128 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period II. 



; hi 



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laid waste the country and took captives without number, 

 and that army went through all places like a desolating 

 storm. Prosperity made these warriors insatiable. At the 

 passage of the river Abderrahman overthrew the Count, 

 and the Count retired into his stronghold, but the Moslems 

 fought against it and entered it by force and slew the 

 Count, for everything gave way to their cimeters, which 

 were the robbers of lives. All the nations of the Franks 

 trembled at that terrible army, and they betook them to 

 their king Caldus (Charles Martel) and told him of the 

 havoc made by the Moslem horsemen, and how they 

 rode at will through all the land of Narbonne, Toulouse, 

 and Bordeaux, and they told the king of the death of 

 their Count. Then the king bade them be of good cheer, 

 and offered to aid them. And in the 114th year (of the 

 Hegira) he mounted his horse, and he took with him 

 a host that could not be numbered, and went against the 

 Moslems. And he came upon them at the great city of 

 Tours ; and Abderrahman and other prudent cavaliers 

 saw the disorder of the Moslem troops, who were loaded 

 with spoil, but they did not venture to displease the 

 soldiers by ordering them to abandon everything except 

 their arms and war-horses. And Abderrahman trusted 

 in the valour of his soldiers, and in the good fortune 

 which had everywhere attended him. But such defect 

 of discipline is always fatal to armies. So Abderrahman 

 and his host attacked Tours to gain still more spoil, and 

 they fought against it so fiercely that they stormed the 

 city, almost before the eyes of the army that came to 

 save it. And the cruelty and fury of the Moslems 

 toward the inhabitants of the city were like the fury and 

 cruelty of raging tigers." *' It was manifest," adds the 

 Arab, " that God's chastisement was sure to follow such 

 excesses, and fortune thereupon turned her back upon 

 the Moslems." 



'* Near the river Owar (Loire) the two great hosts of 

 the two languages and the two creeds were set in array 

 against each other. The hearts of Abr" aahman, his 

 captains, and his men, were filled with wrath and pride, 

 and they were the first to begin the fight. The Moslem 



