G FERDINAND AGAINST MALAGA.

The army of Ferdinand advanced in lengthened line, glittering along the
foot of the mountains which border the Mediterranean, while a fleet of
vessels, freighted with heavy artillery and warlike munitions, kept
pace with it at a short distance from the land, covering the sea with a
thousand gleaming sails. When Hamet el Zegri saw this force approaching,
he set fire to the houses of the suburbs which adjoined the walls and
sent forth three battalions to encounter the advance guard of the enemy.

The Christian army drew near to the city at that end where the castle
and rocky height of Gibralfaro defended the seaboard. Immediately
opposite, at about two bow-shots' distance, stood the castle, and
between it and the high chain of mountains was a steep and rocky hill,
at present called the hill of St. Christobal, commanding a pass through
which the Christians must march to penetrate to the vega and surround
the city. Hamet ordered the three battalions to take their stations--one
on this hill, another in the pass near the castle, and a third on the
side of the mountain near the sea.

A body of Spanish foot-soldiers of the advance guard, sturdy
mountaineers of Galicia, sprang forward to climb the side of the height
next the sea, at the same time a number of cavaliers and hidalgos of the
royal household attacked the Moors who guarded the pass below. The Moors
defended their posts with obstinate valor. The Galicians were repeatedly
overpowered and driven down the hill, but as often rallied, and, being
reinforced by the hidalgos and cavaliers, returned to the assault. This
obstinate struggle lasted for six hours: the strife was of a deadly
kind, not merely with crossbows and arquebuses, but hand to hand with
swords and daggers; no quarter was claimed or given on either side--they
fought not to make captives, but to slay. It was but the advance of the
Christian army that was engaged; so narrow was the pass along the coast
that the army could proceed only in file: horse and foot and beasts of
burden were crowded one upon another, impeding each other and blocking
up the narrow and rugged defile. The soldiers heard the uproar of the
battle, the sound of trumpets, and the war-cries of the Moors, but tried
in vain to press forward to the assistance of their companions.

At length a body of foot-soldiers of the Holy Brotherhood climbed with
great difficulty the steep side of the mountain which overhung th