Casting his own cloak about the nearly naked women, he tenderly bore
them into a thicket, where they could lie in safety while he watched
over them all night, for he did not dare leave them to go in quest of
aid. At dawn he hurried off to a neighboring village and secured
help. There, in the house of a kind man, the poor ladies were cared
for, while their cousin hastened on to apprise the Cid of what had
occurred.

Meantime the Infantes had met Alvar Fanez conveying to the king
another present, and, on being asked where were their wives,
carelessly rejoined they had left them behind. Ill pleased with such a
report, Alvar Fanez and his troops hurried back in quest of the
ladies, but found nothing save traces of blood, which made them
suspect foul play. On discovering what had really happened to the
Cid's daughters, Alvar Fanez hurried on to deliver the present to the
king, and indignantly reported what treatment the Cid's daughters had
undergone at the hands of the bridegrooms the king had chosen for
them, informing him that since he had made the marriage it behooved
him to see justice done. Horrified on hearing what had occurred,
Alfonso summoned the Cortes, sending word to the Cid and to the
Infantes to appear before it at Toledo three months hence.

Meantime the Cid, learning what had befallen his poor girls, hastened
to them, took them home, and, hearing that the king himself would
judge his case, decided to abide by the decision of the Cortes. At the
end of the third month, therefore, the Cid's followers--who had
preceded him--erected in the royal hall at Toledo the ivory seat he
had won at Valencia, and Alfonso himself openly declared the Cid quite
worthy to occupy a throne by his side, seeing no one had ever served
him as well as the man whom the courtiers were always trying to