he house, he saw the ground occupied by troops. He hastily
sought another window, but his foes were there before him. Bewildered and
distressed, he knew not where to turn. The house was surrounded; the
Spaniards were thundering on the door for admittance; he was like a wolf
caught in its lair, and with as little mercy to hope from his captors.

By good fortune the door was well secured. One possible chance for safety
occurred to the hunted prince. Hastening down-stairs, he stood behind the
portal and noiselessly drew its bolts. The Spaniards, finding the door
give way, and supposing that it had yielded to their blows, rushed hastily
in and hurried through the house in search of the fugitive who was hidden
behind the door. The instant they had all passed he slipped out, and,
concealed by the darkness outside, hastened away, soon finding a secure
refuge in the mountains.

Aben-Aboo remained in the hands of the assaillants, who vainly questioned
him as to the haunts of his kinsmen. On his refusal to answer they
employed torture, but with no better effect. "I may die," he courageously
said, "but my friends will live." So severe and cruel was their treatment,
that in the end they left him for dead, returning to camp with the other
prisoners they had taken. As it proved, however, the heroic Aben-Aboo did
not die, but lived to play a leading part in the war.

With kindly treatment of the Moriscos he would probably have given no more
trouble, but the Spanish proved utterly merciless, their soldiers raging
through the mountains, and committing the foulest acts of outrage and
rapine. In Granada a frightful deed was committed. A large number of the
leading Moriscos, about one hundred and fifty in all, had been seized and
imprisoned, being held as hostages for the good behavior of their friends.
Here, on a night in March, the prison was entered by a body of Spaniards,
who assailed the unfortunate captives, arms in hand, and began an
indiscriminate massacre. The prisoners seizing what means of defence they
could find, fought desperately for their lives, and for two hours the
unequal combat continued, not ending while a Morisco remained alive.

This savage act led to terrible reprisals on the part of the insurgents,
who in the subsequent war treated with atrocious cruelty many of their
captives. The Moriscos were soon in arms again, Aben-Humeya at their head,
and the war blazed throughout the length and breadth of the mountains.
Ev