d to rugged
campaigning, and their steeds were of generous and unyielding spirit.
It was midnight, and all was dark and silent as they descended from the
mountains and approached the city of Granada. They passed along quietly
under the shadow of its walls, until they arrived near the gate of
the Albaycin. Here Boabdil ordered his followers to halt and remain
concealed. Taking but four or five with him, he advanced resolutely to
the gate and knocked with the hilt of his scimetar. The guards demanded
who sought to enter at that unseasonable hour. "Your king!" exclaimed
Boabdil; "open the gate and admit him!"

The guards held forth a light and recognized the person of the youthful
monarch. They were struck with sudden awe and threw open the gates,
and Boabdil and his followers entered unmolested. They galloped to the
dwellings of the principal inhabitants of the Albaycin, thundering
at their portals and summoning them to arise and take arms for their
rightful sovereign. The summons was instantly obeyed: trumpets resounded
throughout the streets--the gleam of torches and the flash of arms
showed the Moors hurrying to their gathering-places; by daybreak the
whole force of the Albaycin was rallied under the standard of Boabdil,
and Aben Comixa was made alcayde of the fortress. Such was the success
of this sudden and desperate act of the young monarch, for we are
assured by contemporary historians that there had been no previous
concert or arrangement. "As the guards opened the gates of the city to
admit him," observes a pious chronicler, "so God opened the hearts of
the Moors to receive him as their king."*

* Pulgar.

In the morning early the tidings of this event roused El Zagal from his
slumbers in the Alhambra. The fiery old warrior assembled his guard in
haste and made his way, sword in hand, to the Albaycin, hoping to come
upon his nephew by surprise. He was vigorously met by Boabdil and
his adherents, and driven back into the quarter of the Alhambra. An
encounter took place between the two kings in the square before the
principal mosque; here they fought hand to hand with implacable fury, as
though it had been agreed to decide their competition for the crown by
single combat. In the tumult of this chance-medley affray, however, they
were separated, and the party of El Zagal was ultimately driven from the
square.

The battle raged for some time in the streets and places of the city,
but, finding their powe