e unfortunate Boabdil still remained
shut up from the indignation of his subjects. The hapless monarch smote
his breast as he looked down from his mountain-palace on the desolation
effected by his late ally. He dared not even show himself in arms among
the populace, for they cursed him as the cause of the miseries once more
brought to their doors.

The Moors, however, did not suffer the Christians to carry on their
ravages unmolested, as in former years. Muza incited them to incessant
sallies. He divided his cavalry into small squadrons, each led by a
daring commander. They were taught to hover round the Christian camp;
to harass it from various and opposite quarters, cutting off convoys and
straggling detachments; to waylay the army in its ravaging expeditions,
lurking among rocks and passes of the mountains or in hollows and
thickets of the plain, and practising a thousand stratagems and
surprises.

The Christian army had one day spread itself out rather unguardedly in
its foraging about the Vega. As the troops commanded by the marques of
Villena approached the skirts of the mountains, they beheld a number of
Moorish peasants hastily driving a herd of cattle into a narrow glen.
The soldiers, eager for booty, pressed in pursuit of them. Scarcely had
they entered the glen when shouts arose from every side, and they
were furiously attacked by an ambuscade of horse and foot. Some of
the Christians took to flight; others stood their ground and fought
valiantly. The Moors had the vantage-ground; some showered darts and
arrows from the cliffs of the rocks, others fought hand to hand on the
plain, while their cavalry carried havoc and confusion into the midst of
the Christian forces.

The marques de Villena, with his brother, Don Alonso de Pacheco, at the
first onset of the Moors spurred into the hottest of the fight. They had
scarce entered when Don Alonso was struck lifeless from his horse before
the eyes of his brother. Estevan Luzon, a gallant captain, fell fighting
bravely by the side of the marques, who remained, with his chamberlain
Soler and a handful of knights, surrounded by the enemy. Several
cavaliers from other parts of the army hastened to their assistance,
when King Ferdinand, seeing that the Moors had the vantage-ground and
that the Christians were suffering severely, gave signal for retreat.
The marques obeyed slowly and reluctantly, for his heart was full of
grief and rage at the death of his brother. As