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diff --git a/9761.txt b/9761.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bcddcc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/9761.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6846 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Leila, Complete, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Leila, Complete + The Siege of Granada + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 17, 2009 [EBook #9761] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEILA, COMPLETE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + +LEILA + +OR, + +THE SIEGE OF GRANADA + +By Edward Bulwer Lytton + + + + + +BOOK I. + + + +CHAPTER I. THE ENCHANTER AND THE WARRIOR. + +It was the summer of the year 1491, and the armies of Ferdinand and +Isabel invested the city of Granada. + +The night was not far advanced; and the moon, which broke through +the transparent air of Andalusia, shone calmly over the immense and +murmuring encampment of the Spanish foe, and touched with a hazy light +the snow-capped summits of the Sierra Nevada, contrasting the verdure +and luxuriance which no devastation of man could utterly sweep from the +beautiful vale below. + +In the streets of the Moorish city many a group still lingered. Some, as +if unconscious of the beleaguering war without, were listening in quiet +indolence to the strings of the Moorish lute, or the lively tale of +an Arabian improrvisatore; others were conversing with such eager +and animated gestures, as no ordinary excitement could wring from the +stately calm habitual to every oriental people. But the more public +places in which gathered these different groups, only the more +impressively heightened the desolate and solemn repose that brooded over +the rest of the city. + +At this time, a man, with downcast eyes, and arms folded within the +sweeping gown which descended to his feet, was seen passing through the +streets, alone, and apparently unobservant of all around him. Yet this +indifference was by no means shared by the struggling crowds through +which, from time to time, he musingly swept. + +"God is great!" said one man; "it is the Enchanter Almamen." + +"He hath locked up the manhood of Boabdil el Chico with the key of his +spells," quoth another, stroking his beard; "I would curse him, if I +dared." + +"But they say that he hath promised that when man fails, the genii will +fight for Granada," observed a third, doubtingly. + +"Allah Akbar! what is, is! what shall be, shall be!" said a fourth, with +all the solemn sagacity of a prophet. Whatever their feelings, whether +of awe or execration, terror or hope, each group gave way as Almamen +passed, and hushed the murmurs not intended for his ear. Passing through +the Zacatin (the street which traversed the Great Bazaar), the reputed +enchanter ascended a narrow and winding street, and arrived at last +before the walls that encircled the palace and fortress of the Alhambra. + +The sentry at the gate saluted and admitted him in silence; and in a few +moments his form was lost in the solitude of groves, amidst which, +at frequent openings, the spray of Arabian fountains glittered in the +moonlight; while, above, rose the castled heights of the Alhambra; and +on the right those Vermilion Towers, whose origin veils itself in the +furthest ages of Phoenician enterprise. + +Almamen paused, and surveyed the scene. "Was Aden more lovely?" he +muttered; "and shall so fair a spot be trodden by the victor Nazerene? +What matters? creed chases creed--race, race--until time comes back to +its starting-place, and beholds the reign restored to the eldest faith +and the eldest tribe. The horn of our strength shall be exalted." + +At these thoughts the seer relapsed into silence, and gazed long and +intently upon the stars, as, more numerous and brilliant with every +step of the advancing night, their rays broke on the playful waters, and +tinged with silver the various and breathless foliage. So earnest was +his gaze, and so absorbed his thoughts, that he did not perceive the +approach of a Moor, whose glittering weapons and snow-white turban, rich +with emeralds, cast a gleam through the wood. + +The new comer was above the common size of his race, generally small and +spare--but without attaining the lofty stature and large proportions +of the more redoubted of the warriors of Spain. But in his presence and +mien there was something, which, in the haughtiest conclave of Christian +chivalry, would have seemed to tower and command. He walked with a +step at once light and stately, as if it spurned the earth; and in the +carriage of the small erect head and stag-like throat, there was +that undefinable and imposing dignity, which accords so well with our +conception of a heroic lineage, and a noble though imperious spirit. The +stranger approached Almamen, and paused abruptly when within a few steps +of the enchanter. He gazed upon him in silence for some moments; and +when at length he spoke it was with a cold and sarcastic tone. + +"Pretender to the dark secrets," said he, "is it in the stars that +thou art reading those destinies of men and nations, which the Prophet +wrought by the chieftain's brain and the soldier's arm?" + +"Prince," replied Almamen, turning slowly, and recognising the intruder +on his meditations, "I was but considering how many revolutions, +which have shaken earth to its centre, those orbs have witnessed, +unsympathising and unchanged." + +"Unsympathising!" repeated the Moor--"yet thou believest in their effect +upon the earth?" + +"You wrong me," answered Almamen, with a slight smile, "you confound +your servant with that vain race, the astrologers." + +"I deemed astrology a part of the science of the two angels, Harut and +Marut." + + [The science of magic. It was taught by the Angels named in the + text; for which offence they are still supposed to be confined to + the ancient Babel. There they may yet be consulted, though they are + rarely seen.--Yallal'odir Yahya. + --SALE'S Koran.] + +"Possibly; but I know not that science, though I have wandered at +midnight by the ancient Babel." + +"Fame lies to us, then," answered the Moor, with some surprise. + +"Fame never made pretence to truth," said Almamen, calmly, and +proceeding on his way. "Allah be with you, prince! I seek the king." + +"Stay! I have just quitted his presence, and left him, I trust, with +thoughts worthy of the sovereign of Granada, which I would not have +disturbed by a stranger, a man whose arms are not spear nor shield." + +"Noble Muza," returned Almamen, "fear not that my voice will weaken the +inspirations which thine hath breathed into the breast of Boabdil. Alas! +if my counsel were heeded, thou wouldst hear the warriors of Granada +talk less of Muza, and more of the king. But Fate, or Allah, hath +placed upon the throne of a tottering dynasty, one who, though brave, +is weak--though, wise, a dreamer; and you suspect the adviser, when you +find the influence of nature on the advised. Is this just?" + +Muza gazed long and sternly on the face of Almamen; then, putting his +hand gently on the enchanter's shoulder, he said-- + +"Stranger, if thou playest us false, think that this arm hath cloven the +casque of many a foe, and will not spare the turban of a traitor!" + +"And think thou, proud prince!" returned Almamen, unquailing, "that I +answer alone to Allah for my motives, and that against man my deeds I +can defend!" + +With these words, the enchanter drew his long robe round him, and +disappeared amidst the foliage. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE KING WITHIN HIS PALACE. + +In one of those apartments, the luxury of which is known only to the +inhabitants of a genial climate (half chamber and half grotto), reclined +a young Moor, in a thoughtful and musing attitude. + +The ceiling of cedar-wood, glowing with gold and azure, was supported +by slender shafts, of the whitest alabaster, between which were open +arcades, light and graceful as the arched vineyards of Italy, +and wrought in that delicate filagree-work common to the Arabian +architecture: through these arcades was seen at intervals the lapsing +fall of waters, lighted by alabaster lamps; and their tinkling music +sounded with a fresh and regular murmur upon the ear. The whole of one +side of this apartment was open to a broad and extensive balcony, +which overhung the banks of the winding and moonlit Darro; and in the +clearness of the soft night might be distinctly seen the undulating +hills, the woods, and orange-groves, which still form the unrivalled +landscapes of Granada. + +The pavement was spread with ottomans and couches of the richest azure, +prodigally enriched with quaint designs in broideries of gold and +silver; and over that on which the Moor reclined, facing the open +balcony, were suspended on a pillar the round shield, the light javelin, +and the curving cimiter, of Moorish warfare. So studded were these +arms with jewels of rare cost, that they might alone have sufficed +to indicate the rank of the evident owner, even if his own gorgeous +vestments had not betrayed it. An open manuscript, on a silver table, +lay unread before the Moor: as, leaning his face upon his hand, +he looked with abstracted eyes along the mountain summits dimly +distinguished from the cloudless and far horizon. + +No one could have gazed without a vague emotion of interest, mixed +with melancholy, upon the countenance of the inmate of that luxurious +chamber. + +Its beauty was singularly stamped with a grave and stately sadness, +which was made still more impressive by its air of youth and the +unwonted fairness of the complexion: unlike the attributes of the +Moorish race, the hair and curling beard were of a deep golden colour; +and on the broad forehead and in the large eyes, was that settled and +contemplative mildness which rarely softens the swart lineaments of the +fiery children of the sun. Such was the personal appearance of Boabdil +el Chico, the last of the Moorish dynasty in Spain. + +"These scrolls of Arabian learning," said Boabdil to himself, "what do +they teach? to despise wealth and power, to hold the heart to be the +true empire. This, then, is wisdom. Yet, if I follow these maxims, am I +wise? alas! the whole world would call me a driveller and a madman. Thus +is it ever; the wisdom of the Intellect fills us with precepts which it +is the wisdom of Action to despise. O Holy Prophet! what fools men would +be, if their knavery did not eclipse their folly!" + +The young king listlessly threw himself back on his cushions as he +uttered these words, too philosophical for a king whose crown sate so +loosely on his brow. + +After a few moments of thought that appeared to dissatisfy and disquiet +him, Boabdil again turned impatiently round "My soul wants the bath of +music," said he; "these journeys into a pathless realm have wearied it, +and the streams of sound supple and relax the travailed pilgrim." + +He clapped his hands, and from one of the arcades a boy, hitherto +invisible, started into sight; at a slight and scarce perceptible sign +from the king the boy again vanished, and in a few moments afterwards, +glancing through the fairy pillars, and by the glittering waterfalls, +came the small and twinkling feet of the maids of Araby. As, with +their transparent tunics and white arms, they gleamed, without an echo, +through that cool and voluptuous chamber, they might well have seemed +the Peris of the eastern magic, summoned to beguile the sated leisure +of a youthful Solomon. With them came a maiden of more exquisite beauty, +though smaller stature, than the rest, bearing the light Moorish lute; +and a faint and languid smile broke over the beautiful face of Boabdil, +as his eyes rested upon her graceful form and the dark yet glowing +lustre of her oriental countenance. She alone approached the king, +timidly kissed his hand, and then, joining her comrades, commenced +the following song, to the air and very words of which the feet of the +dancing-girls kept time, while with the chorus rang the silver bells of +the musical instrument which each of the dancers carried. + + AMINE'S SONG. + + I. + Softly, oh, softly glide, + Gentle Music, thou silver tide, + Bearing, the lulled air along, + This leaf from the Rose of Song! + To its port in his soul let it float, + The frail, but the fragrant boat, + Bear it, soft Air, along! + + II. + With the burthen of sound we are laden, + Like the bells on the trees of Aden,* + When they thrill with a tinkling tone + At the Wind from the Holy Throne, + Hark, as we move around, + We shake off the buds of sound; + Thy presence, Beloved, is Aden. + + III. + Sweet chime that I hear and wake + I would, for my lov'd one's sake, + That I were a sound like thee, + To the depths of his heart to flee. + If my breath had his senses blest; + If my voice in his heart could rest; + What pleasure to die like thee! + + *[The Mohammedans believe that musical bells hang on the trees of + Paradise, and are put in motion by a wind from the throne of God.] + + +The music ceased; the dancers remained motionless in their graceful +postures, as if arrested into statues of alabaster; and the young +songstress cast herself on a cushion at the feet of the monarch, and +looked up fondly, but silently, into his yet melancholy eyes,--when a +man, whose entrance had not been noticed, was seen to stand within the +chamber. + +He was about the middle stature,--lean, muscular, and strongly though +sparely built. A plain black robe, something in the fashion of the +Armenian gown, hung long and loosely over a tunic of bright scarlet, +girdled by a broad belt, from the centre of which was suspended a small +golden key, while at the left side appeared the jewelled hilt of a +crooked dagger. His features were cast in a larger and grander mould +than was common among the Moors of Spain; the forehead was broad, +massive, and singularly high, and the dark eyes of unusual size and +brilliancy; his beard, short, black, and glossy, curled upward, and +concealed all the lower part of the face, save a firm, compressed, and +resolute expression in the lips, which were large and full; the nose +was high, aquiline, and well-shaped; and the whole character of the +head (which was, for symmetry, on too large and gigantic a scale as +proportioned to the form) was indicative of extraordinary energy and +power. At the first glance, the stranger might have seemed scarce on +the borders of middle age; but, on a more careful examination, the deep +lines and wrinkles, marked on the forehead and round the eyes, betrayed +a more advanced period of life. With arms folded on his breast, he stood +by the side of the king, waiting in silence the moment when his presence +should be perceived. + +He did not wait long; the eyes and gesture of the girl nestled at the +feet of Boabdil drew the king's attention to the spot where the stranger +stood: his eye brightened when it fell upon him. + +"Almamen," cried Boabdil, eagerly, "you are welcome." As he spoke, he +motioned to the dancing-girls to withdraw. "May I not rest? O core of my +heart, thy bird is in its home," murmured the songstress at the king's +feet. + +"Sweet Amine," answered Boabdil, tenderly smoothing down her ringlets as +he bent to kiss her brow, "you should witness only my hours of delight. +Toil and business have nought with thee; I will join thee ere yet the +nightingale hymns his last music to the moon." Amine sighed, rose, and +vanished with her companions. + +"My friend," said the king, when alone with Almamen, "your counsels +often soothe me into quiet, yet in such hours quiet is a crime. But what +do?