CHAPTER III. THE YOUTHFUL CALIPH.
When Algezir heard this news, he
looked as if he felt that his power and
his victory were about to be taken from
him; for his troops were everywhere
getting the better of the Emirs' forces,
and three of the Emirs had been slain.
He remained for a moment as if stunned
by the intelligence. At length he
said, as if he doubted the truth of it,
`Show me this Abdelasis, and I will
believe it. It may be some of his knights
who have assumed his armor and energies.
'
`He wears no armor, my lord. His
face is open to all eyes. Behold!'
`Look! he comes! The Abdelases
charge upon us, my lord!' shouted his
officers, riding hither and thither to rally
their forces to meet him as he came
prancing into the square with trumpets
sounding, his banners flaunting, and
with the thunder of the trampling of his
cavalry. Algezir beheld and recognised
his foe, and then his amazement and hesitation
gave place to courage. His voice
was heard high above the uproar of battle,
and placing himself at the head of
some of his best troops, he pressed forward
to meet the charge of the Prince,
who was advancing upon him at the
head of his horse, with lances in rest and
shouting the battle-cry,
`Allah, il Allah! Down with the pale
Emir!'
The two parties met in full career,
and a score of riders at the head of each
column bit the dust, overthrown in the
fierce shock of the encounter. Abdelasis
and Algezir met scymetar to scymetar,
and while their followers were fiercely
fighting around them, they fought hand
to hand with desperate valor.
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Algezir at length, being pressed hard
by the Prince, would have been slain but
for his friends, who separated the combatants.
The tide of battle rolled onward.
Everywhere was heard the warcry
of Abdelasis. Everywhere he was
seen with the sacred banner held above
his head by the brave Ibrahim. His followers
kept their eye on this and fought
their way towards it. Unable to withstand
the fierce energy of the Abdelases,
who came pouring into the square in
fresh squadrons, both foot and horse, the
forces of Algezir gave way. In vain
their leader called upon them to stand for
the day might yet be his. They were
panic-stricken.
The sudden appearance of Abdelasis
had filled their minds with fear and consternation;
for on the presumption of his
death, had they raised the standard of
Algezir. The troops, too, that had been
attacking the palace of the Emirs, had
been called by their Chief's trumpet to
aid in repelling Abdelasis; and seeing
this, the Emirs, who had been ready to
surrender the palace, took courage, and
sallying forth, charged them from the
portals. Thus placed between two foes,
Algezir's forces were broken and fled
from the scene where they were so lately
victors, pursued along the streets by the
now conquering partisans of the Emirs.
Algezir, as he was escaping by a narrow
street that led along the wall of the
mosque, was overtaken by Abdelasis,
and, after a brief passage of arms between
them, was overpowered and taken captive,
while his guard fled, leaving him to
his fate. That fate he well knew would
be death. He therefore folded his hands
upon his breast and calmly awaited it.
`Melec,' said the Prince, turning to an
Abyssinian near him, and who had not
left following him through all the fight,
`do thy duty.'
The tall Abyssinian drew from its
scabbard a heavy, glittering scymetar,
and taking a hair from the mane of his
horse, passed it across the blade delicately,
the hair splitting evenly as it was
drawn athwart the razor-like edge. He
smiled with satisfaction, and leaping from
his horse, advanced to the Emir, and
without ceremony took him by his beard
and pulled him down upon his knees.—
He then stepped back. There was a
flashing circle moving in the air, and the
head of Algezir rolled at the feet of his
conqueror.
A crowd of his followers, at this instant,
pressed round, and separated the
Prince from the body. They would have
rescued their chief. The Abyssinian,
standing up, bade them take him, and
pointing to the body, he fell back, and,
leaping upon his horse near at hand, followed
the Prince. Abdelasis and his
guard, now once more galloped forward,
not having been detained more than a
minute by this summary execution on the
battle-field.
The Prince pursued a troop of the fugitives
a short distance towards the gate,
and then reining up, said to Osman and
Ibrahim,
`This is far enough for us to go; now
let us return to the square, and occupy
it, and let the Emir's forces cut to pieces
those of Algezir. I must see that I am
not conquered in my turn by them. Sound
the recall,' he shouted to his trumpeters;
and the clear notes of his bugles sounded
throughout the city.
The pursuers ceased their pursuit, and
hastened back to rally around their chief
in the square. There Abdelasis made a
stand, and, marshalling all his forces,
formed them again in close order of battle.
The most of the Emirs on seeing
the Algezirs give way, had gathered their
people about them, and followed in hot
pursuit; but there were three of them,
who, instead of moving, remained near
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the Mosque, and with their bugles, were
collecting their friends about them.
Their movements Abdelasis had antieipated,
and now clearly saw through.
`Osman,' he said to his lieutenant,
`thou seest those Princes there. They
join not in the chase because they would
take advantage of the absence of the rest,
and so endeavor to win the Caliphate
each for himself. Now that the Algezirs
are defeated, we must make an end also
of the power of the Emirs. We will
charge upon these troops ere they are
fully forward to resist us, and cut them
in pieces. Thus will Cordova be mine.'
With these words the Prince caused
the charge to be sounded, and in a broad
phalanx, he rode across the square upon
the seven or eight hundred Moorish soldiers,
assembled in three divisions, each
under its own chief, and each jealous of
the other. But they were willing to combine
to resist the successful Prince, and
endeavored to force him back by a flight
of lances and arrows. But heedless of
these weapons, the conquering Abdelasis
spurred on, and fairly rode down the lines
of the Emirs. In a few moments their defeat
was complete. Two of the Emirs
were slain, bravely fighting, scymetar in
hand, and the third fled into the Mosque
for safety, from his enemies. On all sides
the defeated enemy fled, and were pursued
down every street with great slaughter.
