"
"You know that! Then there is no turning back."
"No! It is too late. On the 19th of July the half-moon rises over
Spain, and it will continue to wax through its phases to the full
moon. What follows then we know not, and have nothing to do with,
for One rules--the Lord Zebaoth."
* * * * *
On the 17th of July, 711 A.D., when it had become dark, fire was
kindled on the southernmost point of Spain, Punta de Europa. On the
African coast, two miles distant, this was answered by a similar
signal. A west wind blew from the Atlantic, and brought across the
fleet of the Saracens, with five thousand men and horses.
On the Punta de Europa, afterwards called Gibraltar, high above the
precipitous cliff stood long-bearded citizens, and fanned the fire
and threw fuel on it. In the morning the first troops landed at the
foot of the cliff, and the conquest of Spain by the Moors began.
Mussa ibn Nazir came on the following day with the chief body.
The King of the West Goths assembled as rapidly as possible a
hundred thousand men, and, believing himself invincible, marched
thither to view the victory. Clothed in silk and gold, like a
Byzantine Emperor, he lay in a chariot of ivory drawn by two white
mules, and followed by his attendants and the women of his harem.
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