The father's curse had thus been fulfilled. The traitor returned to the city, and, strange to say, was not punished, or only insufficiently so; consequently, it is to-day believed that the sister of the murdered monarch had a hand in the crime. Upon Vellido's return to the besieged town, the governor wished to imprison him--which in those days meant more than confinement--but the Infanta objected; it is even stated that the traitor spoke with his heartless mistress, saying: "It was time the promise should be fulfilled." In the meanwhile, from the besieging army a solitary knight, Diego Ordoñez, rode up to the city walls, and accusing the inhabitants of felony and treason, both men and women, young and old, living and dead, born and to be born, he challenged them to a duel. It had to be accepted, and, according to the laws of chivalry, the challenger had to meet in single combat five champions, one after another, for he had insulted, not a single man, but a community. The gray-haired governor of the fortress reserved for himself and his four sons the duty of accepting the challenge; the Infanta beseeched him in vain to desist from his enterprise, but he was firm: his mistress's honour was at stake. At last, persuaded by royal tears, according to the romance, he agreed to let his sons precede him, and, only in case it should be necessary, would he take the last turn. The eldest son left the city gates, blessed by the weeping father; his helmet and head were cleft in twain by Diego Ordoñez's terrible sword, and the latter's ironical shout was heard addressing the governor: "Don Arias, send me hither another of your charming sons, because this one cannot bear you the message." A second and third son went forth, meeting the same fate: but the latter's wounded horse, in throwing its rider, ran blindly into Ordoñez and knocked him out of the ring; the duel was therefore judged to be a draw. Several days afterward Alfonso, the dead king's younger brother, hurried up from Toledo, and after swearing in Burgos that he had had nothing to do with the felonious murder, was anointed King of Castile, Leon, and Galicia. His brave sister Urraca lived with him at court, giving him useful advice, until she retired to a convent, and at her death left her palace and her fortune to the Collegiate Church at Leon. The remaining history of Zamora is one interminable list of revolts, sieges, massacres, and duels. As frontier fortress against Portugal in the west, its importance as the last garrison town on the Duero was exceptional, and consequently, though it never became important as a metropolis, as a stronghold it was one of Castile's most strategical points. * * * * *