--how struggle?--how act? Alas! at the hour of his birth, rightly +did they affix to the name of Boabdil, the epithet of _El Zogoybi_. [The +Unlucky]. Misfortune set upon my brow her dark and fated stamp ere yet +my lips could shape a prayer against her power. My fierce father, whose +frown was as the frown of Azrael, hated me in my cradle; in my youth +my name was invoked by rebels against my will; imprisoned by my father, +with the poison-bowl or the dagger hourly before my eyes, I was saved +only by the artifice of my mother. When age and infirmity broke the +iron sceptre of the king, my claims to the throne were set aside, and +my uncle, El Zagal, usurped my birthright. Amidst open war and secret +treason I wrestled for my crown; and now, the sole sovereign of +Granada, when, as I fondly imagined, my uncle had lost all claim on +the affections of my people by succumbing to the Christian king, and +accepting a fief under his dominion, I find that the very crime of El +Zagal is fixed upon me by my unhappy subjects--that they deem he would +not have yielded but for my supineness. At the moment of my delivery +from my rival, I am received with execration by my subjects, and, driven +into this my fortress of the Alhambra, dare not venture to head my +armies, or to face my people; yet am I called weak and irresolute, when +strength and courage are forbid me. And as the water glides from yonder +rock, that hath no power to retain it, I see the tide of empire welling +from my hands." + +The young king spoke warmly and bitterly; and, in the irritation of his +thoughts, strode, while he spoke, with rapid and irregular strides along +the chamber. Almamen marked his emotion with an eye and lip of rigid +composure. + +"Light of the faithful," said he, when Boabdil had concluded, "the +powers above never doom man to perpetual sorrow, nor perpetual joy: +the cloud and the sunshine are alike essential to the heaven of our +destinies; and if thou hast suffered in thy youth, thou hast exhausted +the calamities of fate, and thy manhood will be glorious, and thine age +serene." + +"Thou speakest as if the armies of Ferdinand were not already around my +walls," said Boabdil, impatiently. + +"The armies of Sennacherib were as mighty," answered Almamen. + +"Wise seer," returned the king, in a tone half sarcastic and half +solemn, "we, the Mussulmans of Spain, are not the blind fanatics of the +Eastern world. On us have fallen the lights of philosophy and science; +and if the more clear-sighted among us yet outwardly reverence the forms +and fables worshipped by the multitude, it is from the wisdom of policy, +not the folly of belief. Talk not to me, then, of thine examples of the +ancient and elder creeds: the agents of God for this world are now, +at least, in men, not angels; and if I wait till Ferdinand share the +destiny of Sennacherib, I wait only till the Standard of the Cross wave +above the Vermilion Towers." + +"Yet," said Almamen, "while my lord the king rejects the fanaticism of +belief, doth he reject the fanaticism of persecution? You disbelieve +the stories of the Hebrews; yet you suffer the Hebrews themselves, that +ancient and kindred Arabian race, to be ground to the dust, condemned +and tortured by your judges, your informers, your soldiers, and your +subjects." + +"The base misers! they deserve their fate," answered Boabdil, loftily. +"Gold is their god, and the market-place their country; amidst the tears +and groans of nations, they sympathise only with the rise and fall of +trade; and, the thieves of the universe! while their hand is against +every man's coffer, why wonder that they provoke the hand of every man +against their throats? Worse than the tribe of Hanifa, who eat their +god only in time of famine;--[The tribe of Hanifa worshipped a lump of +dough]--the race of Moisa--[Moses]--would sell the Seven Heavens for +the dent on the back of the date-stone."--[A proverb used in the Koran, +signifying the smallest possible trifle]. + +"Your laws leave them no ambition but that of avarice," replied Almamen; +"and as the plant will crook and distort its trunk, to raise its +head through every obstacle to the sun, so the mind of man twists and +perverts itself, if legitimate openings are denied it, to find its +natural element in the gale of power, or the sunshine of esteem. These +Hebrews were not traffickers and misers in their own sacred land when +they routed your ancestors, the Arab armies of old; and gnawed the flesh +from their bones in famine, rather than yield a weaker city than Granada +to a mightier force than the holiday lords of Spain. Let this pass. My +lord rejects the belief in the agencies of the angels; doth he still +retain belief in the wisdom of mortal men?" + +"Yes!" returned Boabdil, quickly; "for of the one I know nought; of +the other, mine own senses can be the judge. Almamen, my fiery kinsman, +Muza, hath this evening been with me. He hath urged me to reject the +fears of my people, which chain my panting spirit within these walls; he +hath urged me to gird on yonder shield and cimiter, and to appear in the +Vivarrambla, at the head of the nobles of Granada. My heart leaps high +at the thought! and if I cannot live, at least I will die--a king!" + +"It is nobly spoken," said Almamen, coldly. + +"You approve, then, my design?" + +"The friends of the king cannot approve the ambition of the king to +die." + +"Ha!" said Boabdil, in an altered voice, "thou thinkest, then, that I am +doomed to perish in this struggle?" + +"As the hour shall be chosen, wilt thou fall or triumph." + +"And that hour?" + +"Is not yet come." + +"Dost thou read the hour in the stars?" + +"Let Moorish seers cultivate that frantic credulity: thy servant sees +but in the stars worlds mightier than this little earth, whose light +would neither wane nor wink, if earth itself were swept from the +infinities of space." + +"Mysterious man!" said Boabdil; "whence, then, is thy power?--whence thy +knowledge of the future?" + +Almamen approached the king, as he now stood by the open balcony. + +"Behold!" said he, pointing to the waters of the Darro--"yonder stream +is of an element in which man cannot live nor breathe: above, in the +thin and impalpable air, our steps cannot find a footing, the armies of +all earth cannot build an empire. And yet, by the exercise of a little +art, the fishes and the birds, the inhabitants of the air and the water, +minister to our most humble wants, the most common of our enjoyments; +so it is with the true science of enchantment. Thinkest thou that, while +the petty surface of the world is crowded with living things, there is +no life in the vast centre within the earth, and the immense ether that +surrounds it? As the fisherman snares his prey, as the fowler entraps +the bird, so, by the art and genius of our human mind, we may thrall +and command the subtler beings of realms and elements which our material +bodies cannot enter--our gross senses cannot survey. This, then, is my +lore. Of other worlds know I nought; but of the things of this world, +whether men, or, as your legends term them, ghouls and genii, I have +learned something. To the future, I myself am blind; but I can invoke +and conjure up those whose eyes are more piercing, whose natures are +more gifted." + +"Prove to me thy power," said Boabdil, awed less by the words than by +the thrilling voice and the impressive aspect of the enchanter. + +"Is not the king's will my law?" answered Almamen; "be his will obeyed. +To-morrow night I await thee." + +"Where?" + +Almamen paused a moment, and then whispered a sentence in the king's +ear: Boabdil started, and turned pale. + +"A fearful spot!" + +"So is the Alhambra itself, great Boabdil; while Ferdinand is without +the walls and Muza within the city." + +"Muza! Darest thou mistrust my bravest warrior?" + +"What wise king will trust the idol of the king's army? Did Boabdil fall +to-morrow by a chance javelin, in the field, whom would the nobles and +the warriors place upon his throne? Doth it require an enchanter's lore +to whisper to thy heart the answer in the name of 'Muza'?" + +"Oh, wretched state! oh, miserable king!" exclaimed Boabdil, in a tone +of great anguish. "I never had a father. I have now no people; a little +while, and I shall have no country. Am I never to have a friend?" + +"A friend! what king ever had?" returned Almamen, drily. + +"Away, man--away!" cried Boabdil, as the impatient spirit of his rank +and race shot dangerous fire from his eyes; "your cold and bloodless +wisdom freezes up all the veins of my manhood! Glory, confidence, human +sympathy, and feeling--your counsels annihilate them all. Leave me! I +would be alone." + +"We meet to-morrow, at midnight, mighty Boabdil," said Almamen, with his +usual unmoved and passionless tones. "May the king live for ever." + +The king turned; but his monitor had already disappeared. He went as he +came--noiseless and sudden as a ghost. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE LOVERS. + +When Muza parted from Almamen, he bent his steps towards the hill that +rises opposite the ascent crowned with the towers of the Alhambra; +the sides and summit of which eminence were tenanted by the luxurious +population of the city. He selected the more private and secluded +paths; and, half way up the hill, arrived, at last, before a low wall +of considerable extent, which girded the gardens of some wealthier +inhabitant of the city. He looked long and anxiously round; all was +solitary; nor was the stillness broken, save as an occasional breeze, +from the snowy heights of the Sierra Nevada, rustled the fragrant leaves +of the citron and pomegranate; or as the silver tinkling of waterfalls +chimed melodiously within the gardens. The Moor's heart beat high: a +moment more, and he had scaled the wall; and found himself upon a green +sward, variegated by the rich colours of many a sleeping flower, and +shaded by groves and alleys of luxuriant foliage and golden fruits. + +It was not long before he stood beside a house that seemed of a +construction anterior to the Moorish dynasty. It was built over low +cloisters formed by heavy and timeworn pillars, concealed, for the most +part by a profusion of roses and creeping shrubs: the lattices above +the cloisters opened upon large gilded balconies, the super-addition +of Moriscan taste. In one only of the casements a lamp was visible; the +rest of the mansion was dark, as if, save in that chamber, sleep kept +watch over the inmates. It was to this window that the Moor stole; +and, after a moment's pause, he murmured rather than sang, so low and +whispered was his voice, the following simple verses, slightly varied +from an old Arabian poet:-- + + Light of my soul, arise, arise! + Thy sister lights are in the skies; + We want thine eyes, + Thy joyous eyes; + The Night is mourning for thine eyes! + The sacred verse is on my sword, + But on my heart thy name + The words on each alike adored; + The truth of each the same, + The same!--alas! too well I feel + The heart is truer than the steel! + Light of my soul! upon me shine; + Night wakes her stars to envy mine. + Those eyes of thine, + Wild eyes of thine, + What stars are like those eyes of thine? + +As he concluded, the lattice softly opened; and a female form appeared +on the balcony. + +"Ah, Leila!" said the Moor, "I see thee, and I am blessed!" + +"Hush!" answered Leila; "speak low, nor tarry long I fear that our +interviews are suspected; and this," she added in a trembling voice, +"may perhaps be the last time we shall meet." + +"Holy Prophet!" exclaimed Muza, passionately, "what do I hear? Why this +mystery? why cannot I learn thine origin, thy rank, thy parents? Think +you, beautiful Leila, that Granada holds a rouse lofty enough to disdain +the alliance with Muza Ben Abil Gazan? and oh!" he added (sinking the +haughty tones of his voice into accents of the softest tenderness), +"if not too high to scorn me, what should war against our loves and our +bridals? For worn equally on my heart were the flower of thy sweet self, +whether the mountain top or the valley gave birth to the odour and the +bloom." + +"Alas!" answered Leila, weeping, "the mystery thou complainest of is as +dark to myself as thee. How often have I told thee that I know nothing +of my birth or childish fortunes, save a dim memory of a more distant +and burning clime; where, amidst sands and wastes, springs the +everlasting cedar, and the camel grazes on stunted herbage withering +in the fiery air? Then, it seemed to me that I had a mother: fond eyes +looked on me, and soft songs hushed me into sleep." + +"Thy mother's soul has passed into mine," said the Moor, tenderly. + +Leila continued:--"Borne hither, I passed from childhood into youth +within these walls. Slaves ministered to my slightest wish; and those +who have seen both state and poverty, which I have not, tell me that +treasures and splendour, that might glad a monarch, are prodigalised +around me: but of ties and kindred know I little: my father, a stern and +silent man, visits me but rarely--sometimes months pass, and I see him +not; but I feel he loves me; and, till I knew thee, Muza, my brightest +hours were in listening to the footsteps and flying to the arms of that +solitary friend." + +"Know you not his name?" + +"Nor, I nor any one of the household; save perhaps Ximen, the chief of +the slaves, an old and withered man, whose very eye chills me into fear +and silence." + +"Strange!" said the Moor, musingly; "yet why think you our love is +discovered, or can be thwarted?" + +"Hush! Ximen sought me this day: 'Maiden,' said he, 'men's footsteps +have been tracked within the gardens; if your sire know this, you will +have looked your last on Granada. Learn,' he added, in a softer voice, +as he saw me tremble, 'that permission were easier given to thee to wed +the wild tiger than to mate with the loftiest noble of Morisca! Beware!' +He spoke, and left me. O Muza!" she continued, passionately wringing her +hands, "my heart sinks within me, and omen and doom rise dark before my +sight!" + +"By my father's head, these obstacles but fire my love, and I would +scale to thy possession, though every step in the ladder were the +corpses of a hundred foes!" + +Scarcely had the fiery and high-souled Moor uttered his boast, than, +from some unseen hand amidst the groves, a javelin whirred past him, +and as the air it raised came sharp upon his cheek, half buried its +quivering shaft in the trunk of a tree behind him. + +"Fly, fly, and save thyself! O God, protect him!" cried Leila; and she +vanished within the chamber. + +The Moor did not wait the result of a deadlier aim; he turned; yet, in +the instinct of his fierce nature, not from, but against, the foe; his +drawn scimitar in his hand, the half-suppressed cry of wrath trembling +on his lips, he sprang forward in the direction the javelin had sped. +With eyes accustomed to the ambuscades of Moorish warfare, he searched +eagerly, yet warily through the dark and sighing foliage. No sign of +life met his gaze; and at length, grimly and reluctantly, he retraced +his steps, and quitted the demesnes; but just as he had cleared the +wall, a voice--low, but sharp and shrill--came from the gardens. + +"Thou art spared," it said, "but, haply, for a more miserable doom!