The sumptuous supper, which the
filial attention of Xariffa had provided for
her father, in honor of his birth-day, had
just been eaten by him and Alfonso,
when there was heard in the outer room
a loud voice, calling out—`Ho! Alfonso.
Ho, Gaspar!'

The two men sprung to their feet, and
hastened to the main apartment of their
hut, where they beheld two mountaineers,
a young and an old man. They were
looking very much excited, and upon the
forehead of the young man was a heavy
wound.

`How is this? What has happened,
neighbors?' cried Gaspar and Alfonso,
in the same breath.

`The Moors, Gaspar! The accursed
Moors, Alfonso!' answered the old man,
trembling with fear and rage, while he
shook his clenched hand.

`Yes,' criod the younger, more calmly,
yet evidently labouring under intense
emotion; `it is a new outrage of our tyrants,
Alfonso. Thou shalt hear all.'

`Sit down, Tito, sit down,' said Gaspar,
offering him at the same time, a
small bench.

`No, no. This is no time to sit!—
Tell him, Louis! Tell him what hath
happened. But, then, what good for
them to know it. We can do nothing,
we are slaves!'

`Yes, they shall hear. The brave Alfonso
shall know all, and he may aid me
in revenge, if not in rescue! Thou
knowest, Alfonso, that I was to have been
married this night to the fair Agata, the
daughter of the old miller, who lives at
the mill?'

`I heard so, Louis.'

`And this afternoon when the sun was
about two hours high, I started with my
father and brother, and two friends, to
go by the cliff path, and so down the valley
road to the mill. But when we came
near it we saw it in flames, and hastening
forward, the cries of combat reached
us, above which rose the shrieks of a
female. I recognised the voice of Agata
and rushed forward. As we got to
the gate of the wall that encloses the
court, we saw at least a dozen of Moors,
engaged in plundering the house, while
two of them were bearing off Agata between
them on their horses. Upon seeing
our approach, they galloped forward
to pass us, but I seized one of the horses
by the rein, and struck with my staff the

[figure description] Page 021.[end figure description]

rider to the ground; but the other succeeded,
with Agata in his arms, in escaping
into the plain, followed by the rest of
the Moors.'

`I would have stayed the man who
fled with the maiden,' said old Tito, but
he rode over me too quickly for me to
grapple with him. But two of the Moors
we tipped out of their saddles; but their
horses escaped, or we would have mounted
them and pursued!'

`It would not have availed, Alfonso,'
answered Louis, with accents of deep
grief. `They flew like the wind across
the plain. She is lost to me for ever!
I shall never forget her looks and cries
of anguish as she passed me, shrieking—
`Save me!' Oh, save me, Louis!' I did
all man could do, but Heaven ordered
that I should lose her! I was turning
to pursue her on foot, when old Simeon
came tottering up to me, bleeding with
many wounds, which he had received
in defence of his house and child. I
stopped to support him. He had life
only to tell me that he had done all in his
power to protect Ageta; that the party
of Moors had come to him demanding
money, which not having to give, they
had attacked and fired his house, and
carried away his child!'

`To sell her into slavery in the public
Bazaar!' cried Tito, with indignant
warmth. Gaspar, thou hast heard this
outrage now. But thou answerest nothing.
Does it not touch thee?' Suppose
it had been thine own—'

`Hush! Utter not such a thought to
me! I was silent, because I could not
find words to express my feelings. My
heart was swelling too high for utterance.
Boy,' he added, turning to Alfonso, who
had listened with the most intense interest
to the account of the young bridegroom,
and now walked up and down the
paved floor, with quick and firey steps.—
His eye blazed, and his hand grasped
vehemently his wolf-spear. There was
a stern determined resolution in his tread
that spoke more eloquently than words.

`How long since was this?' he suddenly
stopped and demanded of Luis.

`Not two hours; I have come hither
as soon as I could, giving the news as I
came to each hut. Oh! Alfonzo, that
you could once more rouse the Sierras to
arms, and avenge for me this wrong!—
But what can be done? Nothing, I
know; we are but a few hundreds, and
the land is filled with Moors.'

`No, no—nothing can be done;' answered
old Tito, shaking his gray head.
`We must bear it;—but it does us good
to tell one another of our wrongs—this is
all we expect!'

`When will Heaven have pity on our
poor land?' cried Xariffa, with strong
earnestness, having heard all. `Alas for
the helpless fate of Agata! So good, so
gentle, so fond of thee, Luis!'

`Do not speak of her, Xariffa!—my
heart will burst!' sobbed the young man,
covering his face with both hands.

`By the red mass!' cried Gaspar, `I
feel in my arm the energy of a thousand
men to avenge a wrong like this. As
you were about to say, it might have
been me instead of Simeon the miller.
Did he die?'

`We left him stark and stiff,' answered
Tito.

`Yes, he died after telling us what had
befallen him and his; and I at once came
along the mountain road this way, while
my brother and my two friends went
northward to give the alarm, and rouse
the indignation of the people, and put
them on the watch lest their own homes
be invaded; for Simeon said that the
Moorish captain told him that they were
but one party of several, sent from Cordova
to-day by the new Caliph Abdelasis,
to levy subsidies of gold and silver
for the support of the new government;

[figure description] Page 022.[end figure description]

and also with orders to make captive the
most beautiful of the mountain maidens.'

`So, if Simeon had given them gold,'
said Gaspar, `they would still have taken
his child.'

