es would have full play upon the city walls. A detachment was
sent in advance to take possession of the gardens and keep a check upon
the suburbs, opposing any sally while the encampment should be formed
and fortified. The various commanders entered the orchards at different
points. The young cavaliers marched fearlessly forward, but the
experienced veterans foresaw infinite peril in the mazes of this verdant
labyrinth. The master of St. Jago, as he led his troops into the centre
of the gardens, exhorted them to keep by one another, and to press
forward in defiance of all difficulty or danger, assuring them that
God would give them the victory if they attacked hardily and persisted
resolutely.

Scarce had they entered the verge of the orchards when a din of drums
and trumpets, mingled with war-cries, was heard from the suburbs, and a
legion of Moorish warriors on foot poured forth. They were led on by
the prince Cid Hiaya. He saw the imminent danger of the city should the
Christians gain possession of the orchards. "Soldiers," he cried,
"we fight for life and liberty, for our families, our country, our
religion;* nothing is left for us to depend upon but the strength of our
hands, the courage of our hearts, and the almighty protection of Allah."
The Moors answered him with shouts of war and rushed to the encounter.
The two hosts met in the midst of the gardens. A chance-medley combat
ensued with lances, arquebuses, crossbows, and scimetars; the perplexed
nature of the ground, cut up and intersected by canals and streams, the
closeness of the trees, the multiplicity of towers and petty edifices,
gave greater advantages to the Moors, who were on foot, than to the
Christians, who were on horseback. The Moors, too, knew the ground,
with all its alleys and passes, and were thus enabled to lurk, to sally
forth, attack, and retreat almost without injury.

* "Illi (Mauri) pro fortunis, pro libertate, pro laribus patriis, pro
vita denique certabant."--Pietro Martyr, "Epist. 70."

The Christian commanders, seeing this, ordered many of the horsemen to
dismount and fight on foot. The battle then became fierce and deadly,
each disregarding his own life, provided he could slay his enemy. It was
not so much a general battle as a multitude of petty actions, for every
orchard and garden had its distinct contest. No one could see farther
than the little scene of fury and bloodshed around him, nor know how the
general battle fa