been seen by the courtiers a mounted troop so wild, so eager, so
formidable. Turning from them to the marble urn, the king drew from it a
parchment, which said: "These are the people who, whenever this cave is
entered and the spell contained in this urn is broken, shall possess this
country. An idle curiosity has done its work.[2]

[Footnote 2: "_Latinas letras a la margen puestas
Decian:--'Cuando aquesta puerta y arca
Fueran abiertas, gentes como estas
Pondran por tierra cuanto Espana abarca._"
--LOPE DE VEGA.]

The rash king, covering his eyes with his hands, fled outward from the
cavern; his knights followed him, but Don Alonzo lingered last except the
boy Luis. "Nevertheless, my lord," said Luis, "I should like to strike a
blow at these bold barbarians." "We may have an opportunity," said the
gloomy knight. He closed the centre gate of the cavern, and tried to
replace the broken padlocks, but it was in vain. In twenty-four hours the
story had travelled over the kingdom.

The boy Luis little knew into what a complex plot he was drifting. In the
secret soul of his protector, Don Alonzo, there burned a great anger
against the weak and licentious king. He and his father, Count Julian, and
Archbishop Oppas, his uncle, were secretly brooding plans of wrath against
Don Rodrigo for his ill treatment of Don Alonzo's sister, Florinda. Rumors
had told them that an army of strange warriors from Africa, who had
hitherto carried all before them, were threatening to cross the straits
not yet called Gibraltar, and descend on Spain. All the ties of fidelity
held these courtiers to the king; but they secretly hated him, and wished
for his downfall. By the next day they had planned to betray him to the