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You, Pero Bermudez, shall bear my banner, as you were wont to bear it; and you, Alvar Fanez, my cousin, gather your company together, and put the host in order as you are wont to do. And go ye forth and fight with King Bucar: for be ye certain and doubt not that ye shall win this battle; God hath granted me this.
In the mean time Felez Munoz proceeded on his journey; and it came to pass that he met Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Bermudez on the way, going to the King with a present which the Cid had sent him; and the present was this, ... two hundred horses, from those which he had won in the battle of Quarto from King Bucar, and an hundred Moorish prisoners, and many good swords, and many rich saddles.
Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, who come unto thee with more urgent tidings than those for which thou art taking thought concerning King Bucar, and it is, that thou art to leave this world, and go to that which hath no end; and this will be in thirty days.
VI. When the Cid heard this, notwithstanding he was wroth at heart, he would not manifest it, but made answer in few words and said, Go tell thy Lord King Bucar I will not give him up Valencia: great labour did I endure in winning it, and to no man am I beholding for it in the world, save only to my Lord Jesus Christ, and to my kinsmen and friends and vassals who aided me to win it.
And when the Cid heard this, he took both his sons-in-law and Suero Gonzalez with them, and went upon the highest tower of the Alcazar, and showed them the great power which King Bucar of Morocco had brought; and when he beheld this great power he began to laugh and was exceeding glad: but Suero Gonzalez and his nephews were in great fear: howbeit they would not let it be seen.
On the twenty-ninth day, being the day before he departed, he called for Dona Ximena, and for the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Don Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Bermudez, and his trusty Gil Diaz; and when they were all five before him, he began to direct them what they should do after his death; and he said to them, "Ye know that King Bucar will presently be here to besiege this city, with seven and thirty Kings whom he bringeth with him, and with a mighty power of Moors.
And so great was the uproar and confusion, that few there were who took arms, but instead thereof they turned their backs and fled toward the sea. And when King Bucar and his Kings saw this they were astonished.
And if thou wilt not do this he sends to say that he will fight against Valencia, and take thee and thy wife and thy daughters, and torment thee grievously, in such manner that all Christians who shall hear tell of it shall talk thereof for evermore. This is the bidding of my Lord King Bucar.
And King Bucar and the other Kings were so greatly dismayed that they never checked the reins till they had ridden into the sea; and the company of the Cid rode after them, smiting and slaying and giving them, no respite. And when the Moors came to the sea, so great was the press among them to get to the ships, that more than ten thousand died in the water.
And so many were they who were taken prisoner, that it was a wonder; and of the twenty and nine Kings who came with King Bucar, seventeen were slain. And when the Cid saw that of the Moors some had gotten to the ships and the others were slain or taken, he returned toward their tents.
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