This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ... A SPANISH TAUNT "Now who will carry the gate with me?" Fernando del Pulgar cried: "Carry and hold it safe, while I To the church of Mahomet ride?" Fifteen stalwarts of old Castile At the side of the hero strode. They carried the gate, and in at the gap Fernando del Pulgar rode. He clove and shattered a helm or twain, And gathered his reins and sprang, And far and away in the silent night The hoofs of his courser rang. Fernando del Pulgar, sword and shield, Helmet and hauberk too-- Through the startled streets of Mahomet's town The sparks from the pavement flew. On like the hurricane wind he rode, With thunder of saddle and steel: At the front of the proudest mosque drew up With a crashing sweep and wheel: And, "Ave Maria," high aloft To the moonlit door, writ plain, He pinned with his poniard point, and spurred, And rode for the gate again. Back with the thunder of saddle and steel, The heart of the hero sprang: Loud and sharp in the silent night The hoofs of his courser rang. Fernando del Pulgar, sword and shield, Helmet and hauberk too; Back, like the hurricane wind he rode, And the sparks from the pavement flew. With a singing sweep and dint of his sword, The blood of the Paynim flowed, Hurled this way and that, and out of the gate Fernando del Pulgar rode. "I have ridden," he shouted, "Mahomet's town, As free as light or wind, And high to the door of Mahomet's mosque The name of the Virgin pinned." THE VIOLINIST In Dresden in the square one day, His face of parchment, seamed and gray, With wheezy bow and proffered hat, An old blind violinist sat. Like one from whose worn heart the heat Of life had long ago retired, He played to the unheeding street Until the thin old hands were tired. Few marked the player how he played, Or how the...