their faith and the first fruits of their
devotion.

The politic monarch overwhelmed his new converts and allies with favors
and distinctions in return for this important acquisition, but he took
care to despatch a strong force of veteran and genuine Christian troops
to man the fortress.

As to the Moors who had composed the garrison, Cid Hiaya remembered that
they were his countrymen, and could not prevail upon himself to deliver
them into Christian bondage. He set them at liberty, and permitted
them to repair to Granada--"a proof," says the pious Agapida, "that his
conversion was not entirely consummated, but that there were still
some lingerings of the infidel in his heart." His lenity was far from
procuring him indulgence in the opinions of his countrymen; on the
contrary, the inhabitants of Granada, when they learnt from the
liberated garrison the stratagem by which Roma had been captured, cursed
Cid Hiaya for a traitor, and the garrison joined in the malediction.*

* Pulgar, Cron., part 3, cap. 130; Cura de los Palacios, cap. 90.

But the indignation of the people of Granada was destined to be roused
to tenfold violence. The old warrior Muley Abdallah el Zagal had retired
to his little mountain-territory, and for a short time endeavored to
console himself with his petty title of king of Andarax. He soon grew
impatient, however, of the quiet and inaction of his mimic kingdom.
His fierce spirit was exasperated by being shut up within such narrow
limits, and his hatred rose to downright fury against Boabdil, whom he
considered as the cause of his downfall. When tidings were brought
him that King Ferdinand was laying waste the Vega, he took a sudden
resolution. Assembling the whole disposable force of his kingdom, which
amounted but to two hundred men, he descended from the Alpuxarras and
sought the Christian camp, content to serve as a vassal the enemy of his
faith and his nation, so that he might see Granada wrested from the sway
of his nephew.

In his blind passion the old wrathful monarch injured his cause and
strengthened the cause of his adversary. The Moors of Granada had been
clamorous in his praise, extolling him as a victim to his patriotism,
and had refused to believe all reports of his treaty with the
Christians; but when they beheld from the walls of the city his banner
mingling with the banners of the unbelievers and arrayed against his
late people and the capital he had commanded, they br