24 Fear not, he cried, when thousands bleed,
When horse on man shall roll!
Whoever dies, I take his sins,
And God be with his soul.
25 A boon! a boon! the Bishop cried,
I have sung mass to-day;
Let me the brunt of battle bear,
Cid, in the bloody fray.
26 Now Alvar Fanez and his men
Had gained the thicket's shade;
And, with hushed breath and anxious eye,
Had there their ambush laid.
27 Four thousand men, in glittering arms,
All issued from the gate;
Whilst the bold Cid, before them all,
On Bavieca sate.
28 They passed the ambush on the left,
And marched o'er dale and down,
Till soon they got the Moorish camp
Betwixt them and the town.
29 The Cid then spurred his horse, and set
The battle in array.
Pero Bermudez proudly bore
His standard on that day.
30 When this the Moors astonied saw,
Allah! began their cry:
The tambours beat, the cymbals rung,
As they would rend the sky.
31 Banner, advance! the Cid he cried,
And raised aloft his sword:
And all the host set up the shout,
St Mary and our Lord!
32 That good Bishop Hieronymo,
Bravely his battle bore;
And shouted, as he spurred his steed,
For bold Campeador!
33 The Moorish and the Christian host
Now mix their dying cries;
And many a horse along the plain,
Without his rider flies.