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + +The chamber into which Leila retreated bore out the character she had +given of the interior of her home. The fashion of its ornament and +decoration was foreign to that adopted by the Moors of Granada. It had +a more massive and, if we may use the term, Egyptian gorgeousness. +The walls were covered with the stuffs of the East, stiff with gold, +embroidered upon ground of the deepest purple; strange characters, +apparently in some foreign tongue, were wrought in the tesselated +cornices and on the heavy ceiling, which was supported by square +pillars, round which were twisted serpents of gold and enamel, with +eyes to which enormous emeralds gave a green and lifelike glare: various +scrolls and musical instruments lay scattered upon marble tables: and +a solitary lamp of burnished silver cast a dim and subdued light around +the chamber. The effect of the whole, though splendid, was gloomy, +strange, and oppressive, and rather suited to the thick and cave-like +architecture which of old protected the inhabitants of Thebes and +Memphis from the rays of the African sun, than to the transparent heaven +and light pavilions of the graceful orientals of Granada. + +Leila stood within this chamber, pale and breathless, with her lips +apart, her hands clasped, her very soul in her ears; nor was it possible +to conceive a more perfect ideal of some delicate and brilliant Peri, +captured in the palace of a hostile and gloomy Genius. Her form was of +the lightest shape consistent with the roundness of womanly beauty; and +there was something in it of that elastic and fawnlike grace which a +sculptor seeks to embody in his dreams of a being more aerial than those +of earth. Her luxuriant hair was dark indeed, but a purple and glossy +hue redeemed it from that heaviness of shade too common in the tresses +of the Asiatics; and her complexion, naturally pale but clear and +lustrous, would have been deemed fair even in the north. Her features, +slightly aquiline, were formed in the rarest mould of symmetry, and her +full rich lips disclosed teeth that might have shamed the pearl. But +the chief charm of that exquisite countenance was in an expression of +softness and purity, and intellectual sentiment, that seldom accompanies +that cast of loveliness, and was wholly foreign to the voluptuous and +dreamy languor of Moorish maidens; Leila had been educated, and the +statue had received a soul. + +After a few minutes of intense suspense, she again stole to the lattice, +gently unclosed it, and looked forth. Far, through an opening amidst the +trees, she descried for a single moment the erect and stately figure of +her lover, darkening the moonshine on the sward, as now, quitting his +fruitless search, he turned his lingering gaze towards the lattice of +his beloved: the thick and interlacing foliage quickly hid him from +her eyes; but Leila had seen enough--she turned within, and said, as +grateful tears trickled clown her cheeks, and she sank on her knees upon +the piled cushions of the chamber: "God of my fathers! I bless Thee--he +is safe!" + +"And yet (she added, as a painful thought crossed her), how may I pray +for him? we kneel not to the same Divinity; and I have been taught to +loathe and shudder at his creed! Alas! how will this end? Fatal was the +hour when he first beheld me in yonder gardens; more fatal still the +hour in which he crossed the barrier, and told Leila that she was +beloved by the hero whose arm was the shelter, whose name is the +blessing, of Granada. Ah, me! Ah, me!" + +The young maiden covered her face with her hands, and sank into a +passionate reverie, broken only by her sobs. Some time had passed in +this undisturbed indulgence of her grief, when the arras was gently +put aside, and a man, of remarkable garb and mien, advanced into the +chamber, pausing as he beheld her dejected attitude, and gazing on her +with a look on which pity and tenderness seemed to struggle against +habitual severity and sternness. + +"Leila!" said the intruder. + +Leila started, and and a deep blush suffused her countenance; she dashed +the tears from her eyes, and came forward with a vain attempt to smile. + +"My father, welcome!" + +The stranger seated himself on the cushions, and motioned Leila to his +side. + +"These tears are fresh upon thy cheek," said he, gravely; "they are the +witness of thy race! our daughters are born to weep, and our sons to +groan! ashes are on the head of the mighty, and the Fountains of the +Beautiful run with gall! Oh that we could but struggle--that we could +but dare--that we could raise up, our heads, and unite against the +bondage of the evil doer! It may not be--but one man shall avenge a +nation!" + +The dark face of Leila's father, well fitted to express powerful +emotion, became terrible in its wrath and passion; his brow and lip +worked convulsively; but the paroxysm was brief; and scarce could she +shudder at its intensity ere it had subsided into calm. + +"Enough of these thoughts, which thou, a woman and a child, art not +formed to witness. Leila, thou hast been nurtured with tenderness, and +schooled with care. Harsh and unloving may I have seemed to thee, but I +would have shed the best drops of my heart to have saved thy young years +from a single pang. Nay, listen to me silently. That thou mightest +one day be worthy of thy race, and that thine hours might not pass +in indolent and weary lassitude, thou hast been taught lessons of +a knowledge rarely to thy sex. Not thine the lascivious arts of the +Moorish maidens; not thine their harlot songs, and their dances of lewd +delight; thy delicate limbs were but taught the attitude that Nature +dedicates to the worship of a God, and the music of thy voice was tuned +to the songs of thy fallen country, sad with the memory of her wrongs, +animated with the names of her heroes, with the solemnity of her +prayers. These scrolls, and the lessons of our seers, have imparted to +thee such of our science and our history as may fit thy mind to aspire, +and thy heart to feel for a sacred cause. Thou listenest to me, Leila?" + +Perplexed and wondering, for never before had her father addressed her +in such a strain, the maiden answered with an earnestness of manner +that seemed to content the questioner; and he resumed, with an altered, +hollow, solemn voice: + +"Then curse the persecutors. Daughter of the great Hebrew race, arise +and curse the Moorish taskmaster and spoiler!" + +As he spoke, the adjuror himself rose, lifting his right hand on high; +while his left touched the shoulder of the maiden. But she, after gazing +a moment in wild and terrified amazement upon his face, fell cowering +at his knees; and, clasping them imploringly, exclaimed in scarce +articulate murmurs: + +"Oh, spare me! spare me!" + +The Hebrew, for such he was, surveyed her, as she thus quailed at his +feet, with a look of rage and scorn: his hand wandered to his poniard, +he half unsheathed it, thrust it back with a muttered curse, and then, +deliberately drawing it forth, cast it on the ground beside her. + +"Degenerate girl!" he said, in accents that vainly struggled for calm, +"if thou hast admitted to thy heart one unworthy thought towards a +Moorish infidel, dig deep and root it out, even with the knife, and to +the death--so wilt thou save this hand from that degrading task." + +He drew himself hastily from her grasp, and left the unfortunate girl +alone and senseless. + + + + +CHAPTER V. AMBITION DISTORTED INTO VICE BY LAW. + +On descending a broad flight of stairs from the apartment, the Hebrew +encountered an old man, habited in loose garments of silk and fur, +upon whose withered and wrinkled face life seemed scarcely to struggle +against the advance of death--so haggard, wan, and corpse-like was its +aspect. + +"Ximen," said the Israelite, "trusty and beloved servant, follow me to +the cavern." He did not tarry for an answer, but continued his way with +rapid strides through various courts and alleys, till he came at length +into a narrow, dark, and damp gallery, that seemed cut from the living +rock. At its entrance was a strong grate, which gave way to the Hebrew's +touch upon the spring, though the united strength of a hundred men could +not have moved it from its hinge. Taking up a brazen lamp that burnt in +a niche within it, the Hebrew paused impatiently till the feeble steps +of the old man reached the spot; and then, reclosing the grate, pursued +his winding way for a considerable distance, till he stopped suddenly by +a part of the rock which seemed in no respect different from the rest: +and so artfully contrived and concealed was the door which he now +opened, and so suddenly did it yield to his hand, that it appeared +literally the effect of enchantment, when the rock yawned, and +discovered a circular cavern, lighted with brazen lamps, and spread with +hangings and cushions of thick furs. Upon rude and seemingly natural +pillars of rock, various antique and rusty arms were suspended; in +large niches were deposited scrolls, clasped and bound with iron; and +a profusion of strange and uncouth instruments and machines (in which +modern science might, perhaps, discover the tools of chemical invention) +gave a magical and ominous aspect to the wild abode. + +The Hebrew cast himself on a couch of furs; and, as the old man entered +and closed the door, "Ximen," said he, "fill out wine--it is a soothing +counsellor, and I need it." + +Extracting from one of the recesses of the cavern a flask and goblet, +Ximen offered to his lord a copious draught of the sparkling vintage of +the Vega, which seemed to invigorate and restore him. + +"Old man," said he, concluding the potation with a deep-drawn sigh, +"fill to thyself-drink till thy veins feel young." + +Ximen obeyed the mandate but imperfectly; the wine just touched his +lips, and the goblet was put aside. + +"Ximen," resumed the Israelite, "how many of our race have been +butchered by the avarice of the Moorish kings since first thou didst set +foot within the city?" + +"Three thousand--the number was completed last winter, by the order +of Jusef the vizier; and their goods and coffers are transformed into +shafts and cimiters against the dogs of Galilee." + +"Three thousand--no more! three thousand only! I would the number had +been tripled, for the interest is becoming due!" + +"My brother, and my son, and my grandson, are among the number," said +the old man, and his face grew yet more deathlike. + +"Their monuments shall be in hecatombs of their tyrants. They shall not, +at least, call the Jews niggards in revenge." + +"But pardon me, noble chief of a fallen people; thinkest thou we shall +be less despoiled and trodden under foot by yon haughty and stiff-necked +Nazarenes, than by the Arabian misbelievers?" + +"Accursed, in truth, are both," returned the Hebrew; "but the one +promise more fairly than the other. I have seen this Ferdinand, and his +proud queen; they are pledged to accord us rights and immunities we have +never known before in Europe." + +"And they will not touch our traffic, our gains, our gold?" + +"Out on thee!" cried the fiery Israelite, stamping on the ground. "I +would all the gold of earth were sunk into the everlasting pit! It is +this mean, and miserable, and loathsome leprosy of avarice, that gnaws +away from our whole race the heart, the soul, nay--the very form, +of man! Many a time, when I have seen the lordly features of the +descendants of Solomon and Joshua (features that stamp the nobility of +the eastern world born to mastery and command) sharpened and furrowed by +petty cares,--when I have looked upon the frame of the strong man bowed, +like a crawling reptile, to some huckstering bargainer of silks and +unguents,--and heard the voice, that should be raising the battle-cry, +smoothed into fawning accents of base fear, or yet baser hope,--I have +asked myself, if I am indeed of the blood of Israel! and thanked the +great Jehovah that he hath spared me at least the curse that hath +blasted my brotherhood into usurers and slaves" + +Ximen prudently forbore an answer to enthusiasm which he neither shared +nor understood; but, after a brief silence, turned back the stream of +the conversation. + +"You resolve, then, upon prosecuting vengeance on the Moors, at +whatsoever hazard of the broken faith of these Nazarenes?" + +"Ay, the vapour of human blood hath risen unto heaven, and, collected +into thunder-clouds, hangs over the doomed and guilty city. And now, +Ximen, I have a new cause for hatred to the Moors: the flower that I +have reared and watched, the spoiler hath sought to pluck it from my +hearth. Leila--thou hast guarded her ill, Ximen; and, wert thou not +endeared to me by thy very malice and vices, the rising sun should have +seen thy trunk on the waters of the Darro." + +"My lord," replied Ximen, "if thou, the wisest of our people, canst not +guard a maiden from love, how canst thou see crime in the dull eyes and +numbed senses of a miserable old man?" + +The Israelite did not answer, nor seem to hear this deprecatory +remonstrance. He appeared rather occupied with his own thoughts; and, +speaking to himself, he muttered, "It must be so: the sacrifice is +hard--the danger great; but here, at least, it is more immediate. It +shall be done. Ximen," he continued, speaking aloud; "dost thou feel +assured that even mine own countrymen, mine own tribe, know me not as +one of them? Were my despised birth and religion published, my limbs +would be torn asunder as an impostor; and all the arts of the Cabala +could not save me." + +"Doubt not, great master; none in Granada, save thy faithful Ximen, know +thy secret." + +"So let me dream and hope. And now to my work; for this night must be +spent in toil." + +The Hebrew drew before him some of the strange instruments we have +described; and took from the recesses in the rock several scrolls. +The old man lay at his feet, ready to obey his behests; but, to all +appearance, rigid and motionless as the dead, whom his blanched hues +and shrivelled form resembled. It was, indeed, as the picture of the +enchanter at his work, and the corpse of some man of old, revived from +the grave to minister to his spells, and execute his commands. + +Enough in the preceding conversation has transpired to convince the +reader, that the Hebrew, in whom he has already detected the Almamen of +the Alhambra, was of no character common to his tribe. Of a lineage that +shrouded itself in the darkness of his mysterious people, in their day +of power, and possessed of immense wealth, which threw into poverty the +resources of Gothic princes,--the youth of that remarkable man had been +spent, not in traffic and merchandise but travel and study. + +As a child, his home had been