ld after stronghold until all Granada was his. In a
memorable pun on the name of Granada, which signifies a pomegranate, he
said, "I will pick out the seeds of this pomegranate one by one."

Muley Abul Hassan, the new Moorish king, began the work, foolishly
breaking the truce which Ferdinand wished a pretext to bring to an end. On
a dark night in 1481 he fell suddenly on Zahara, a mountain town on the
Christian frontier, so strong in itself that it was carelessly guarded. It
was taken by surprise, its inhabitants were carried off as slaves, and a
strong Moorish garrison was left to hold it.

The Moors paid dearly for their daring assault. The Christians retaliated
by an attack on the strong and rich city of Alhama, a stronghold within
the centre of the kingdom, only a few leagues distant from the capital
itself. Strongly situated on a rocky height, with a river nearly
surrounding it and a fortress seated on a steep crag above it, and far
within the border, no dream of danger to Alhama came to the mind of the
Moors, who contented themselves with a small garrison and a negligent
guard.

But the loss of Zahara had exasperated Ferdinand. His wars at home were
over and he had time to attend to the Moors, and scouts had brought word
of the careless security of the guard of Alhama. It could be reached by a
difficult and little-travelled route through the defiles of the mountains,
and there were possibilities that a secret and rapid march might lead to
its surprise.

At the head of the enterprise was Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, Marquis of
Cadiz, the most distinguished champion in the war that followed. With a
select force of three thousand light cavalry and four thousand infantry,
adherents of several nobles who attended the expedition, the mountains
were traversed with the greatest secrecy and celerity, the marches being
made mainly by night and the troops remaining quiet and concealed during
the day. No fires were made and no noise was permitted, and midnight of
the third day found the invaders in a small, deep valley not far from the
fated town. Only now were the troops told what was in view. They had
supposed that they were on an ordinary foray. The inspiring tidings filled
them with ardor, and they demanded to be led at once to the assault.

Two hours before daybreak the army was placed in ambush close to Alhama,
and a body of three hundred picked men set out on the difficult task of
scaling the walls of the castle and