for
themselves so rich a prize. One of them seized hold of Boabdil, but the
latter resented the indignity by striking him to the earth with a blow
of his poniard. Others of Hurtado's townsmen coming up, a contest
arose between the men of Lucena and Vaena as to who had a right to the
prisoner. The noise brought Don Diego Fernandez de Cordova to the spot,
who by his authority put an end to the altercation. Boabdil, finding
himself unknown by all present, concealed his quality, giving himself
out as the son of Aben Alnayer, a cavalier of the royal household.* Don
Diego treated him with great courtesy, put a red band round his neck in
sign of his being a captive, and sent him under an escort to the castle
of Lucena where his quality would be ascertained, his ransom arranged,
and the question settled as to who had made him prisoner.

* Garibay, lib. 40, cap 31.

This done, the count put spurs to his horse and hastened to rejoin the
count de Cabra, who was in hot pursuit of the enemy. He overtook him
at a stream called Reanaul, and they continued together to press on the
skirts of the flying army during the remainder of the day. The pursuit
was almost as hazardous as the battle, for had the enemy at any time
recovered from their panic, they might, by a sudden reaction, have
overwhelmed the small force of their pursuers. To guard against this
peril, the wary count kept his battalion always in close order, and had
a body of a hundred chosen lancers in the advance. The Moors kept up a
Parthian retreat; several times they turned to make battle, but, seeing
this solid body of steeled warriors pressing upon them, they again took
to flight.

The main retreat of the army was along the valley watered by the Xenil
and opening through the mountains of Algaringo to the city of Loxa. The
alarm-fires of the preceding night had aroused the country; every man
snatched sword and buckler from the wall, and the towns and villages
poured forth their warriors to harass the retreating foe. Ali Atar kept
the main force of the army together, and turned fiercely from time to
time upon his pursuers: he was like a wolf hunted through the country he
had often made desolate by his maraudings.

The alarm of this invasion had reached the city of Antiquera, where
were several of the cavaliers who had escaped from the carnage in the
mountains of Malaga. Their proud minds were festering with their late
disgrace, and their only prayer was for veng