ointment, he ordered his troops forward to the attack.
They rushed down the defile, but were again encountered by the mass of
Christian warriors, being the advance guard of the army commanded by Don
Hurtado de Mendoza, brother of the grand cardinal. The Moors were again
repulsed, and retreated up the height. Don Hurtado would have followed
them, but the ascent was steep and rugged and easily defended. A
sharp action was kept up through the night with crossbows, darts, and
arquebuses. The cliffs echoed with deafening uproar, while the fires
blazing upon the mountains threw a lurid and uncertain light upon the
scene.

When the day dawned and the Moors saw that there was no co-operation
from the city, they slackened in their ardor: they beheld also every
pass of the mountain filled with Christian troops, and began to
apprehend an assault in return. Just then King Ferdinand sent the
marques of Cadiz with horse and foot to seize upon a height occupied by
a battalion of the enemy. The marques assailed the Moors with his usual
intrepidity, and soon put them to flight. The others, who were above,
seeing their comrades fly, threw down their arms and retreated. One of
those unaccountable panics which now and then seize upon great bodies
of people, and to which the light-spirited Moors were prone, now spread
throughout the camp. They were terrified, they knew not why nor at what,
and, throwing away swords, lances, breast-plates, crossbows, everything
that could impede their motions, scattered themselves wildly in every
direction. They fled without pursuers--from the glimpse of each other's
arms, from the sound of each other's footsteps. Reduan de Vanegas, the
brave alcayde of Granada, alone succeeded in collecting a body of
the fugitives; he made a circuit with them through the passes of the
mountain, and, forcing his way across a weak part of the Christian
lines, galloped toward Velez Malaga. The rest of the Moorish host was
completely scattered. In vain did El Zagal and his knights attempt to
rally them; they were left almost alone, and had to consult their own
security by flight.

The marques of Cadiz, finding no opposition, ascended from height
to height, cautiously reconnoitring and fearful of some stratagem or
ambush. All, however, was quiet. He reached with his men the place which
the Moorish army had occupied: the heights were abandoned and strewed
with cuirasses, scimetars, crossbows, and other weapons. His force was
to