n.

King Ferdinand felt that his army, thus disjoined and enclosed in
an enemy's country, was in a perilous situation, and that the utmost
discipline and vigilance were necessary. He put the camp under the
strictest regulations, forbidding all gaming, blasphemy, or brawl, and
expelling all loose women and their attendant bully ruffians, the usual
fomenters of riot and contention among soldiery. He ordered that none
should sally forth to skirmish without permission from their commanders;
that none should set fire to the woods on the neighboring mountains; and
that all word of security given to Moorish places or individuals should
be inviolably observed. These regulations were enforced by severe
penalties, and had such salutary effect that, though a vast host of
various people was collected together, not an opprobrious epithet was
heard nor a weapon drawn in quarrel.

In the mean time the cloud of war continued to gather about the summits
of the mountains, and multitudes of the fierce warriors of the sierra
descended to the lower heights of Bentomiz, which overhung the camp,
intending to force their way to the city. A detachment was sent against
them, which, after sharp fighting, drove them to the higher cliffs,
where it was impossible to pursue them.

Ten days had elapsed since the encampment of the army, yet still the
artillery had not arrived. The lombards and other heavy ordnance were
left in despair at Antiquera; the rest came groaning slowly through the
narrow valleys, which were filled with long trains of artillery and cars
laden with munitions. At length part of the smaller ordnance arrived
within half a league of the camp, and the Christians were animated
with the hopes of soon being able to make a regular attack upon the
fortifications of the city.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

HOW KING FERDINAND AND HIS ARMY WERE EXPOSED TO IMMINENT PERIL BEFORE
VELEZ MALAGA.

While the standard of the cross waved on the hills before Velez Malaga,
and every height and cliff bristled with hostile arms, the civil war
between the factions of the Alhambra and the Albaycin, or rather between
El Zagal and El Chico, continued to convulse the city of Granada. The
tidings of the investment of Velez Malaga at length roused the attention
of the old men and the alfaquis, whose heads were not heated by the
daily broils, and they endeavored to arouse the people to a sense of
their common danger.

"Why," said they, "continue these brawls b