in Granada. He had seen his father +butchered by the late king, Muley Abul Hassan, without other crime than +his reputed riches; and his body literally cut open, to search for the +jewels it was supposed he had swallowed. He saw, and, boy as he was he +vowed revenge. A distant kinsman bore the orphan to lands more secure +from persecution; and the art with which the Jews concealed their +wealth, scattering it over various cities, had secured to Almamen the +treasures the tyrant of Granada had failed to grasp. + +He had visited the greater part of the world then known; and resided for +many years at the court of the sultan of that hoary Egypt, which still +retained its fame for abstruse science and magic lore. He had not in +vain applied himself to such tempting and wild researches; and had +acquired many of those secrets now perhaps lost for ever to the +world. We do not mean to intimate that he attained to what legend and +superstition impose upon our faith as the art of sorcery. He could +neither command the elements nor pierce the veil of the future-scatter +armies with a word, nor pass from spot to spot by the utterance of +a charmed formula. But men who, for ages, had passed their lives in +attempting all the effects that can astonish and awe the vulgar, could +not but learn some secrets which all the more sober wisdom of modern +times would search ineffectually to solve or to revive. And many of +such arts, acquired mechanically (their invention often the work of a +chemical accident), those who attained to them could not always explain, +not account for the phenomena they created, so that the mightiness of +their own deceptions deceived themselves; and they often believed they +were the masters of the Nature to which they were, in reality, but +erratic and wild disciples. Of such was the student in that grim cavern. +He was, in some measure, the dupe, partly of his own bewildered wisdom, +partly of the fervour of an imagination exceedingly high-wrought and +enthusiastic. His own gorgeous vanity intoxicated him: and, if it be an +historical truth that the kings of the ancient world, blinded by their +own power, had moments in which they believed themselves more than +men, it is not incredible that sages, elevated even above kings, should +conceive a frenzy as weak, or, it may be, as sublime: and imagine that +they did not claim in vain the awful dignity with which the faith of the +multitude invested their faculties and gifts. + +But, though the accident of birth, which excluded him from all field for +energy and ambition, had thus directed the powerful mind of Almamen to +contemplation and study, nature had never intended passions so fierce +for the calm, though visionary, pursuits to which he was addicted. +Amidst scrolls and seers, he had pined for action and glory; and, +baffled in all wholesome egress, by the universal exclusion which, in +every land, and from every faith, met the religion he belonged to, the +faculties within him ran riot, producing gigantic but baseless schemes, +which, as one after the other crumbled away, left behind feelings of +dark misanthropy and intense revenge. + +Perhaps, had his religion been prosperous and powerful, he might have +been a sceptic; persecution and affliction made him a fanatic. Yet, true +to that prominent characteristic of the old Hebrew race, which made them +look to a Messiah only as a warrior and a prince, and which taught them +to associate all their hopes and schemes with worldly victories and +power, Almamen desired rather to advance, than to obey, his religion. He +cared little for its precepts, he thought little of its doctrines; but, +night and day, he revolved his schemes for its earthly restoration and +triumph. + +At that time, the Moors in Spain were far more deadly persecutors of the +Jews than the Christians were. Amidst the Spanish cities on the +coast, that merchant tribe had formed commercial connections with +the Christians, sufficiently beneficial, both to individuals and to +communities, to obtain for them, not only toleration, but something of +personal friendship, wherever men bought and sold in the market-place. +And the gloomy fanaticism which afterwards stained the fame of the great +Ferdinand, and introduced the horrors of the Inquisition, had not yet +made it self more than fitfully visible. But the Moors had treated this +unhappy people with a wholesale and relentless barbarity. At Granada, +under the reign of the fierce father of Boabdil,--"that king with the +tiger heart,"--the Jews had been literally placed without the pale of +humanity; and even under the mild and contemplative Boabdil himself, +they had been plundered without mercy, and, if suspected of secreting +their treasures, massacred without scruple; the wants of the state +continued their unrelenting accusers,--their wealth, their inexpiable +crime. + +It was in the midst of these barbarities that Almamen, for the first +time since the day when the death-shriek of his agonised father rang in +his ears, suddenly returned to Granada. He saw the unmitigated miseries +of his brethern, and he remembered and repeated his vow. His name +changed, his kindred dead, none remembered, in the mature Almamen, the +beardless child of Issachar, the Jew. He had long, indeed, deemed it +advisable to disguise his faith; and was known, throughout the African +kingdoms, but as the potent santon, or the wise magician. + +This fame soon lifted him, in Granada, high in the councils of the +court. Admitted to the intimacy of Muley Hassan, with Boabdil, and the +queen mother, he had conspired against that monarch; and had lived, +at least, to avenge his father upon the royal murderer. He was no less +intimate with Boabdil; but steeled against fellowship or affection for +all men out of the pale of his faith, he saw in the confidence of the +king only the blindness of a victim. + +Serpent as he was, he cared not through what mire of treachery and fraud +he trailed his baleful folds, so that, at last, he could spring upon +his prey. Nature had given him sagacity and strength. The curse of +circumstance had humbled, but reconciled him to the dust. He had the +crawl of the reptile,--he had, also, its poison and its fangs. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE LION IN THE NET + +IT was the next night, not long before daybreak, that the King of +Granada abruptly summoned to his council Jusef, his vizier. The old man +found Boabdil in great disorder and excitement; but he almost deemed +his sovereign mad, when he received from him the order to seize upon the +person of Muza Ben Abil Gazan, and to lodge him in the strongest dungeon +of the Vermilion Tower. Presuming upon Boabdil's natural mildness, the +vizier ventured to remonstrate,--to suggest the danger of laying violent +hands upon a chief so beloved,--and to inquire what cause should be +assigned for the outrage. + +The veins swelled like cords upon Boabdil's brow, as he listened to the +vizier; and his answer was short and peremptory. + +"Am I yet a king, that I should fear a subject, or excuse my will? Thou +hast my orders; there are my signet and the firman: obedience or the +bow-string!" + +Never before had Boabdil so resembled his dread father in speech and +air; the vizier trembled to the soles of his feet, and withdrew in +silence. Boabdil watched him depart; and then, clasping his hands in +great emotion, exclaimed, "O lips of the dead! ye have warned me; and to +you I sacrifice the friend of my youth." + +On quitting Boabdil the vizier, taking with him some of those foreign +slaves of a seraglio, who know no sympathy with human passion outside +its walls, bent his way to the palace of Muza, sorely puzzled and +perplexed. He did not, however, like to venture upon the hazard of the +alarm it might occasion throughout the neighbourhood, if he endeavoured, +at so unseasonable an hour, to force an entrance. He resolved, rather, +with his train to wait at a little distance, till, with the growing +dawn, the gates should be unclosed, and the inmates of the palace astir. + +Accordingly, cursing his stars, and wondering at his mission, Jusef, and +his silent and ominous attendants, concealed themselves in a small copse +adjoining the palace, until the daylight fairly broke over the awakened +city. He then passed into the palace; and was conducted to a hall, where +he found the renowned Moslem already astir, and conferring with some +Zegri captains upon the tactics of a sortie designed for that day. + +It was with so evident a reluctance and apprehension that Jusef +approached the prince, that the fierce and quick-sighted Zegris +instantly suspected some evil intention in his visit; and when Muza, in +surprise, yielded to the prayer of the vizier for a private audience, +it was with scowling brows and sparkling eyes that the Moorish warriors +left the darling of the nobles alone with the messenger of their king. + +"By the tomb of the prophet!" said one of the Zegris, as he quitted the +hall, "the timid Boabdil suspects our Ben Abil Gazan. I learned of this +before." + +"Hush!" said another of the band; "let us watch. If the king touch a +hair of Muza's head, Allah have mercy on his sins!" + +Meanwhile, the vizier, in silence, showed to Muza the firman and the +signet; and then, without venturing to announce the place to which he +was commissioned to conduct the prince, besought him to follow at once. +Muza changed colour, but not with fear. + +"Alas!" said he, in a tone of deep sorrow, "can it be that I have fallen +under my royal kinsman's suspicion or displeasure? But no matter; proud +to set to Granada an example of valour in her defence, be it mine to +set, also, an example of obedience to her king. Go on--I will follow +thee. Yet stay, you will have no need of guards; let us depart by a +private egress: the Zegris might misgive, did they see me leave +the palace with you at the very time the army are assembling in the +Vivarrambla, and awaiting my presence. This way." + +Thus saying, Muza, who, fierce as he was, obeyed every impulse that the +oriental loyalty dictated from a subject to a king, passed from the hall +to a small door that admitted into the garden, and in thoughtful silence +accompanied the vizier towards the Alhambra. As they passed the copse in +which Muza, two nights before, had met with Almamen, the Moor, lifting +his head suddenly, beheld fixed upon him the dark eyes of the magician, +as he emerged from the trees. Muza thought there was in those eyes a +malign and hostile exultation; but Almamen, gravely saluting him, passed +on through the grove: the prince did not deign to look back, or he might +once more have encountered that withering gaze. + +"Proud heathen!" muttered Almamen to himself, "thy father filled his +treasuries from the gold of many a tortured Hebrew; and even thou, too +haughty to be the miser, hast been savage enough to play the bigot. Thy +name is a curse in Israel; yet dost thou lust after the daughter of our +despised race, and, could defeated passion sting thee, I were avenged. +Ay, sweep on, with thy stately step and lofty crest-thou goest to +chains, perhaps to death." + +As Almamen thus vented his bitter spirit, the last gleam of the white +robes of Muza vanished from his gaze. He paused a moment, turned away +abruptly, and said, half aloud, "Vengeance, not on one man only, but a +whole race! Now for the Nazarene." + + + + + +BOOK. II. + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE ROYAL TENT OF SPAIN.--THE KING AND THE DOMINICAN--THE VISITOR AND +THE HOSTAGE. + +Our narrative now summons us to the Christian army, and to the tent +in which the Spanish king held nocturnal counsel with some of his more +confidential warriors and advisers. Ferdinand had taken the field with +all the pomp and circumstance of a tournament rather than of a campaign; +and his pavilion literally blazed with purple and cloth of gold. + +The king sat at the head of a table on which were scattered maps and +papers; nor in countenance and mien did that great and politic monarch +seem unworthy of the brilliant chivalry by which he was surrounded. His +black hair, richly perfumed and anointed, fell in long locks on either +side of a high imperial brow, upon whose calm, though not unfurrowed +surface, the physiognomist would in vain have sought to read the +inscrutable heart of kings. His features were regular and majestic: and +his mantle, clasped with a single jewel of rare price and lustre, and +wrought at the breast with a silver cross, waved over a vigorous and +manly frame, which derived from the composed and tranquil dignity of +habitual command that imposing effect which many of the renowned +knights and heroes in his presence took from loftier stature and ampler +proportions. At his right hand sat Prince Juan, his son, in the first +bloom of youth; at his left, the celebrated Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, +Marquess of Cadiz; along the table, in the order of their military rank, +were seen the splendid Duke of Medina Sidonia, equally noble in aspect +and in name; the worn and thoughtful countenance of the Marquess de +Villena (the Bayard of Spain); the melancholy brow of the heroic Alonzo +de Aguilar; and the gigantic frame, the animated features, and sparkling +eyes, of that fiery Hernando del Pulgar, surnamed "the knight of the +exploits." + +"You see, senores," said the king, continuing an address, to which his +chiefs seemed to listen with reverential attention, "our best hope of +speedily gaining the city is rather in the dissensions of the Moors +than our own sacred arms. The walls are strong, the population still +numerous; and under Muza Ben Abil Gazan, the tactics of the hostile army +are, it must be owned, administered with such skill as to threaten very +formidable delays to the period of our conquest. Avoiding the hazard +of a fixed battle, the infidel cavalry harass our camp by perpetual +skirmishes; and in the mountain defiles our detachments cannot cope with +their light horse and treacherous ambuscades. It is true, that by +dint of time, by the complete devastation of the Vega, and by vigilant +prevention of convoys from the seatowns, we might starve the city into +yielding. But, alas! my lords, our enemies are scattered and numerous, +and Granada is not the only place before which the standard of Spain +should be unfurled. Thus situated, the lion does not disdain to serve +himself of the fox; and, fortunately, we have now in Granada an ally +that fights for us. I have actual knowledge of all that passes within +the Alhambra: the king yet remains in his palace, irresolute and +dreaming; and I trust that an intrigue by which his jealousies are +aroused against his general, Muza, may end either in the loss of that +able leader, or in the commotion of open rebellion or civil war. Treason +within Granada will open its gates to us." + +"Sire," said Ponce de Leon, after a pause, "under your counsels, I no +more doubt of seeing our banner float above the Vermilion Towers, than I +doubt the rising of the sun over yonder hills; it matters little whether +we win by stratagem or force. But I need not say to your highness, that +we should carefully beware lest we be amused by inventions of the enemy, +and trust to conspiracies