Taric fixed his eyes upon the stranger: he was a Jewish rabbi, with a long beard which spread upon his gabardine, and descended even to his girdle. “What hast thou to reveal?” said he to the Israelite. “What I have to reveal,” replied the other, “is for thee alone to hear: command then, I entreat thee, that these men withdraw.” When they were alone he addressed Taric in Arabic: “Know, O leader of the host of Islam,” said he, “that I am sent to thee on the part of the children of Israel resident in Toledo. We have been oppressed and insulted by the Christians in the time of their prosperity, and now that they are threatened with siege, they have taken from us all our provisions and our money; they have compelled us to work like slaves, repairing their walls; and they oblige us to bear arms and guard a part of the towers. We abhor their yoke, and are ready, if thou wilt receive us as subjects, and permit us the free enjoyment of our religion and our property, to deliver the towers we guard into thy hands, and to give thee safe entrance into the city.” The Arab chief was overjoyed at this proposition, and he rendered much honour to the rabbi, and gave orders to clothe him in a costly robe, and to perfume his beard with essences of a pleasant odour, so that he was the most sweet smelling of his tribe; and he said, “Make thy words good, and put me in possession of the city, and I will do all and more than thou hast required, and will bestow countless wealth upon thee and thy brethren.” Then a plan was devised between them by which the city was to be betrayed and given up. “But how shall I be secured,” said he, “that all thy tribe will fulfil what thou hast engaged, and that this is not a stratagem to get me and my people into your power?” “This shall be thy assurance,” replied the rabbi: “ten of the principal Israelites will come to this tent and remain as hostages.” “It is enough,” said Taric; and he made oath to accomplish all that he had promised; and the Jewish hostages came and delivered themselves into his hands. On a dark night, a chosen band of Moslem warriors approached the part of the walls guarded by the Jews, and were secretly admitted into a postern gate and concealed within a tower. Three thousand Arabs were at the same time placed in ambush among rocks and thickets, in a place on the opposite side of the river, commanding a view of the city. On the following morning Taric ravaged the gardens of the valley, and set fire to the farm-houses, and then, breaking up his camp, marched off as if abandoning the siege.