
were going, than he couched his lance
and led his men against them, shouting
aloud in his own cry—

`Il Allah! Allah, Il Allah!'

Their appearance was so sudden, and
the onset so resistless, that the Algezirs
were routed, and compelled in their turn
to fly—for the unexpected appearance of
Abdelasis, whom every man supposed to
be dead, terrified them as if they had
seen a spirit.

`Pursue them!' cried the Prince, `to
the troop of the Emirs, and remember
that you owe your safety te Abdelasis!

The captain of the Emir's grasped the
hand of the Prince, and said, `Long live
Prince Abdelasis!'

`Can I depend upon you and yours?'
asked the Prince, as he returned the
pressure of the officer, whom he well
knew.

`In all that you undertake, my lord
answered the Captain; and then taking
up the war cry of the youthful Emir, he
rallied his men, and led them gallantly up
the street, in pursuit of the flying foe.—
Abdelasis did not wait to see the result
but turning into another street kept on
his rapid way towards his seraglio or Palace. He rode through a narrow lane
bordered with orange-trees, and came
suddenly to a gate that led into a spacious
square, on the opposite of which, embowered
in noble trees, stood his marble
palace. At the gate he found a strong
guard drawn up to receive him, for Ibrahim
had ridden forward to announce the
safe return of the Prince. Abdelsis
rode at full speed into the beautiful court
of his palace, hailed by the joyful

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acclamations of his followers, who filled the
court and the palace to the number of
two thousand armed men. There were
amoug them sons of Princes, Viziers,
Colonels and Knights of the noblest
Moorish blood. They were magnificently
arrayed, and seemed to vie with each
other, in the magnificence and costliness
of their armour, and the beauty of their
horses.

Upon beholding their chief, the young
knights and captains crowded around him
and hailed him with acclamations. Abdelasis
galloped round the court, showing
himself to his people, and receiving their
congratulations; and then, reining up
near the palace steps, he called his chief
officers about him, and said—

`My noble friends, Allah has restored
me in safety to you. Instead of finding
yourselves besieged here by Algezir without
a chief, you find me here to lead you
forth against him, and prepared to seize
the sceptre of the Caliphate. At this
moment, the din of battle in the great
square of the Mosque reaches our ears,
mingled with the sounds of contest in
other portions of the city. Algezir, at
the head of the flower of his troops, is at
this moment attacking the Palace of the
Caliphs, where the Emirs have been artfully
surprised by him while in Council,
and their troops fight at disadvantage
without their chiefs. It is my purpose to
attack Algezir in the rear, by entering
the square through the street Ben Hamel.
Osmen, go and bring me the green standard
of the Prophet.'

While Osmen was gone into the palace,
Abdelasis, with skilful generalship, formed
his followers—one quarter of whom
were cavalry—into columns for attack,
and with his trumpeters placed in the
van, waited the return of Osmen—who
soon came forth from the palace, and
kneeling by the stirrup of his chief, presented
him with the sacred banner, which
had been consecrated on the tomb of the
Prophet at Mecca.

A profound stillness reigned throughout
the vast court of the palace, broken
only by the falling of water in the noble
fountain that adorned its centre, and by
the swelling sounds of the distant warfare,
borne to the ears of the impatient warriors
upon the breeze.

Abdelasis, having received the standard,
kissed it with great reverence, and
then elevating the staff, unfolded its silken
field broadly upon the air before all
eyes. He then waved it slowly to and
fro, while the armed hosts surrounding
him, with one voice, cried—

`God is great, and Mahomet is his
Prophet!'

Again the prince waved the royal standard,
and every voice cried—

`Long live Prince Abdelasis! Death
to his enemies!'

`Now, Ibrahim,' said the prince to the
handsome Moorish youth who had met
him outside the city gate, `take this sacred
standard and bear it by my side.
Warriors and friends, now let us show
this Algezir that there is a Prince in Cordova
more powerful than he. I draw my
scymetar before all your eyes, and I
swear by Allah, that I will not put it out
of my hand save to grasp the sceptre of
the Caliphate!'

These words were received with a
shout, and a deafening clang of steel
struck against steel. The next moment
Abdelasis was galloping forth from the
gate of his palace, with Ibrahim on his
left, bearing the green banner of the
Prophet, and Osmen upon his right; close
around him also rode his faithful body-guard
of Zenetan horse. Troop after
troop of gorgeous cavalry came next,
each led by a knightly captain, clad in
glittering steel armour, inlaid with silver
or gold—fell into column and thundered
after him, till four hundred horsemen

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were in rapid motion into the heart of the
city, in the direction of the loud din of
contest. The foot soldiers followed at a
fast trot, each man armed with a lance
and curved sword, and some of the companies
carrying likewise bows and a quiver
of steel-pointed arrows at their backs.
This large army, numbering nearly two
thousand men, were soon all in motion
through two parallel streets towards the
great Mosque. A strong guard for the
defence of the palace was left behind,
and the gates were closed as soon as the
rear of the troops left the court.

Abdelasis rode on at full speed, so that
only his two friends and his body-guard
could keep up with him. Louder and
fiercer arose the uproar of battle from the
square, as they approached it. The
streets were thronged with citizens flying
in all directions, now from the scene of
battle, now from the terrific advance of
Abdelasis and his cavalry. Friend and
foe, young and old, were alike ridden
over by the prince and his followers, as
he dashed forward like a war-eagle on
the wing.

He had not slackened rein or spoken a
word since he issued from the gate of
his palace, until he came within about
two hundred yards of the entrance of the
vast square which had become the sanguinary
theatre of the revolution in progress.
Here the Prince waved his hand
to halt, and leaping from his horse he
walked forward a few steps and ascended
a flight of steps which led to the corridor,
and thence to the flat roof of a house
that commanded the scene of conflict.
The inmates of the house had fled from
it, and he encountered no one but a
trembling slave, too decrepid to move.—
He soon reached the roof, and before his
eyes laid the battle field which he was to
charge upon.

The square was a vast area in the centre
of the city, and save on the side from
which the Prince overlooked it, entirely
surrounded by noble buildings, palaces,
mosques, and Christendom Cathedrals
now turned into Mosques. The sides of
this magnificent area were lines of columns,
corridors, terraces extending for
several hundred feet, in the most sumptuous
style of Moorish and Gothic architecture.

Vast domes rose above stories of marble
pillars, and minarets pierced the sky
on all sides like a forest of needles.—
The Seraglio of the Caliphate or palace
royal of Cordova, was directly opposite
the eyes of the Prince. This was a beautiful
structure of rose-colored marble, ornamented
by ranges of pilastres and
columns of the purest alabaster; while
vaulted roofs and entablatures of carved
porphyry increased the splendor of its
effect. On the left of it was the Mosque
of Omar, the most majestic temple of the
Moors in Spain, and on the left rose the
imposing towers of the Cathedral, upon
the summits of which glittered the crescent.
Over all these glorious piles of
marble, and porphyry and alabaster, over
all this opulence of architecture shone
the cloudless afternoon sun, lending a
new splendor to the scene.

But the eye of the Prince lingered not
on these beauties. The roofs of the temples
were thronged with armed hosts, the
towers and the domes bristled with spears,
and from the tall minarets lances glanced
downward like lightning, while flights of
arrows, from terraces and corridors, darkened
the air.

The porticoes of the Mosques were
alive with warriors, and the piazzas of
the Palace were converted into fortresses;
and the Emirs could be seen defending
them with great valor against the fiercely
attacking forces of Algezir. The whole
area, vast as it was, was filled with battling
parties. Every avenue from the
square was a battle ground. On all sides
the fierce war raged.

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