galloped forward through the centre of the cavalgada, driving the
cattle to the right and left. When he reached the field of battle,
he found it strewed with the bodies of upward of one hundred Moors,
among which were those of the two alcaydes. Enraged at the sight,
he summoned all his crossbowmen and cavalry, pushed on to the very
gates of Castellar, and set fire to two houses close to the walls.
Pedro de Vargas was too severely wounded to sally forth in person,
but he ordered out his troops, and there was brisk skirmishing under
the walls, until the king drew off and returned to the scene of the
recent encounter. Here he had the bodies of the principal warriors
laid across mules, to be interred honorably at Malaga; the rest of
the slain were buried on the field of battle. Then, gathering
together the scattered cavalgada, he paraded it slowly, in an
immense line, past the walls of Castellar by way of taunting his foe.

With all his fierceness, old Muley Abul Hassan had a gleam of warlike
courtesy, and admired the hardy and soldier-like character of Pedro
de Vargas. He summoned two Christian captives, and demanded
what were the revenues of the alcayde of Gibraltar. They told him
that, among other things, he was entitled to one out of every drove
of cattle that passed his boundaries. "Allah forbid," cried the old
monarch, "that so brave a cavalier should be defrauded of his dues!"

He immediately chose twelve of the finest cattle from the twelve
droves which formed the cavalgada. These he gave in charge to an
alfaqui to deliver to Pedro de Vargas. "Tell him," said he, "that I
crave his pardon for not having sent these cattle sooner; but I have
this moment learnt the nature of his rights, and I hasten to satisfy
them with the punctuality due to so worthy a cavalier. Tell him, at
the same time, that I had no idea the alcayde of Gibraltar was so