But the expedition, commenced with overweening confidence and vainglorious boasts of success, ended in disgrace and failure. The presages declared by the astrologers to be favorable proved delusive. In the first encounter with the Christians, three thousand of the soldiers of Seville were cut to pieces by one-tenth of that number of the enemy. The invasion of Murcia was productive of nothing advantageous. The Berbers of Yusuf, ashamed of the pusillanimity of their allies, sympathized with their adversaries; the designs of Motamid were regularly communicated to the officials of the enemy; and the Prince of Seville, alarmed by the mutinous clamors of his followers, abandoned the enterprise in disgust. It was now evident that the Christian power was firmly established in the East, and that the unaided resources of the Moslems were unable to overturn it. All eyes were again turned towards the court of Morocco, and emissaries of the cities affected by the curse of Christian brigandage importuned with repeated solicitations the intervention of the redoubtable Sultan of Africa. The latter, however, while receiving these petitions with courtesy, awaited the action of some one high in authority. At length the exhortations of the faquis, who saw with horror the encroachments of the infidel and the consequent peril of their order, prevailed upon Motamid himself to assume the office of representative of the religious and political interests of the disheartened Moslems of Spain. Yusuf welcomed the royal ambassador with every token of respect; he promised immediate compliance with his request; and, his preparations completed, he again appeared in Andalusia at the head of a well-appointed army.