red. In vain the captains exerted their voices, in vain
the trumpets brayed forth signals and commands: all was confounded and
unheard in the universal din and uproar. No one kept to his standard,
but fought as his own fury or fear dictated. In some places the
Christians had the advantage, in others the Moors; often a victorious
party, pursuing the vanquished, came upon a superior and triumphant
force of the enemy, and the fugitives turned back upon them in an
overwhelming wave. Some broken remnants, in their terror and confusion,
fled from their own countrymen and sought refuge among their enemies,
not knowing friend from foe in the obscurity of the groves. The Moors
were more adroit in these wild skirmishings from their flexibility,
lightness, and agility, and the rapidity with which they would disperse,
rally, and return again to the charge.*

* Mariana, lib. 25, cap. 13.

The hardest fighting was about the small garden-towers and pavilions,
which served as so many petty fortresses. Each party by turns gained
them, defended them fiercely, and were driven out; many of the towers
were set on fire, and increased the horrors of the fight by the wreaths
of smoke and flame in which they wrapped the groves and by the shrieks
of those who were burning.

Several of the Christian cavaliers, bewildered by the uproar and
confusion and shocked at the carnage which prevailed, would have led
their men out of the action, but they were entangled in a labyrinth and
knew not which way to retreat. While in this perplexity Juan Perea, the
standard-bearer of one of the squadrons of the grand cardinal, had his
arm carried off by a cannon-ball; the standard was wellnigh falling
into the hands of the enemy, when Rodrigo de Mendoza, an intrepid youth,
natural son of the grand cardinal, rushed to its rescue through a shower
of balls, lances, and arrows, and, bearing it aloft, dashed forward with
it into the hottest of the combat, followed by his shouting soldiery.

King Ferdinand, who remained in the skirts of the orchard, was in
extreme anxiety. It was impossible to see much of the action for the
multiplicity of trees and towers and the wreaths of smoke, and those
who were driven out defeated or came out wounded and exhausted gave
different accounts, according to the fate of the partial conflicts in
which they had been engaged. Ferdinand exerted himself to the utmost
to animate and encourage his troops to this blind encounter, sen