freebooter often commanded an army of thousands of desperadoes. The most popular and renowned of these outlaws, in an age when judicial restrictions and regal authority were subordinated to military force, was Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, the Campeador. The latter having incurred the hatred of Alfonso VI. on account of the degradation of that monarch when forced to purge himself of complicity in the death of his brother, which transaction the Cid was believed to have suggested, or, at all events, to have favored, and this prejudice having been aggravated by the alleged peculation of treasure and tribute intrusted to the Cid by Motamid, the offender was peremptorily banished from the realm of Castile. The disgraced partisan, after an ineffectual attempt to enter the service of the Count of Barcelona, applied for military command to the Emir of Saragossa. That principality was then governed by the martial and enlightened princes of the Beni-Hud, whose superiority over most of the other Moslem dynasties had been demonstrated by the pre-eminence of their literary accomplishments not less than by their renown in arms. For more than thirty years, Moctadir, the reigning sovereign, had been engaged in constant hostilities with his neighbors. In spite of the present unpropitious condition of his fortunes, the Cid was attended by a considerable number of followers, and his repeated experience with Christian mercenaries had taught Moctadir that the services of such allies were not to be despised. They were therefore received with every mark of distinction, and were mustered into the army. This accession proved a most valuable one to the Emir and his sons, among whom he soon afterwards divided his kingdom. The arms of Rodrigo were everywhere victorious. The partisan warfare by which the northern provinces of the Peninsula were incessantly afflicted was thoroughly adapted to the exercise of his malignant genius. His raids exceeded in boldness and success the most venturesome enterprises hitherto undertaken by the Moslems. His infidel comrades stood aghast at the atrocities committed by his soldiers,--at the wholesale butchery of defenceless captives, at the unblushing violation of solemn compacts, at the ingenuity of tortures devised to compel the discovery of treasure. The expeditions of Rodrigo were carried to the borders of France. He repeatedly routed the Catalans, the hereditary enemies of his patron. He captured the Count of Barcelona, an exploit which acquired for the Emirate of Saragossa great political advantages through the negotiation of a favorable treaty. He spread desolation far and wide through the territory of Aragon. The wealth derived from these predatory excursions was incredible. The Moorish prince regarded his ally with peculiar favor because of the impartiality he displayed in the collection of plunder. The vessels of the Christian altar were no more sacred in the eyes of this impious freebooter than the spoils of a Moslem castle. As