to the king's wrath;
I could bring him to the death. But I am just and meek: let him pay my
forfeiture, and I will forego mine anger."

"Thou dost not know him," said Ximen, alarmed at the thought of
a repayment, which might grievously diminish his own heritage--of
Almamen's effects in Granada.

"But if I threaten him with exposure?"

"Thou wouldst feed the fishes of the Darro," interrupted Ximen. "Nay,
even now, if Almamen learn that thou knowest his birth and race,
tremble! for thy days in the land will be numbered."

"Verily," exclaimed the Jew, in great alarm, "then have I fallen into
the snare; for these lips revealed to him that knowledge."

"Then is the righteous Elias a lost man, within ten days from that in
which Almamen returns to Granada. I know my master: and blood is to him
as water."

"Let the wicked be consumed!" cried Elias, furiously stamping his
foot, while fire flashed from his dark eyes, for the instinct of
self-preservation made him fierce. "Not from me, however," he added,
more calmly, "will come his danger. Know that there be more than a
hundred Jews in this city, who have sworn his death; Jews who, flying
hither from Cordova, have seen their parents murdered and their
substance seized, and who behold, in the son of Issachar, the cause of
the murder and the spoil. They have detected the impostor, and a hundred
knives are whetting even now for his blood: let him look to it. Ximen,
I have spoken to thee as the foolish speak; thou mayest betray me to
thy lord; but from what I have learned of thee from our brethren, I have
poured my heart into thy bosom without fear. Wilt thou betray Israel, or
assist us to smite the traitor?"

Ximen mused for a moment, and his meditation conjured up the treasures
of his master. He stretched forth his right hand to Elias; and when the
Israelites parted, they were friends.

CHAPTER VI. BOADBIL'S RETURN.--THE REAPPEARANCE OF GRANADA.

The third morning from this interview, a rumour reached Granada that
Boabdil had been repulsed in his assault on the citadel of Salobrena
with a severe loss; that Hernando del Pulgar had succeeded in conducting
to its relief a considerable force; and that the army of Ferdinand was
on its march against the Moorish king. In the midst of the excitement
occasioned by these reports, a courier arrived to confirm their truth,
and to announce the return of Boabdil.

At nightfall, the king, preceding his army, entered the city, a