The eve of St. James at length arrived,
a season to be marked with great events—
the downfall of the crescent and the
elevation of the cross.

The emissaries which had departed
from Alfonzo in the forest, to rouse up
the Christians in the mountains, and in
the plains, were everywhere received
with joy and hailed as messengers of deliverance.
The name of Alfonzo had
preceded them to the remotest recesses
of the vallies, and been heard by the farthest
mountaineer. It carried with it a
prestige that favored the messengers.
Every where men were told that Alfonzo
the Destroyer was to raise again the standard
of the cross on the eve of St. James,
their eyes brightened, they shook off their
slavish indifference, and grasping their
rude weapons, desired to be led against
the Moor.

The edict issned by Abdelasis, calling
for the registering of every man's name,
also contributed to this willingness to take
up arms against the Moslem. They saw
that now was the crisis of their nation's

[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]

destiny; that the edict must be resisted—
that Spain must be made free.

From hamlet to hamlet, from cabin to
cabin the fifty emissaries went bearing
the wooden cross, and raising the startling
cry.

`Up Christians of Spain! The standard
of the cross is to be lifted up by the
hand of Alfonzo the Destroyer. Up
Christians of Spain. The eve of St.
James is to be the eve of our national
glory. Arm, Christians of Spain. Hasten
to the rock of St. Paul on the eve of
St. James. God and Spain! down with
the Moor.

With such words as these did those
zealous mountaineers who had caught the
spirit of Alfonzo, spread the news of the
contemplated movement. No where did
they meet with indifference. The fire
spread and warmed every heart, and
nerved every arm.

Yet all was done secretly and unknown
to the Moor. Each Christian sacredly
kept his own council; and there, in the
very bosom of the Saracen empire, was
gathering a storm-cloud, which, to the
eyes of the Infidel, cast not a shadow upon
the land. All was sunshine and peace.
Abdelasis had consolidated the kingdom.
He was a descendant of the Prophet, and
vice-general of the Faith of the crescent.
Mo one thought now of questioning his
authority, or of opposing his power. To
Moorish Spain there seemed rising a glory
greater than ever shone over the Moslem
empire of Syria.

The holy father Godfrey was also a
messenger; but he went rather to the
exiled priests in the recesses of the mountains
than to the peasantry, though he
passed none by. These priests became
emissaries in their turn, and aroused the
nobles who were to be found buried in
their strong-holds, or dwelling in poverty
and degradation in the northern towns of
the Moorish empire. The cry went like
electric fire from lip to lip, and met with
the most thrilling welcome. `The eve
of San Diego' was on every tongue,
blended with the proudly uttered name of
Alfonzo the Destroyer. Every man felt
that a leader was now needed, or all
Spain would have to bend its neck to
the yoke of slavery, and to the faith of
of Mahommet.

In the city of Cordova Senor Velez,
and his friends had not been idle. The
intelligence which he had spread found
willing hearts to receive it.

Affection for the Cross and a desire for
the returning glory of Spain inspired the
bosoms of those who had long been
slaves. Secretly sixteen thousand men
prepared to rise upon their conquerors
and masters as soon as the trumpet of
Alfonzo should be heard at midnight
without the walls, proclaiming his presence
with an army.

Alfonzo had held frequent secret meetings,
at the house of Senor Velez, with
the principal Christians in the city, and
chosen his leaders of division and regularly
organised the masses, so that they
should act with harmony and effect. To
one was given the assault on the Royal
Palace; to another, to attack the armory,
a round tower near the city; to another,
to occupy one square and the streets
leading to it; and to another division,
another square. Some parties were to
occupy the several palaces, and the chief
party to attack the principal gate on the
inner side, and endeavor to open it for
the entrance of Alfonzo and his army.

