Straits of Gibraltar, and the people of that peninsula had been battling
fiercely ever since to drive them back to where they came from. True,
the Moor had brought Arabian art and learning with him, but he had
brought also the Mohammedan religion, and _that_ was intolerable
not only to the Spaniards but to all Europeans. No Christian country
could brook the thought of this Asiatic creed flourishing on her soil,
so Spain soon set to work to get rid of it.

This war between the two religions began in the north near the Bay of
Biscay whither the Christians were finally pushed by the invaders. Each
century saw the Moors driven a little farther south toward the
Mediterranean, until Granada, where the lovely Sierra Nevadas rise, was
the last stronghold left them. Small wonder, then, that when Granada was
finally taken the Spanish nation was supremely happy. Small wonder that
they held a magnificent fete in their newly-won city in the "Snowy
Mountains." The vanquished Moorish king rode down from his mountain
citadel and handed its keys to Ferdinand and Isabella. Bells pealed,
banners waved, and the people cheered wildly as their victorious
sovereigns rode by.

And yet, so we are told by a writer who was present, in the midst of all
this rejoicing one man stood aside, sad and solitary. While all the
others felt that their uttermost desire had been granted in acquiring
the Moorish kingdom, _he_ knew that he could present them with a
far greater territory than Granada if only they would give him the
chance. What were these olive and orange groves beside the tropic
fertility of the shores he longed to reach, and which he would have
reached long ere this, he told himself regretfully, if only they had
helped him! What was the Christianizing of the few Moors who remained in
Spain compared with the Christianizing of all the undiscovered heathen