"No more," he said, "will weobey this imbecile old king who can neither fight nor govern. He and histroops are but so many old women; it is only these Arabs who are men. Allis arranged with Tarik, and we will save our country by joining the onlyman who can govern it." Luis groaned in dismay; it seemed to him an act ofdespicable treachery; but those around him seemed mostly prepared for it,and he said to himself, "After all, Don Alonzo is my chief; I must hold byhim;" so he kept with the others, and the whole cavalry wing followedOppas to a knoll, whence they watched the fight. It soon became a panic;the Arabs carried all before them, and the king himself was either killedor hid himself in a convent.Many a Spaniard of the seceding wing of cavalry reproached himselfafterwards for what had been done; and while the archbishop had someinfluence with the conquering general and persuaded him to allow theChristians everywhere to retain a part of their churches, yet he had,after all, the reward of a traitor in contempt and self-reproach. This hecould bear no longer, and organizing an expedition from a Spanish port, heand six minor bishops, with many families of the Christians, made theirway towards Gibraltar. They did not make their escape, however, withoutattracting notice and obstruction. As they rode among the hills with theirlong train, soldiers, ecclesiastics, women, and children, they saw agalloping band of Arabs in pursuit.
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