Having made all these arrangements
with great wisdom and an almost innate
knowledge of military affairs, Alfonzo,
after remaining four days in Cordova, returned
from the city to the hamlet. Here
he found Gaspar, who was in the midst
of a body-guard of four hundred mountaineers
secretly gathered together; and
from him he learned that these could be
depended on a force of at least twelve
thousand armed men. He now ascended
to the Rock of St. Paul's, which commanded
a wide view of all the valley of
the Guadalquiver and the city of Cordova,
and here in the presence of these men he
constructed, by their aid, a wooden cross,
which the father Godfrey, who now never
left the side of his young friend, blessed
and consecrated for this purpose. The
cross was whitened, and being, when
erect, thirty feet in height, could be seen
at a great distance.

The eve of St. James (or San Diego)
was now ten days distant. Alfonzo having
devoted the three next days, during
which armed detachments were constantly
coming in by the mountain roads, to
the selection of his officers and the arrangement
of the plan of the revolution,

[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]

which he as effectually organised in the
Sierras as he had done within the city,
he resolved once more to revisit Cordova
in diguise. Before deperting, he gave
directions that all who needed provisions
should be supplied from his herd of goats
and gazelles first, and then from those of
the other herdsmen on the Sierras, who
willingly gave them up to the great cause
to which they had devoted life and wealth.

Father Godfrey accompanied him to
Cordova, and both reached the abode of
Senor Velez in safety. Alfonzo had
now leisure to make inquiries of the hermit
touching the birth of Genilla, and
from him, to his surprise, learned that
she was, as the merchant had suspected,
the daughter of the Duke de Cordava and
the sole heiress to the throne of Spain.
The intelligence rendered the young
lover despondent, for he felt that when
she came to know her rank and (if the
revolution was successful) to be elevated
to the sceptre of the empire, she would
disdain his humble love!

But in these apprehensions he was deceived.
Father Godfrey called upon Ben
Osmin, at the abode of Habib, and having
been permitted to have a private interview
with Genilla, he unfolded to her the
secret of her lineage. Her surprise gave
place to deep reflection; and she at
length said,

`Have you told Ben Osmin, my father,
of this?'

`No. It would not be safe. Spain
looks to you for safety and security. Alfonzo
loves you. Embrace the faith of
your father's and become the wife of Alfonzo,
and let him, in your name, raise
once more the standard of your royal
ancestors.'

The result of the interview was a desire
on her part to see Alfonzo. They
met privately the same evening while
the hermit, taking Ben Osmin and Yusauf
Habib with him, went to show them the
hidden treasure that he would bestow
upon the former to surrender his daughter.
The eloquence and love of Alfonzo
prevailed. Convinced that she was the
child of a Christian race, the daughter of
Christian kings, she promised to embrace
the faith of the Cross in the great principles
of which she had already been instructed
not only the priest Paulus, but
by Alfonzo himself. From this hour her
destiny and line of life was separated
from that of Ben Osmin. She felt that
the parting would be painful, but she was
firm in uniting her destinies with those of
Alfonzo and Spain.

Ben Osmin returned laden with jewels,
and the hermit demanded Genilla. But
Ben Osmin laughed and told him that he
might have the other half left in the
vaults of the old ruin of the Duke of Cordova's
castle they had visited, and he
would keep the maiden. Father Godfrey
protesting, Ben Osmin menaced him with
a complaint to the Caliph for hiding the
wealth of Christian nobles. Genilla
hearing this, became displeased, but remained
silent. The same night she was
under Alfonzo protection in the house of
Senor Velez, and there in the presence
of a score of the chief conspirators she
was baptized, partook of the Holy Communion,
and then receiving the sign of
the cross, was solemnly united in marriage
with Alfonzo.

Spain now had a leader of right to
conduct her to victory and to power.—
The intelligence spread from mouth to
mouth, and from the city reached the assembled
forces in the mountains. It gave
new life to the revolution. Men felt that
now they had something to fight for—
an end to crown their efforts.

In the meanwhile, Xariffa remained an
inmate of the palace of Abdelasis. He
had called the next day to see her, and
was surprised and overjoyed at the condescension
of her reception. When he
heard from her lips the romantic narrative
of Nube, he was greatly pleased, and
promised to forgive Athir, who at that
moment came in.

