[3] Stupid fellow.
[4] Rogue, Villain.
[CHAPTER XVI]
HOW RODRIGO ROUSED UP THE COUNTRY, AND DEFEATED THE MOORS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF OCA
"Up, up, cavaliers of Castile! cover yourselves with your steel coats of mail, buckle on the golden spurs, bind on the sword, grasp the knee and the shield, and mount your fiery chargers, which neigh and paw in their stables, impatient to career over the wide plains. Fly over them, and close with the Moors, until your battlehorses trample down the Moslem standard, and the impious Crescent is made a pedestal for the Cross!
"Up, up, cavaliers of Castile! Five Moorish kings have crossed the Moncayo, and overrun with a large army the dominions of Don Fernando: they now lay waste the fields; burn the towns; steal and carry off property from palaces as well as from huts; destroy churches; bear off women, both single and married; and take prisoners and kill old people and children, women and men!
"Up, up, knights and squires, those who pay taxes, and those who do not! Hurry to Burgos, where the honoured cavalier Rodrigo Diaz of Vivar has raised his green standard,—the son of Diego Lainez, he who was born in a propitious hour, he of the strong lance, he who fought at Atapuerca, he who slew the Count of Gormaz, he who conquered Martin Gonzalez of Aragon in single combat."
Such was the war-cry that resounded throughout Castile, almost immediately after its invasion by the Moors, on the day when we have seen Rodrigo abandoning his pursuit of the Count Don Suero, in order to return to Burgos with the intention of raising an army to march against the Moorish power. And that cry did not resound in vain; from all sides armed men hastened to Burgos, and already the cavalier of Vivar had collected together a number sufficient to instil terror into the invaders, who, like a wild torrent, which in its rapid and devastating course tears up everything that lies in its way, had rushed on from the right bank of the Duero to San Estéban of Gormaz, then to the mountain chain of Oca, and by the Sierra de Urbiad to Bureva, which it desolated, without finding any resistance worth speaking of.
Rodrigo was burning with impatience to proceed to the camp; but, as his prudence was equal to his valour, he did not wish to give any advantage to the Moslems by leaving their audacity unpunished, and disappointing the country by marching against them an army incapable, by its numbers, of conquering the terrible hostile forces. More than two hundred cavaliers, related to him by blood, had hastened to obey his summons, and even his nephews, the sons of his natural brother, Don Fernando, were preparing to set out, notwithstanding that they were all younger than Rodrigo.