which may be but lying tales to blunt our +sabres, and paralyse our action." + +"Bravely spoken, wise de Leon!" exclaimed Hernando del Pulgar, hotly: +"and against these infidels, aided by the cunning of the Evil One, +methinks our best wisdom lies in the sword-arm. Well says our old +Castilian proverb: + + 'Curse them devoutly, + Hammer them stoutly.'" + +The king smiled slightly at the ardour of the favourite of his army, but +looked round for more deliberate counsel. "Sire," said Villena, "far be +it from us to inquire the grounds upon which your majesty builds +your hope of dissension among the foe; but, placing the most sanguine +confidence in a wisdom never to be deceived, it is clear that we should +relax no energy within our means, but fight while we plot, and seek to +conquer, while we do not neglect to undermine." + +"You speak well, my Lord," said Ferdinand, thoughtfully; "and you +yourself shall head a strong detachment to-morrow, to lay waste +the Vega. Seek me two hours hence; the council for the present is +dissolved." + +The knights rose, and withdrew with the usual grave and stately +ceremonies of respect, which Ferdinand observed to, and exacted from, +his court: the young prince remained. + +"Son," said Ferdinand, when they were alone, "early and betimes should +the Infants of Spain be lessoned in the science of kingcraft. These +nobles are among the brightest jewels of the crown; but still it is +in the crown, and for the crown, that their light should sparkle. +Thou seest how hot, and fierce, and warlike, are the chiefs of +Spain--excellent virtues when manifested against our foes: but had we no +foes, Juan, such virtues might cause us exceeding trouble. By St. +Jago, I have founded a mighty monarchy! observe how it should be +maintained--by science, Juan, by science! and science is as far removed +from brute force as this sword from a crowbar. Thou seemest bewildered +and amazed, my son: thou hast heard that I seek to conquer Granada by +dissensions among the Moors; when Granada is conquered, remember that +the nobles themselves are at Granada. Ave Maria! blessed be the Holy +Mother, under whose eyes are the hearts of kings!" Ferdinand crossed +himself devoutly; and then, rising, drew aside a part of the drapery +of the pavilion, and called; in a low voice, the name of Perez. A grave +Spaniard, somewhat past the verge of middle age, appeared. + +"Perez," said the king, reseating himself, "has the person we expected +from Granada yet arrived?" + +"Sire, yes; accompanied by a maiden." + +"He hath kept his word; admit them. Ha! holy father, thy visits are +always as balsam to the heart." + +"Save you, my son!" returned a man in the robes of a Dominican friar, +who had entered suddenly and without ceremony by another part of the +tent, and who now seated himself with smileless composure at a little +distance from the king. + +There was a dead silence for some moments; and Perez still lingered +within the tent, as if in doubt whether the entrance of the friar would +not prevent or delay obedience to the king's command. On the calm +face of Ferdinand himself appeared a slight shade of discomposure and +irresolution, when the monk thus resumed: + +"My presence, my son, will not, I trust, disturb your conference with +the infidel--since you deem that worldly policy demands your parley with +the men of Belial." + +"Doubtless not--doubtless not," returned the king, quickly: then, +muttering to himself, "how wondrously doth this holy man penetrate into +all our movements and designs!" he added, aloud, "Let the messenger +enter." + +Perez bowed, and withdrew. + +During this time, the young prince reclined in listless silence on his +seat; and on his delicate features was an expression of weariness which +augured but ill of his fitness for the stern business to which the +lessons of his wise father were intended to educate his mind. His, +indeed, was the age, and his the soul, for pleasure; the tumult of the +camp was to him but a holiday exhibition--the march of an army, the +exhilaration of a spectacle; the court as a banquet--the throne, the +best seat at the entertainment. The life of the heir-apparent, to the +life of the king possessive, is as the distinction between enchanting +hope and tiresome satiety. + +The small grey eyes of the friar wandered over each of his royal +companions with a keen and penetrating glance, and then settled in the +aspect of humility on the rich carpets that bespread the floor; nor did +he again lift them till Perez, reappearing, admitted to the tent the +Israelite, Almamen, accompanied by a female figure, whose long veil, +extending from head to foot, could conceal neither the beautiful +proportions nor the trembling agitation, of her frame. + +"When last, great king, I was admitted to thy presence," said Almamen, +"thou didst make question of the sincerity and faith of thy servant; +thou didst ask me for a surety of my faith; thou didst demand a hostage; +and didst refuse further parley without such pledge were yielded to +thee. Lo! I place under thy kingly care this maiden--the sole child of +my house--as surety of my truth; I intrust to thee a life dearer than my +own." + +"You have kept faith with us, stranger," said the king, in that soft and +musical voice which well disguised his deep craft and his unrelenting +will; "and the maiden whom you intrust to our charge shall be ranked +with the ladies of our royal consort." + +"Sire," replied Almamen, with touching earnestness, "you now hold the +power of life and death over all for whom this heart can breathe a +prayer or cherish a hope, save for my countrymen and my religion. This +solemn pledge between thee and me I render up without scruple, without +fear. To thee I give a hostage, from thee I have but a promise." + +"But it is the promise of a king, a Christian, and a knight," said the +king, with dignity rather mild than arrogant; "among monarchs, what +hostage can be more sacred? Let this pass: how proceed affairs in the +rebel city?" + +"May this maiden withdraw, ere I answer my lord the king?" said Almamen. + +The young prince started to his feet. "Shall I conduct this new charge +to my mother?" he asked, in a low voice, addressing Ferdinand. + +The king half smiled: "The holy father were a better guide," he +returned, in the same tone. But, though the Dominican heard the hint, he +retained his motionless posture; and Ferdinand, after a momentary gaze +on the friar, turned away. "Be it so, Juan," said he, with a look meant +to convey caution to the prince; "Perez shall accompany you to the +queen: return the moment your mission is fulfilled--we want your +presence." + +While this conversation was carried on between the father and son, +the Hebrew was whispering, in his sacred tongue, words of comfort and +remonstrance to the maiden; but they appeared to have but little of the +desired effect; and, suddenly falling on his breast, she wound her +arms around the Hebrew, whose breast shook with strong emotions, and +exclaimed passionately, in the same language, "Oh, my father! what have +I done?--why send me from thee?--why intrust thy child to the stranger? +Spare me, spare me!" + +"Child of my heart!" returned the Hebrew, with solemn but tender +accents, "even as Abraham offered up his son, must I offer thee, upon +the altars of our faith; but, O Leila! even as the angel of the Lord +forbade the offering, so shall thy youth be spared, and thy years +reserved for the glory of generations yet unborn. King of Spain!" +he continued in the Spanish tongue, suddenly and eagerly, "you are a +father, forgive my weakness, and speed this parting." + +Juan approached; and with respectful courtesy attempted to take the hand +of the maiden. + +"You?" said the Israelite, with a dark frown. "O king! the prince is +young." + +"Honour knoweth no distinction of age," answered the king. "What ho, +Perez! accompany this maiden and the prince to the queen's pavilion." + +The sight of the sober years and grave countenance of the attendant +seemed to re-assure the Hebrew. He strained Leila in his arms; printed a +kiss upon her forehead without removing her veil; and then, placing her +almost in the arms of Perez, turned away to the further end of the tent, +and concealed his face with his hands. The king appeared touched; but +the Dominican gazed upon the whole scene with a sour scowl. + +Leila still paused for a moment; and then, as if recovering her +self-possession, said, aloud and distinctly,--"Man deserts me; but +I will not forget that God is over all." Shaking off the hand of the +Spaniard, she continued, "Lead on; I follow thee!" and left the tent +with a steady and even majestic step. + +"And now," said the king, when alone with the Dominican and Almamen, +"how proceed our hopes?" + +"Boabdil," replied the Israelite, "is aroused against both his army +and their leader, Muza; the king will not quit the Alhambra; and this +morning, ere I left the city, Muza himself was in the prisons of the +palace." + +"How!" cried the king, starting from his seat. + +"This is my work," pursued the Hebrew coldly. "It is these hands that +are shaping for Ferdinand of Spain the keys of Granada." + +"And right kingly shall be your guerdon," said the Spanish monarch: +"meanwhile, accept this earnest of our favour." So saying, he took from +his breast a chain of massive gold, the links of which were curiously +inwrought with gems, and extended it to the Israelite. Almamen moved +not. A dark flush upon his countenance bespoke the feelings he with +difficulty restrained. + +"I sell not my foes for gold, great king," said he, with a stern smile: +"I sell my foes to buy the ransom of my friends." + +"Churlish!" said Ferdinand, offended: "but speak on, man, speak on!" + +"If I place Granada, ere two weeks are past, within thy power, what +shall be my reward?" + +"Thou didst talk to me, when last we met, of immunities to the Jews." + +The calm Dominican looked up as the king spoke, crossed himself, and +resumed his attitude of humility. + +"I demand for the people of Israel," returned Almamen, "free leave to +trade and abide within the city, and follow their callings, subjected +only to the same laws and the same imposts as the Christian population." + +"The same laws, and the same imposts! Humph! there are difficulties in +the concession. If we refuse?" + +"Our treaty is ended. Give me back the maiden--you will have no further +need of the hostage you demanded: I return to the city, and renew our +interviews no more." + +Politic and cold-blooded as was the temperament of the great Ferdinand, +he had yet the imperious and haughty nature of a prosperous and +long-descended king; and he bit his lip in deep displeasure at the tone +of the dictatorial and stately stranger. + +"Thou usest plain language, my friend," said he; "my words can be as +rudely spoken. Thou art in my power, and canst return not, save at my +permission." + +"I have your royal word, sire, for free entrance and safe egress," +answered Almamen. "Break it, and Granada is with the Moors till the +Darro runs red with the blood of her heroes, and her people strew the +vales as the leaves in autumn." + +"Art thou then thyself of the Jewish faith?" asked the king. "If thou +art not, wherefore are the outcasts of the world so dear to thee?" + +"My fathers were of that creed, royal Ferdinand; and if I myself desert +their creed, I do not desert their cause. O king! are my terms scorned +or accepted?" + +"I accept them: provided, first, that thou obtainest the exile or death +of Muza; secondly, that within two weeks of this date thou bringest me, +along with the chief councillors of Granada, the written treaty of the +capitulation, and the keys of the city. Do this: and though the sole +king in Christendom who dares the hazard, I offer to the Israelites +throughout Andalusia the common laws and rights of citizens of Spain; +and to thee I will accord such dignity as may content thy ambition." + +The Hebrew bowed reverently, and drew from his breast a scroll, which +he placed on the table before the king. "This writing, mighty Ferdinand, +contains the articles of our compact." + +"How, knave! wouldst thou have us commit our royal signature to +conditions with such as thou art, to the chance of the public eye? The +king's word is the king's bond!" + +The Hebrew took up the scroll with imperturbable composure, "My child!" +said he; "will your majesty summon back my child? we would depart." + +"A sturdy mendicant this, by the Virgin!" muttered the king; and then, +speaking aloud, "Give me the paper, I will scan it." + +Running his eyes hastily over the words, Ferdinand paused a moment, and +then drew towards him the implements of writing, signed the scroll, and +returned it to Almamen. + +The Israelite kissed it thrice with oriental veneration, and replaced it +in his breast. + +Ferdinand looked at him hard and curiously. He was a profound reader of +men's characters; but that of his guest baffled and perplexed him. + +"And how, stranger," said he, gravely,--"how can I trust that man who +thus distrusts one king and sells another?" + +"O king!" replied Almamen (accustomed from his youth to commune with and +command the possessors of thrones yet more absolute),--"O king! if thou +believest me actuated by personal and selfish interests in this our +compact, thou has but to make, my service minister to my interest, and +the lore of human nature will tell thee that thou hast won a ready and +submissive slave. But if thou thinkest I have avowed sentiments less +abject, and developed qualities higher than those of the mere bargainer +for sordid power, oughtest thou not to rejoice that chance has thrown +into thy way one whose intellect and faculties may be made thy tool? If +I betray another, that other is my deadly foe. Dost not thou, the lord +of armies, betray thine enemy? The Moor is an enemy bitterer to myself +than to thee. Because I betray an enemy, am I unworthy to serve a +friend? If I, a single man, and a stranger to the Moor, can yet command +the secrets of palaces, and render vain the counsels of armed men, have +I not in that attested that I am one of whom a wise king can make an +able servant?" + +"Thou art a subtle reasoner, my friend," said Ferdinand, smiling gently. +"Peace go with thee! our conference for the time is ended. What ho, +Perez!" The attendant appeared. + +"Thou hast left the maiden with the queen?" + +"Sire, you have been obeyed." + +"Conduct this stranger to the guard who led him through the camp. He +quits us under the same protection. Farewell! yet stay--thou art assured +that Muza Ben Abil Gazan is in the prisons of the Moor?" + +"Yes." + +"Blessed be the Virgin!" + +"Thou hast heard our conference, Father Tomas?" said the king, +anxiously, when the Hebrew had withdrawn. + +"I have, son." + +"Did thy veins freeze with horror?" + +"Only when my son signed the scroll. It seemed to me then that I saw the +cloven foot of the tempter." + +"Tush, father, the tempter would have been more wise than to reckon upon +a faith which no ink and no parchment can render valid, if the Church +absolve the compact. Thou understandest me, father?" + +"I do. I know your pious heart and well-judging mind." + +"Thou wert right," resumed the king, musingly, "when