The Prince then made him give an account
of his adventures, which he did—
save that portion, which related to his service
with Alfonzo, upon which he remained
silent. The Prince, however
pardoned Athir at Xariffa's solicitation
only on the condition that she would reciprocate
his love for her, and consent
to become his wife.

`If you will, Xariffa,' he said, `I
promise that the edict whieh you so deeply
lament and censure me for, shall be
revoked, and that your people shall share
the privileges of citizens equally with
mine.'

`I consent, on condition that you will

[figure description] Page 082.[end figure description]

permit the Christians in Cordova to worship
in their cathedral, and suffer a cross
to be erected upon its dome, where now
shines the crescent.'

`I consent to this, fair Xariffa. Now
you see that I truly love you, and honour
you.'

`Have I your royal word that these
things shall be as I ask?'

`I give you my word as Prince and
Caliph, beautiful maiden, beloved ef my
soul.'

`Then I consent to by thy wife, Abdelasis;
this sacrifice of my religious objections
to thy faith, I am willing to make
to remove from my people the heavy
yoke that thou wouldst have put upon
them.'

The next day the marriage of Xariffa
with the Caliph, was solemnized in the
Great Mosque with public rejoicing.—
Alfonzo heard of it in the Siarras at
Paul's Rock, and was pained to the heart
at this seeming manifestation of her falsity
to her faith and country. But Athir,
who also was made happy by being the
same day made the husband of Nube,
came to him from the now Moorish Princess,
and made made known to him her
motives.

`It is too late for such a sacrifice to
do any good!' he answered, sadly.—
`The sword is drawn and must not be
sheated till Spain be free.'

But Abdelasis proved false to his royal
pledge. He put off from day to day the
revocation of his edict. The eve of San
Diego arrived! Alfonzo stood upon the
Rock of St. Paul, and beheld around him
an army of forty thousand men, for so
readily and warmly had Spain responded
to the call upon her. The moon was just
rising over the peak of Corol when mounted
upon his charger, he marched at the
head of his forces against the walls of
Cordova, two leagues distant. Already
had Abdelasis got rumour of the assembling
of forces for a day past in the Sierras,
and he was preparing an army to
sally out upon them, not suspecting their
purpose, or guessing at their number.—
But as he was in his saddle, reviewing
his troops, in the Great Square, as the
moon rose over the peak of Corol, El
Zegris came dashing up at full speed and
said—

`My Prince, pardon me! I am now
thy vassal. I have come into the city to
aid thee in its defence, and was admitted
at the gate, leaving my followers, three
hundred men without. Do I live?'

`Thou art pardoned!'

`Now then, I have news for thee!—
Alfonzo, the destroyer, is assembled at
the head of thirty thousand armed Christians,
and is preparing to storm the city.
This intelligence may be relied on.'

The Prince, amazed to learn that a
force, which he supposed to consist at
the most, of ten or fifteen hundred men,
was thus menacing him, under a leader
so formidable, at once called all the citizens
to arms! But in vain to save Cordova
and his crown.

Abdelasis had no sooner got before the
four gates, in four divisions, than he
sounded his trumpets. In a moment,
sixteen thousand slaves were in arms in
the bosom of the city. Taken by surprise,
the Moors were panic-stricken.—
The gates were carried—Alfonzo entered
at the head of ten thousand men, and
swept the city. Abdelasis was taken
prisonor, and El Zegris slain by the hand
of Alfonzo. Zariffa perished by the
hands af the Moorish officers of the palace
who charged her with having been
the mover of the revolution. The whole
city, with every strong-hold, fell into the
hands of the Christians. Those in the
country followed, and every where the
banner of the cross, prevailed over the
fallen crescent. Spain was made free!
The Moors fled to their ships, or were
made slaves to their conquerors. Addelasis
was beheaded on the terrace of
his own palace. Alfonzo, with his royal
bride, Genilla, was proclaimed King of
Spain, and the Triumph of Liberty, and
of the Cross over the Crescent, and
Moslem bondage, was complete.