Abdelasis now resolved to complete
the work he had so propitiously begun.
He ordered divisions to pursue the Emirs
who were in pursuit of the flying Algezirs,
and attack them in the rear. These chiefs,
finding themselves thus pressed, and unable
to withstand the charge against them,
were filled with consternation. Some of
them fled to the Mosques, others finding
the gates in possession of Abdelasis'
troops, threw themselves upon their own
swords and died, while two of them sur
rendered themselves prisoners, promising
allegiance to the Prince; for every few
minutes by his command, a herald had
proclaimed pardon and peace to all who
would lay down their arms, and acknowledge
him as Caliph. Hundreds of the
followers of the Emirs and of Algezir,
finding that the star of Abdelasis was in
the ascendant, availed themselves of this
clemency, and, casting their arms at their
feet, cried,
`Long live Abdelasis. Long live the
son of the prophet.'
The sun was within an hour of his setting,
when Abdelasis first entered the
square at the head of his cavalry, and as
he sank redly beyond the vale of the
Guadalquiver, he was master of Cordova,
and Caliph of the Moorish Empire in
Spain. Ere darkness veiled the city,
the sounds of combat had ceased, and
there were but two parties within the
walls, the conquerors and the vanquished.
The Emirs, save the two who had sworn
allegiance to Abdelasis, and the one who
had made a sanctuary of the Mosque,
were all dead, and their followers had
purchased their heads, by transferring
their allegiance to the conqueror. Every
gate and strong-hold of the city was occupied
by the troops of the Prince, and
not a hostile arm was to be found in all
the capital, raised against the power of
the victorious Caliph. The Prince took
possession of the Royal Palace of the
Caliphate, and by the light of the rising
moon raised the standard of the Prophet
above its battlements. The trumpets
sounded, and a herald proclaimed that,
`Abdelasis Mohamed, Prince and
Emir and descendant of the true Prophet
of God, was from that hour Caliph of
the Moorish Empire in Spain, and that
life and death, laws and liberty are in his
hand. Let all men bow the knee to Abdelasis,
Caliph and Emperor. God is
God and Mahomet is his Prophet!'
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This proclamation was made not only
in front of the palace where Ibrahim
elevated the standard, but at all the gates
of the city and in the bazaars and public
places. Before midnight the streets
were silent. The wounded had been removed
to an old Christian Church, which
Abdelasis converted into a hospital for
their accommodation, and the dead were
carried away to be buried. The insubordinate
had been lodged in prison
and the rebellious executed. Guards
were posted in every square and placed
at each gate of the city; and patroles paraded
the streets till morning.
At the rising of the sun the muezzins
from their minarets called in their loud
sonorus tones,
`God is great! There is but one God
and Mahomet is his Prophet!'
But to this usual religious cry and call
to worship Allah, they added on this
morning—`and Caliph Abdelasis is the
Prophet's vicegerent! Let all true believers
fear and obey him!'
Thus had Cordova fallen into the
hands of the courageous Abdelasis. By
ingeniously uniting the sacred authority
of a descendant of Mahomet with his
power as a chieftain and conqueror he
effectually secured the obedience and
allegiance of the moslems when they
saw him seated on the throne of power.
By unfurling the banner of their faith
above his palace he proclaimed himself
not only their ruler but their delegated
Prophet. Thousands of the haughty
Moors who would still have resisted and
plotted against the mere Prince and
Caliph, yielded passive submission to the
representative of their prophet.
The revolution had been complete.
Moorish Spain was once more governed
by a Prince of the regal line who had
a right to carry at the head of his armies
the sacred standard. No longer torn by
the daily dissensions of a score of gover
nors, Cordova began already to feel the
blessings of having the reins of government
held in one man's hands.
By ten o'clock, the morning after his
brilliant conquest, Abdelasis made his appearance
in the Divan of the Palace, followed
by his nobles and proclaimed that
he was ready to give audience, to redress
grievances and execute judgment. He
was arrayed in the gorgeous green and
gold robe of the Imperial Caliphs, and
his lofty brow was crowned with a crescent
of diamonds that glowed like the
sun. His countenance expressed grace
and condescension. His officers stood
around him also gorgeously attired in
robes suited to their station. Hamet Osmen
he had appointed his Vizier, and he
now sat at his right hand clothed in purple
and green with a golden scymetar at
his girdle, and a lawn turban upon his
head, sparkling with emeralds. On the
Prince's left stood the youthful Ibrahim,
whom he had made the Reis Effendi, or
High Chancellor of his Empire.
Numerous were the cases which were
brought before the new Caliph, all of
which he decided to the satisfaction of
the parties and won for himself a name
for great wisdom as well as for great
bravery. Before night the fame of the
Prince, who studied to ingratiate himself
with all, looking upon every man now as
his subject, had gone abroad not only
through the city but into the wide valley.
He invited by proclamation all who had
fled to return, and they should be protected
in their homes, and goods, and pursuits;
and all who had gone forth from
the city the day before now came into
it again and resumed their avocations.
Thus within twenty-four had Abdelasis
by his courage and skill conquered a
kingdom and established himself on its
throne, ruling with absolute power.
Once more the old Moors lifted up their
faces and prophecied great glory in the
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Empire under the new Caliph; and, indeed,
so far as appearances went, he
seemed destined to confer additional
glory upon the Moorish conquest of
Spain.
Ingraham, J. H. (Joseph Holt), 1809-1860 [1846], The slave king, or, The triumph of liberty volume 2 (United States Publishing Company, Boston) [word count] [eaf202v2].
