Their horses were of Arab breed, their arms were scimitars and lances,with fluttering pennons; they wore turbans, and their coarse black hairfell over their shoulders; they were dressed in skins. Never had therebeen seen by the courtiers a mounted troop so wild, so eager, soformidable. Turning from them to the marble urn, the king drew from it aparchment, which said: "These are the people who, whenever this cave isentered and the spell contained in this urn is broken, shall possess thiscountry. An idle curiosity has done its work.[2][Footnote 2: "_Latinas letras a la margen puestas Decian:--'Cuando aquesta puerta y arca Fueran abiertas, gentes como estas Pondran por tierra cuanto Espana abarca._" --LOPE DE VEGA.]The rash king, covering his eyes with his hands, fled outward from thecavern; his knights followed him, but Don Alonzo lingered last except theboy Luis. "Nevertheless, my lord," said Luis, "I should like to strike ablow at these bold barbarians." "We may have an opportunity," said thegloomy knight. He closed the centre gate of the cavern, and tried toreplace the broken padlocks, but it was in vain. In twenty-four hours thestory had travelled over the kingdom.The boy Luis little knew into what a complex plot he was drifting. In thesecret soul of his protector, Don Alonzo, there burned a great angeragainst the weak and licentious king.
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