thou didst tell +us that these caitiff Jews were waxing strong in the fatness of their +substance. They would have equal laws--the insolent blasphemers!" + +"Son!" said the Dominican, with earnest adjuration, "God, who has +prospered your arms and councils, will require at your hands an account +of the power intrusted to you. Shall there be no difference between His +friends and His foes--His disciples and His crucifiers?" + +"Priest," said the king, laying his hand on the monk's shoulder, and +with a saturnine smile upon his countenance, "were religion silent in +this matter, policy has a voice loud enough to make itself heard. The +Jews demand equal rights; when men demand equality with their masters, +treason is at work, and justice sharpens her sword. Equality! these +wealthy usurers! Sacred Virgin! they would be soon buying up our +kingdoms." + +The Dominican gazed hard on the king. "Son, I trust thee," he said, in a +low voice, and glided from the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE AMBUSH, THE STRIFE, AND THE CAPTURE. + +The dawn was slowly breaking over the wide valley of Granada, as Almamen +pursued his circuitous and solitary path back to the city. He was now in +a dark and entangled hollow, covered with brakes and bushes, from +amidst which tall forest trees rose in frequent intervals, gloomy and +breathless in the still morning air. As, emerging from this jungle, if +so it may be called, the towers of Granada gleamed upon him, a human +countenance peered from the shade; and Almamen started to see two dark +eyes fixed upon his own. + +He halted abruptly, and put his hand on his dagger, when a low sharp +whistle from the apparition before him was answered around--behind; and, +ere he could draw breath, the Israelite was begirt by a group of Moors, +in the garb of peasants. + +"Well, my masters," said Almamen, calmly, as he encountered the wild +savage countenances that glared upon him, "think you there is aught to +fear from the solitary santon?" + +"It is the magician," whispered one man to his neighbour--"let him +pass." + +"Nay," was the answer, "take him before the captain; we have orders to +seize upon all we meet." + +This counsel prevailed; and gnashing his teeth with secret rage, Almamen +found himself hurried along by the peasants through the thickest part of +the copse. At length, the procession stopped in a semicircular patch of +rank sward, in which several head of cattle were quietly grazing, and a +yet more numerous troop of peasants reclined around upon the grass. + +"Whom have we here?" asked a voice which startled back the dark blood +from Almamen's cheek; and a Moor of commanding presence rose from the +midst of his brethren. "By the beard of the prophet, it is the false +santon! What dost thou from Granada at this hour?" + +"Noble Muza," returned Almamen--who, though indeed amazed that one whom +he had imagined his victim was thus unaccountably become his judge, +retained, at least, the semblance of composure--"my answer is to be +given only to my lord the king; it is his commands that I obey." + +"Thou art aware," said Muza, frowning, "that thy life is forfeited +without appeal? Whatsoever inmate of Granada is found without the walls +between sunrise and sunset, dies the death of a traitor and deserter." + +"The servants of the Alhambra are excepted," answered the Israelite, +without changing countenance. + +"Ah!" muttered Muza, as a painful and sudden thought seemed to cross +him, "can it be possible that the rumour of the city has truth, and that +the monarch of Granada is in treaty with the foe?" He mused a little; +and then, motioning the Moors to withdraw, he continued aloud, "Almamen, +answer me truly: hast thou sought the Christian camp with any message +from the king?" + +"I have not." + +"Art thou without the walls on the mission of the king?" + +"If I be so, I am a traitor to the king should I reveal his secret." + +"I doubt thee much, santon," said Muza, after a pause; "I know thee for +my enemy, and I do believe thy counsels have poisoned the king's ear +against me, his people and his duties. But no matter, thy life is spared +a while; thou remainest with us, and with us shalt thou return to the +king." + +"But, noble Muza----" + +"I have said! Guard the santon; mount him upon one of our chargers; he +shall abide with us in our ambush." While Almamen chafed in vain at his +arrest, all in the Christian camp was yet still. At length, as the sun +began to lift himself above the mountains, first a murmur, and then a +din, betokened warlike preparations. Several parties of horse, under +gallant and experienced leaders, formed themselves in different +quarters, and departed in different ways, on expeditions of forage, or +in the hope of skirmish with the straggling detachments of the enemy. Of +these, the best equipped, was conducted by the Marquess de Villena, and +his gallant brother Don Alonzo de Pacheco. In this troop, too, rode many +of the best blood of Spain; for in that chivalric army, the officers +vied with each other who should most eclipse the meaner soldiery in +feats of personal valour; and the name of Villena drew around him +the eager and ardent spirits that pined at the general inactivity of +Ferdinand's politic campaign. + +The sun, now high in heaven, glittered on the splendid arms and gorgeous +pennons of Villena's company, as, leaving the camp behind, it entered a +rich and wooded district that skirts the mountain barrier of the +Vega. The brilliancy of the day, the beauty of the scene, the hope and +excitement of enterprise, animated the spirits of the whole party. +In these expeditions strict discipline was often abandoned, from the +certainty that it could be resumed at need. Conversation, gay and loud, +interspersed at times with snatches of song, was heard amongst the +soldiery; and in the nobler group that rode with Villena, there was even +less of the proverbial gravity of Spaniards. + +"Now, marquess," said Don Estevon de Suzon, "what wager shall be between +us as to which lance this day robs Moorish beauty of the greatest number +of its worshippers?" + +"My falchion against your jennet," said Don Alonzo de Pacheco, taking up +the challenge. + +"Agreed. But, talking of beauty, were you in the queen's pavilion last +night, noble marquess? it was enriched by a new maiden, whose strange +and sudden apparition none can account for. Her eyes would have eclipsed +the fatal glance of Cava; and had I been Rodrigo, I might have lost a +crown for her smile." + +"Ay," said Villena, "I heard of her beauty; some hostage from one of the +traitor Moors, with whom the king (the saints bless him!) bargains for +the city. They tell me the prince incurred the queen's grave rebuke for +his attentions to the maiden." + +"And this morning I saw that fearful Father Tomas steal into the +prince's tent. I wish Don Juan well through the lecture. The monk's +advice is like the algarroba;--[The algarroba is a sort of leguminous +plant common in Spain]--when it is laid up to dry it may be reasonably +wholesome, but it is harsh and bitter enough when taken fresh." + +At this moment one of the subaltern officers rode up to the marquess, +and whispered in his ear. + +"Ha!" said Villena, "the Virgin be praised! Sir knights, booty is at +hand. Silence! close the ranks." With that, mounting a little eminence, +and shading his eyes with his hand, the marquess surveyed the plain +below; and, at some distance, he beheld a horde of Moorish peasants +driving some cattle into a thick copse. The word was hastily given, the +troop dashed on, every voice was hushed, and the clatter of mail, and +the sound of hoofs, alone broke the delicious silence of the noon-day +landscape. + +Ere they reached the copse, the peasants had disappeared within it. The +marquess marshalled his men in a semicircle round the trees, and sent +on a detachment to the rear, to cut off every egress from the wood. This +done the troop dashed within. For the first few yards the space was more +open than they had anticipated: but the ground soon grew uneven, rugged, +and almost precipitous, and the soil, and the interlaced trees, alike +forbade any rapid motion to the horse. Don Alonzo de Pacheco, mounted +on a charger whose agile and docile limbs had been tutored to every +description of warfare, and himself of light weight and incomparable +horsemanship--dashed on before the rest. The trees hid him for a moment; +when suddenly, a wild yell was heard, and as it ceased uprose the +solitary voice of the Spaniard, shouting, "_Santiago, y cierra_, Espana; +St. Jago, and charge, Spain!" + +Each cavalier spurred forward; when suddenly, a shower of darts and +arrows rattled on their armour; and upsprung from bush and reeds, and +rocky clift, a number of Moors, and with wild shouts swarmed around the +Spaniards. + +"Back for your lives!" cried Villena; "we are beset--make for the level +ground!" + +He turned-spurred from the thicket, and saw the Paynim foe emerging +through the glen, line after line of man and horse; each Moor leading +his slight and fiery steed by the bridle, and leaping on it as he issued +from the wood into the plain. Cased in complete mail, his visor down, +his lance in its rest, Villena (accompanied by such of his knights as +could disentangle themselves from the Moorish foot) charged upon the +foe. A moment of fierce shock passed: on the ground lay many a Moor, +pierced through by the Christian lance; and on the other side of the foe +was heard the voice of Villena--"St. Jago to the rescue!" But the brave +marquess stood almost alone, save his faithful chamberlain, Solier. +Several of his knights were dismounted, and swarms of Moors, with lifted +knives, gathered round them as they lay, searching for the joints of the +armour, which might admit a mortal wound. Gradually, one by one, many of +Villena's comrades joined their leader, and now the green mantle of +Don Alonzo de Pacheco was seen waving without the copse, and Villena +congratulated himself on the safety of his brother. Just at that moment, +a Moorish cavalier spurred from his troop, and met Pacheco in full +career. The Moor was not clad, as was the common custom of the Paynim +nobles, in the heavy Christian armour. He wore the light flexile mail of +the ancient heroes of Araby or Fez. His turban, which was protected by +chains of the finest steel interwoven with the folds, was of the most +dazzling white--white, also, were his tunic and short mantle; on his +left arm hung a short circular shield, in his right hand was poised +a long and slender lance. As this Moor, mounted on a charger in whose +raven hue not a white hair could be detected, dashed forward against +Pacheco, both Christian and Moor breathed hard, and remained passive. +Either nation felt it as a sacrilege to thwart the encounter of +champions so renowned. + +"God save my brave brother!" muttered Villena, anxiously. "Amen," said +those around him; for all who had ever witnessed the wildest valour in +that war, trembled as they recognised the dazzling robe and coal-black +charger of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. Nor was that renowned infidel mated with +an unworthy foe. "Pride of the tournament, and terror of the war," was +the favourite title which the knights and ladies of Castile had bestowed +on Don Alonzo de Pacheco. + +When the Spaniard saw the redoubted Moor approach, he halted abruptly +for a moment, and then, wheeling his horse around, took a wider circuit, +to give additional impetus to his charge. The Moor, aware of his +purpose, halted also, and awaited the moment of his rush; when once +more he darted forward, and the combatants met with a skill which called +forth a cry of involuntary applause from the Christians themselves. +Muza received on the small surface of his shield the ponderous spear +of Alonzo, while his own light lance struck upon the helmet of the +Christian, and by the exactness of the aim rather than the weight of the +blow, made Alonzo reel in his saddle. + +The lances were thrown aside--the long broad falchion of the Christian, +the curved Damascus cimiter of the Moor, gleamed in the air. They reined +their chargers opposite each other in grave and deliberate silence. + +"Yield thee, sir knight!" at length cried the fierce Moor, "for the +motto on my cimiter declares that if thou meetest its stroke, thy +days are numbered. The sword of the believer is the Key of Heaven and +Hell."--[Such, says Sale, is the poetical phrase of the Mohammedan +divines.] + +"False Paynim," answered Alonzo, in a voice that rung hollow through his +helmet, "a Christian knight is the equal of a Moorish army!" + +Muza made no reply, but left the rein of his charger on his neck; the +noble animal understood the signal, and with a short impatient cry +rushed forward at full speed. Alonzo met the charge with his falchion +upraised, and his whole body covered with his shield; the Moor bent--the +Spaniards raised a shout--Muza seemed stricken from his horse. But the +blow of the heavy falchion had not touched him: and, seemingly without +an effort, the curved blade of his own cimiter, gliding by that part +of his antagonist's throat where the helmet joins the cuirass, passed +unresistingly and silently through the joints; and Alonzo fell at once, +and without a groan, from his horse--his armour, to all appearance, +unpenetrated, while the blood oozed slow and gurgling from a mortal +wound. + +"Allah il Allah!" shouted Muza, as he joined his friends; "Lelilies! +Lelilies!" echoed the Moors; and ere the Christians recovered their +dismay, they were engaged hand to hand with their ferocious and swarming +foes. It was, indeed, fearful odds; and it was a marvel to the Spaniards +how the Moors had been enabled to harbour and conceal their numbers in +so small a space. Horse and foot alike beset the company of Villena, +already sadly reduced; and while the infantry, with desperate and savage +fierceness, thrust themselves under the very bellies of the chargers, +encountering both the hoofs of the steed and the deadly lance of the +rider, in the hope of finding a vulnerable place for the sharp Moorish +knife,--the horsemen, avoiding the stern grapple of the Spaniard +warriors, harrassed them by the shaft and lance,--now advancing, now +retreating, and performing, with incredible rapidity, the evolutions of +Oriental cavalry. But the life and soul of his party was the indomitable +Muza. With a rashness which seemed to the superstitious Spaniards like +the safety of a man protected by magic, he spurred his ominous +black barb into the very midst of the serried phalanx which Villena +endeavoured to form around him, breaking the order by his single charge, +and from time to time bringing to the dust some champion of the troop by +the noiseless and scarce-seen edge of his fatal cimiter. + +Villena, in despair alike of fame and life, and gnawed with grief for +his brother's loss, at length resolved to put the last hope of the +battle on his single arm. He gave the signal for retreat; and to protect +his troop, remained himself, alone and motionless, on his horse, like +a statue of iron. Though not of large frame, he was esteemed the best +swordsman, next only to Hernando del Pulgar and Gonsalvo de Cordova, in +the army; practised alike in the heavy assault of the Christian warfare, +and the rapid and dexterous exercise of the Moorish cavalry. There +he remained, alone and grim--a lion at bay--while his troops slowly +retreated down the Vega, and their trumpets sounded loud signals of +distress, and demands for succour, to such of their companions as might +be within bearing. Villena's armour defied the shafts of the Moors; and +as one after one darted towards him, with whirling cimiter and momentary +assault, few escaped with impunity from an eye equally quick and a +weapon more than equally formidable. Suddenly, a cloud of dust swept +towards him; and Muza, a moment before at the further end of the field, +came glittering through that cloud, with his white robe waving and his +right arm bare. Villena recognised him, set his teeth hard, and putting +spurs to his charger, met the rush. Muza swerved aside, just as the +heavy falchion swung over his head, and by a back stroke of his own +cimiter, shore through the cuirass just above the hip-joint, and the +blood followed the blade. The brave cavaliers saw the danger of their +chief; three of their number darted forward, and came in time to +separate the combatants. + +Muza stayed not to encounter the new reinforcement; but speeding across +the plain, was soon seen rallying his own scattered cavalry, and +pouring them down, in one general body, upon the scanty remnant of the +Spaniards. + +"Our day is come!" said the good knight Villena, with bitter +resignation. "Nothing is left for us, my friends, but to give up our +lives--an example how Spanish warriors should live and die. May God and +the Holy Mother forgive our sins and shorten our purgatory!" + +Just as he spoke, a clarion was heard at a distance and the sharpened +senses of the knights caught the ring of advancing hoofs. + +"We are saved!" cried Estevon de Suzon, rising on his stirrups. While +he spoke, the dashing stream of the Moorish horse broke over the little +band; and Estevon beheld bent upon himself the dark eyes and quivering +lip of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. That noble knight had never, perhaps, till +then known fear; but he felt his heart stand still, as he now stood +opposed to that irresistible foe. + +"The dark fiend guides his blade!" thought De Suzon; "but I was shriven +but yestermorn." The thought restored his wonted courage; and he spurred +on to meet the cimiter of the Moor. + +His assault took Muza by surprise. The Moor's horse stumbled over the +ground, cumbered with the dead and slippery with blood, and his uplifted +cimiter could not do more than break the force of the gigantic arm of De +Suzon; as the knight's falchion bearing down the cimiter, and alighting +on the turban of the Mohammedan, clove midway through its folds, +arrested only by the admirable temper of the links of steel which +protected it. The shock hurled the Moor to the ground. He rolled under +the saddle-girths of his antagonist. + +"Victory and St. Jago!" cried the knight, "Muza is--" + +The sentence was left eternally unfinished. The blade of the fallen Moor +had already pierced De Suzoii's horse through a mortal but undefended +part. It fell, bearing his rider with him. A moment, and the two +champions lay together grappling in the dust; in the next, the short +knife which the Moor wore in his girdle had penetrated the Christian's +visor, passing through the brain. + +To remount his steed, that remained at band, humbled and motionless, +to appear again amongst the thickest of the fray, was a work no less +rapidly accomplished than had been the slaughter of the unhappy Estevon +de Suzon. But now the fortune of the day was stopped in a progress +hitherto so triumphant to the Moors. + +Pricking fast over the plain were seen the glittering horsemen of the +Christian reinforcements; and, at the remoter distance, the royal banner +of Spain, indistinctly descried through volumes of dust, denoted that +Ferdinand himself was advancing to the support of his cavaliers. + +The Moors, however, who had themselves received many and mysterious +reinforcements, which seemed to spring up like magic from the bosom of +the earth--so suddenly and unexpectedly had they emerged from copse +and cleft in that mountainous and entangled neighbourhood--were not +unprepared for a fresh foe. At the command of the vigilant Muza, they +drew off, fell into order, and, seizing, while yet there was time, the +vantage-ground which inequalities of the soil and the shelter of the +trees gave to their darts and agile horse, they presented an array which +Ponce de Leon himself, who now arrived, deemed it more prudent not to +assault. While Villena, in accents almost inarticulate with rage, was +urging the Marquess of Cadiz to advance, Ferdinand, surrounded by the +flower of his court, arrived at the rear of the troops and after a few +words interchanged with Ponce de Leon, gave the signal to retreat. + +When the Moors beheld that noble soldiery slowly breaking ground, and +retiring towards the camp, even Muza could not control their ardour. +They rushed forward, harassing the retreat of the Christians, and +delaying the battle by various skirmishes. + +It was at this time that the headlong valour of Hernando del Pulgar, who +had arrived with Ponce de Leon, distinguished itself in feats which yet +live in the songs of Spain. Mounted upon an immense steed, and himself +of colossal strength, he was seen charging alone upon the assailants, +and scattering numbers to the ground with the sweep of his enormous +two-handed falchion. With a loud voice, he called on Muza to oppose him; +but the Moor, fatigued with slaughter, and scarcely recovered from the +shock of his encounter with De Suzon, reserved so formidable a foe for a +future contest. + +It was at this juncture, while the field was covered with straggling +skirmishers, that a small party of Spaniards, in cutting their way to +the main body of their countrymen through one of the numerous copses +held by the enemy, fell in at the outskirt with an equal number of +Moors, and engaged them in a desperate conflict, hand to hand. Amidst +the infidels was one man who took no part in the affray: at a little +distance, he gazed for a few moments upon the fierce and relentless +slaughter of Moor and Christian with a smile of stern and complacent +delight; and then taking advantage of the general confusion, rode +gently, and, as he hoped, unobserved, away from the scene. But he was +not destined so quietly to escape. A Spaniard perceived him, and, from +something strange and unusual in his garb, judged him one of the Moorish +leaders; and presently Almamen, for it was he, beheld before him the +uplifted falchion of a foe neither disposed to give quarter nor to +hear parley. Brave though the Israelite was, many reasons concurred to +prevent his taking a personal part against the soldier of Spain; and +seeing he should have no chance of explanation, he fairly puts spurs to +his horse, and galloped across the plain. The Spaniard followed, gained +upon him, and Almamen at length turned, in despair and the wrath of his +haughty nature. + +"Have thy will, fool!" said he, between his grinded teeth, as he griped +his dagger and prepared for the conflict. It was long and obstinate, for +the Spaniard was skilful; and the Hebrew wearing no mail, and without +any weapon more formidable than a sharp and well-tempered dagger, was +forced to act cautiously on the defensive. At length the combatants +grappled, and, by a dexterous thrust, the short blade of Almamen pierced +the throat of his antagonist, who fell prostrate to the ground. + +"I am safe," he thought, as he wheeled round his horse; when lo! +the Spaniards he had just left behind, and who had now routed their +antagonists, were upon him. + +"Yield, or die!" cried the leader of the troop. + +Almamen glared round; no succour was at hand. "I am not your enemy," +said he, sullenly, throwing down his weapon--"bear me to your camp." + +A trooper seized his rein, and, scouring along, the Spaniards soon +reached the retreating army. + +Meanwhile the evening darkened, the shout and the roar grew gradually +less loud and loud---the battle had ceased--the stragglers had joined +their several standards and, by the light of the first star, the +Moorish force, bearing their wounded brethren, and elated with success, +re-entered the gates of Granada, as the black charger of the hero of +the day, closing the rear of the cavalry, disappeared within the gloomy +portals. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE HERO IN THE POWER OF THE DREAMER. + +It was in the same chamber, and nearly at the same hour, in which +we first presented to the reader Boabdil el Chico, that we are again +admitted to the presence of that ill-starred monarch. He was not alone. +His favourite slave, Amine, reclined upon the ottomans, gazing with +anxious love upon his thoughtful countenance, as he leant against the +glittering wall by the side of the casement, gazing abstractedly on the +scene below. + +From afar he heard the shouts of the populace at the return of Muza, and +bursts of artillery confirmed the tidings of triumph which had already +been borne to his ear. + +"May the king live for ever!" said Amine, timidly; "his armies have gone +forth to conquer." + +"But without their king," replied Boabdil, bitterly, "and headed by a +traitor and a foe. I am meshed in the nets of an inextricable fate!" + +"Oh!" said the slave, with sudden energy, as, clasping her hands, she +rose from her couch,--"oh, my lord, would that these humble lips dared +utter other words than those of love!" + +"And what wise counsel would they give me?" asked Boabdil with a faint +smile. "Speak on." + +"I will obey thee, then, even if it displease," cried Amine; and +she rose, her cheek glowing, her eyes spark ling, her beautiful form +dilated. "I am a daughter of Granada; I am the beloved of a king; I will +be true to my birth and to my fortunes. Boabdil el Chico, the last of +a line of heroes, shake off these gloomy fantasies--these doubts and +dreams that smother the fire of a great nature and a kingly soul! +Awake--arise--rob Granada of her Muza--be thyself her Muza! Trustest +thou to magic and to spells? then grave them on they breastplate, write +them on thy sword, and live no longer the Dreamer of the Alhambra; +become the saviour of thy people!" + +Boabdil turned, and gazed on the inspired and beautiful form before him +with mingled emotions of surprise and shame. "Out of the mouth of woman +cometh my rebuke!" said he sadly. "It is well!" + +"Pardon me, pardon me!" said the slave, falling humbly at his knees; +"but blame me not that I would have thee worthy of thyself. Wert thou +not happier, was not thy heart more light and thy hope more strong when, +at the head of thine armies, thine own cimiter slew thine own foes, and +the terror of the Hero-king spread, in flame and slaughter, from the +mountains to the seas. Boabdil! dear as thou art to me-equally as I +would have loved thee hadst thou been born a lowly fisherman of the +Darro, since thou art a king, I would have thee die a king; even if my +own heart broke as I armed thee for thy latest battle!" + +"Thou knowest not what thou sayest, Amine," said Boabdil, "nor canst +thou tell what spirits that are not of earth dictate to the actions and +watch over the destinies, of the rulers of nations. If I delay, if I +linger, it is not from terror, but from wisdom. The cloud must gather +on, dark and slow, ere the moment for the thunderbolt arrives." + +"On thine own house will the thunderbolt fall, since over thine own +house thou sufferest the cloud to gather," said a calm and stern voice. + +Boabdil started; and in the chamber stood a third person, in the shape +of a woman, past middle age, and of commanding port and stature. Upon +her long-descending robes of embroidered purple were thickly woven +jewels of royal price, and her dark hair, slightly tinged with grey, +parted over a majestic brow while a small diadem surmounted the folds of +the turban. + +"My mother!" said Boabdil, with some haughty reserve in his tone; "your +presence is unexpected." + +"Ay," answered Ayxa la Horra, for it was indeed that celebrated, and +haughty, and high-souled queen, "and unwelcome; so is ever that of your +true friends. But not thus unwelcome was the presence of your mother, +when her brain and her hand delivered you from the dungeon in which your +stern father had cast your youth, and the dagger and the bowl seemed the +only keys that would unlock the cell." + +"And better hadst thou left the ill-omened son that thy womb conceived, +to die thus in youth, honoured and lamented, than to live to manhood, +wrestling against an evil star and a relentless fate." + +"Son," said the queen, gazing upon him with lofty and half disdainful +compassion, "men's conduct shapes out their own fortunes, and the +unlucky are never the valiant and the wise." + +"Madam," said Boabdil, colouring with passion, "I am still a king, nor +will I be thus bearded--withdraw!" + +Ere the queen could reply, a eunuch entered, and whispered Boabdil. + +"Ha!" said he, joyfully, stamping his foot, "comes he then to brave the +lion in his den? Let the rebel look to it. Is he alone?" + +"Alone, great king." + +"Bid my guards wait without; let the slightest signal summon them. +Amine, retire! Madam--" + +"Son!" interrupted Ayxa la Horra in visible agitation, "do I guess +aright? is the brave Muza--the sole bulwark and hope of Granada--whom +unjustly thou wouldst last night have placed in chains--(chains! Great +Prophet! is it thus a king should reward his heroes)--is, I say, Muza +here? and wilt thou make him the victim of his own generous trust?" + +"Retire, woman?" said Boabdil, sullenly. + +"I will not, save by force! I resisted a fiercer soul than thine when I +saved thee from thy father." + +"Remain, then, if thou wilt, and learn how kings can punish traitors. +Mesnour, admit the hero of Granada." Amine had vanished. Boabdil seated +himself on the cushions his face calm but pale. The queen stood erect +at a little distance, her arms folded on her breast, and her aspect knit +and resolute. In a few moments Muza entered alone. He approached the +king with the profound salutation of oriental obeisance; and then stood +before him with downcast eyes, in an attitude from which respect could +not divorce a natural dignity and pride of mien. + +"Prince," said Boabdil, after a moment's pause, "yestermorn, when I +sent for thee thou didst brave my orders. Even in mine own Alhambra thy +minions broke out in mutiny; they surrounded the fortress in which thou +wert to wait my pleasure; they intercepted, they insulted, they drove +back my guards; they stormed the towers protected by the banner of +thy king. The governor, a coward or a traitor, rendered thee to the +rebellious crowd. Was this all? No, by the Prophet! Thou, by right my +captive, didst leave thy prison but to head mine armies. And this day, +the traitor subject--the secret foe--was the leader of a people who defy +a king. This night thou comest to me unsought. Thou feelest secure from +my just wrath, even in my palace. Thine insolence blinds and betrays +thee. Man, thou art in my power! Ho, there!" + +As