`I thought,' cried Alfonzo, in tones
that rung again, `I thought that the cup
of our woes and degradation was full;
but I see that there are yet outrages we
can suffer! My friends, we must expect
from Abdelasis such things as these, if
we will bear them:—and what can we
do?'

`Nothing but bear them!' answered
Tito despondingly.

`We cannot help ourselves!' said Gaspar.
`We are weak and they are powerful—
we must submit.'

`I would that I had five hundred good
Christian arms with mine,' cried Alfonzo,
`I would not bear these things—I
would lead them on to the very gates of
Cordova—I would rescue Agata for thee,
Luis, or have Abdelasis's head!'

`Where wilt thou find even a hundred
men, boy, who would follow thee to Cordova?
We may get together a band to
drive robbers from our Sierras, as we
would band together against wolves to
destroy them; but go to-night with Luis
by thy side through the whole breadth
and length of the mountains—let him
proclaim at the door of every hut the
wrong he has suffered, and let you call
with the voice of a trumpet upon their
inmates to arm and follow thee to the
gates of Cordova, to bring back or avenge
the maiden—what would they answer?
Would they move? would they not call
thee a madman? The men of Spain fear
the Moor as well as hate him, boy! They
dare not go forth in their strength to give
him battle again, and drive him from
heir soil.—We are all become slaves and
serfs!'

`I fear it is true what you say, father.
I should fail in getting men to follow me
to rescue this maiden. They fear the
Moor; they are slaves—they, and you,
and I—and we fear our masters! Oh!
if my life, laid upon the altar of my
country, would save it, gladly would I
sacrifice it! But these wishes are vain,
neighbors. Luis,' he added, grasping
the hand of the unhappy youth—`You
have lost Agata, and my heart bleeds for
you! I feel for you as if you were my
brother: for this is a wrong that comes
home to us all. To-morrow every young
man may stand in your place—every
maiden in the place of the lost Agata.
If by giving my life I could aid you,
cheerfully would I give it; but I know
not what to do—my father hath spoken
too truly.'

`I fear he has. Yet I know not what
hopes led me to come to thee, Alfonzo!
All eyes turn to you in danger!—
All hearts throb with pride when thou art
named. Yet I know you cannot help me.'

`And heavy is my sorrow and shame
that I cannot. The Moor is stronger
now than heretofore. Abdelasis is powerful!
He will consolidate his empire
by the union of the numerous parties that
have hitherto weakened and torn it. We
can do nothing! We can only pray to
Heaven to have mercy upon us and not
inflict upon us more than we can bear!'

Thus speaking, Alfonzo walked slowly
and sadly across the room. Luis stood
silently gazing after him, and seemed to
be wholly overcome with his great loss—
the heaviest and most grievous man can
suffer.

Old Tito did nothing but utter terrible
denunciations against the Moors, and vehemently
call upon the saints to interpose
to their overthrow. Gaspar sat upon
a bench, sullen and silent, his face between
his hands, which rested upon his
kness. By the door stood Xariffa, gazing
in upon them with a pale countenance
and looks of anxious solicitude. For

[figure description] Page 023.[end figure description]

some minutes all was still; each one engaged
in his own painful thoughts. Suddenly
the silence was broken by a heavy
tread without, as if men and horses were
approaching. Alfonzo sprung to the
window, and, by the glowing twilight, for
the sun had just gone down, he beheld
three men coming very fast towards the
hut. By their garb he knew them to be
mountaineers, though two of them carried
scymetars and a third was mounted
upon a richly caprizoned Arabian steed.
They were evidently bearers of some
news, from their excited manner.

`Who comes without?' cried Gaspar,
slowly rising from his bench.

`One of them is Guiseppo, and mounted
upon a Moorish horse; the others are
friends, though armed with scymetars!'
answered Alfonzo as he threw open the
door.

`Thank the saints, thou art at home,
brave Alfonzo, and thou Gaspar; and
here is Luis and his father too!' were the
words of the one upon the horse. `I am
glad I have found thee!'

`What is the matter? Hast thou met
the Moors?' cried Alfonzo.

`Yes, and slain each our man!'

`God and the saints be blessed!' shouted
Tito.

`Hast thou seen Agata? Say that she
is rescued!' cried Luis, as he laid his
hand upon the arm of the speaker.

`I know nothing of any rescue or of a
maiden, neighbors,' answered the man,
as he leaped from the horse. `Thou
shalt know all. But briefly learn that this
horse was half an hour ago straddled by
a Moor, and that the two scymetars my
two honest friends here bear were grasped
by Infidel hands!'

`How came this about?' demanded
Gaspar, as he walked round the horse
and looked at his rich harnessing, and
then took one and the other of the scymetars
into his hand to look at.

`Hast thou heard the law yet?' asked
Guiseppo, who was a short, crooked little
man, with a very brilliant eye and a resolute
air.

`What law?' asked Alfonzo. `Dost
thou speak of a law of the new Caliph's?'

`Yes. Thou knowest Abdelasis is king
of the Moors?'

`We know it. Proceed! What law
is this?'

`It will astonish you. But I don't
know that we ought to be astonished at
any thing. This very day noon he issued
a decree that every Christian within
the realm of his rule should, within thirty
days, report himself at the palace of Cordova,
and there be registered, his name
and his worldly goods, and his children
and their ages; and this on pain of death
for disobeying the edict!'

`Do I live to hear this thing?' cried
Gaspar, with intense feeling.

`Peace, father,' said Alfonzo, with
forced calmness: `words are not for
such acts as these we are listening to!
Peace, father, he has more yet to say!'