the king spoke, he rose; and, presently, the arcades at the back of +the pavilion were darkened by long lines of the Ethiopian guard, each of +height which, beside the slight Moorish race, appeared gigantic; stolid +and passionless machines, to execute, without thought, the bloodiest +or the slightest caprice of despotism. There they stood; their silver +breastplates and long earrings contrasting their dusky skins; and +bearing, over their shoulders, immense clubs studded with brazen nails. + +A little advanced from the rest, stood the captain, with the fatal +bowstring hanging carelessly on his arm, and his eyes intent to catch +the slightest gesture of the king. "Behold!" said Boabdil to his +prisoner. + +"I do; and am prepared for what I have foreseen." The queen grew pale, +but continued silent. + +Muza resumed-- + +"Lord of the faithful!" said he, "if yestermorn I had acted otherwise, +it would have been to the ruin of thy throne and our common race. The +fierce Zegris suspected and learned my capture. They summoned the troops +they delivered me, it is true. At that time had I reasoned with them, it +would have been as drops upon a flame. They were bent on besieging thy +palace, perhaps upon demanding thy abdication. I could not stifle their +fury, but I could direct it. In the moment of passion, I led them from +rebellion against our common king to victory against our common foe. +That duty done, I come unscathed from the sword of the Christian to bare +my neck to the bowstring of my friend. Alone, untracked, unsuspected, I +have entered thy palace to prove to the sovereign of Granada, that +the defendant of his throne is not a rebel to his will. Now summon the +guards--I have done." + +"Muza!" said Boabdil, in a softened voice, while he shaded his face with +his hand, "we played together as children, and I have loved thee well: +my kingdom even now, perchance, is passing from me, but I could almost +be reconciled to that loss, if I thought thy loyalty had not left me." + +"Dost thou, in truth, suspect the faith of Muza Ben Abil Gazan?" said +the Moorish prince, in a tone of surprise and sorrow. "Unhappy king! I +deemed that my services, and not my defection, made my crime." + +"Why do my people hate me? why do my armies menace?" said Boabdil, +evasively; "why should a subject possess that allegiance which a king +cannot obtain?" + +"Because," replied Muza, boldly, "the king has delegated to a subject +the command he should himself assume. Oh, Boabdil!" he continued, +passionately--"friend of my boyhood, ere the evil days came upon +us,--gladly would I sink to rest beneath the dark waves of yonder river, +if thy arm and brain would fill up my place amongst the warriors of +Granada. And think not I say this only from our boyish love; think not +I have placed my life in thy hands only from that servile loyalty to a +single man, which the false chivalry of Christendom imposes as a sacred +creed upon its knights and nobles. But I speak and act but from one +principle--to save the religion of, my father and the land of my birth: +for this I have risked my life against the foe; for this I surrender my +life to the sovereign of my country. Granada may yet survive, if monarch +and people unite together. Granada is lost for ever, if her children, at +this fatal hour, are divided against themselves. If, then, I, O Boabdil! +am the true obstacle to thy league with thine own subjects, give me at +once to the bowstring, and my sole prayer shall be for the last remnant +of the Moorish name, and the last monarch of the Moorish dynasty." + +"My son, my son! art thou convinced at last?" cried the queen, +struggling with her tears; for she was one who wept easily at heroic +sentiments, but never at the softer sorrows, or from the more womanly +emotions. + +Boabdil lifted his head with a vain and momentary attempt at pride; +his eye glanced from his mother to his friend, and his better feelings +gushed upon him with irresistible force; he threw himself into Muza's +arms. + +"Forgive me," he said, in broken accents, "forgive me! How could I have +wronged thee thus? Yes," he continued, as he started from the noble +breast on which for a moment he indulged no ungenerous weakness,--"yes, +prince, your example shames, but it fires me. Granada henceforth shall +have two chieftains; and if I be jealous of thee, it shall be from an +emulation thou canst not blame. Guards, retire. Mesnour! ho, Mesnour! +Proclaim at daybreak that I myself will review the troops in the +Vivarrambla. Yet"--and, as he spoke his voice faltered, and his brow +became overcast, "yet stay, seek me thyself at daybreak, and I will give +thee my commands." + +"Oh, my son! why hesitate?" cried the queen, "why waver? Prosecute thine +own kingly designs, and--" + +"Hush, madam," said Boabdil, regaining his customary cold composure; +"and since you are now satisfied with your son, leave me alone with +Muza." + +The queen sighed heavily; but there was something in the calm of Boabdil +which chilled and awed her more than his bursts of passion. She drew her +veil around her, and passed slowly and reluctantly from the chamber. + +"Muza," said Boabdil, when alone with the prince, and fixing his large +and thoughtful eyes upon the dark orbs of his companion,--"when, in +our younger days, we conversed together, do you remember how often that +converse turned upon those solemn and mysterious themes to which the +sages of our ancestral land directed their deepest lore; the enigmas +of the stars--the science of fate--the wild searches into the +clouded future, which hides the destines of nations and of men? Thou +rememberest, Muza, that to such studies mine own vicissitudes and +sorrows, even in childhood--the strange fortunes which gave me in my +cradle the epithet of El Zogoybi--the ominous predictions of santons +and astrologers as to the trials of my earthly fate,--all contributed to +incline my soul. Thou didst not despise those earnest musings, nor our +ancestral lore, though, unlike me, ever more inclined to action than +to contemplation, that which thou mightest believe had little influence +upon what thou didst design. With me it hath been otherwise; every event +of life hath conspired to feed my early prepossessions; and, in this +awful crisis of my fate, I have placed myself and my throne rather under +the guardianship of spirits than of men. This alone has reconciled me to +inaction--to the torpor of the Alhambra--to the mutinies of my people. +I have smiled, when foes surround and friends deserted me, secure of +the aid at last--if I bided but the fortunate hour--of the charms of +protecting spirits, and the swords of the invisible creation. Thou +wonderest what this should lead to. Listen! Two nights since (and the +king shuddered) I was with the dead! My father appeared before me--not +as I knew him in life--gaunt and terrible, full of the vigour of health, +and the strength of kingly empire, and of fierce passion--but wan, calm, +shadowy. From lips on which Azrael had set his livid seal, he bade me +beware of thee!" + +The king ceased suddenly; and sought to read on the face of Muza the +effect his words produced. But the proud and swarthy features of the +Moor evinced no pang of conscience; a slight smile of pity might have +crossed his lip for a moment, but it vanished ere the king could detect +it. Boabdil continued: + +"Under the influence of this warning, I issued the order for thy arrest. +Let this pass--I resume my tale. I attempted to throw myself at the +spectre's feet--it glided from me, motionless and impalpable. I asked +the Dead One if he forgave his unhappy son the sin of rebellion alas! +too well requited even upon earth. And the voice again came forth, and +bade me keep the crown that I had gained, as the sole atonement for the +past. Then again I asked, whether the hour for action had arrived! and +the spectre, while it faded gradually into air, answered, 'No!' 'Oh!' +I exclaimed, 'ere thou leavest me, be one sign accorded me, that I have +not dreamt this vision; and give me, I pray thee, note and warning, +when the evil star of Boabdil shall withhold its influence, and he may +strike, without resistance from the Powers above, for his glory and his +throne.' 'The sign and the warning are bequeathed thee,' answered the +ghostly image. It vanished,--thick darkness fell around; and, when once +more the light of the lamps we bore became visible, behold there stood +before me a skeleton, in the regal robe of the kings of Granada, and +on its grisly head was the imperial diadem. With one hand raised, it +pointed to the opposite wall, wherein burned, like an orb of gloomy +fire, a broad dial-plate, on which were graven these words, BEWARE--FEAR +NOT--ARM! The finger of the dial moved rapidly round, and rested at the +word beware. From that hour to the one in which I last beheld it, it +hath not moved. Muza, the tale is done; wilt thou visit with me this +enchanted chamber, and see if the hour be come?" + +"Commander of the faithful," said Muza, "the story is dread and awful. +But pardon thy friend--wert thou alone, or was the santon Almamen thy +companion?" + +"Why the question?" said Boabdil, evasively, and slightly colouring. + +"I fear his truth," answered Muza; "the Christian king conquers more +foes by craft than force; and his spies are more deadly than his +warriors. Wherefore this caution against me, but (pardon me) for thine +own undoing? Were I a traitor, could Ferdinand himself have endangered +thy crown so imminently as the revenge of the leader of thine own +armies? Why, too, this desire to keep thee inactive? For the brave every +hour hath its chances; but, for us, every hour increases our peril. If +we seize not the present time,--our supplies are cut off,--and famine is +a foe all our valour cannot resist. This dervise--who is he? a stranger, +not of our race and blood. But this morning I found him without the +walls, not far from the Spaniard's camp." + +"Ha!" cried the king, quickly, "and what said he?" + +"Little, but in hints; sheltering himself, by loose hints, under thy +name." + +"He! what dared he own?--Muza, what were those hints?" + +The Moor here recounted the interview with Almamen, his detention, his +inactivity in the battle, and his subsequent capture by the Spaniards. +The king listened attentively, and regained his composure. + +"It is a strange and awful man," said he after a pause. "Guards and +chains will not detain him. Ere long he will return. But thou, at least, +Muza, are henceforth free, alike from the suspicion of the living +and the warnings of the dead. No, my friend," continued Boabdil, with +generous warmth, "it is better to lose a crown, to lose life itself, +than confidence in a heart like thine. Come, let us inspect this magic +tablet; perchance--and how my heart bounds as I utter the hope!--the +hour may have arrived." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. A FULLER VIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF BOABDIL.--MUZA IN THE GARDENS OF HIS +BELOVED. + +Muza Ben Abil Gazan returned from his visit to Boabdil with a thoughtful +and depressed spirit. His arguments had failed to induce the king to +disdain the command of the magic dial, which still forbade him to +arm against the invaders; and although the royal favour was no longer +withdrawn from himself, the Moor felt that such favour hung upon a +capricious and uncertain tenure so long as his sovereign was the slave +of superstition or imposture. But that noble warrior, whose character +the adversity of his country had singularly exalted and refined, even +while increasing its natural fierceness, thought little of himself in +comparison with the evils and misfortunes which the king's continued +irresolution must bring upon Granada. + +"So brave, and yet so weak," thought he; "so weak, and yet so obstinate; +so wise a reasoner, yet so credulous a dupe! Unhappy Boabdil! the stars, +indeed, seem to fight against thee, and their influences at thy birth +marred all thy gifts and virtues with counteracting infirmity and +error." + +Muza,--more perhaps than any subject in Granada,--did justice to the +real character of the king; but even he was unable to penetrate all its +complicated and latent mysteries. Boabdil el Chico was no ordinary man; +his affections were warm and generous, his nature calm and gentle; and, +though early power, and the painful experience of a mutinous people and +ungrateful court, had imparted to that nature an irascibility of temper +and a quickness of suspicion foreign to its earlier soil, he was easily +led back to generosity and justice; and, if warm in resentment, was +magnanimous in forgiveness. Deeply accomplished in all the learning +of his race and time, he was--in books, at least--a philosopher; and, +indeed, his attachment to the abstruser studies was one of the main +causes which unfitted him for his present station. But it was the +circumstances attendant on his birth and childhood that had perverted +his keen and graceful intellect to morbid indulgence in mystic +reveries, and all the doubt, fear, and irresolution of a man who pushes +metaphysics into the supernatural world. Dark prophecies accumulated +omens over his head; men united in considering him born to disastrous +destinies. Whenever he had sought to wrestle against hostile +circumstances, some seemingly accidental cause, sudden and unforeseen, +had blasted the labours of his most vigorous energy,--the fruit of his +most deliberate wisdom. Thus, by degrees a gloomy and despairing cloud +settled over his mind; but, secretly sceptical of the Mohammedan creed, +and too proud and sanguine to resign himself wholly and passively to the +doctrine of inevitable predestination, he sought to contend against +the machinations of hostile demons and boding stars, not by human but +spiritual agencies. Collecting around him the seers and magicians +of orient-fanaticism, he lived in the visions of another world; and, +flattered by the promises of impostors or dreamers, and deceived by his +own subtle and brooding tendencies of mind, it was amongst spells and +cabala that he thought to draw forth the mighty secret which was to free +him from the meshes of the preternatural enemies of his fortune, and +leave him the freedom of other men to wrestle, with equal chances, +against peril and adversities. It was thus, that Almamen had won the +mastery over his mind; and, though upon matters of common and earthly +import, or solid learning, Boabdil could contend with sages, upon those +of superstition he could be fooled by a child. He was, in this, a kind +of Hamlet: formed, under prosperous and serene fortunes, to render +blessings and reap renown; but over whom the chilling shadow of another +world had fallen--whose soul curdled back into itself--whose life had +been separated from that of the herd--whom doubts and awe drew back, +while circumstances impelled onward--whom a supernatural doom invested +with a peculiar philosophy, not of human effect and cause--and who, with +every gift that could ennoble and adorn, was suddenly palsied into that +mortal imbecility, which is almost ever the result of mortal visitings +into the haunted regions of the Ghostly and Unknown. The gloomier +colourings of his mind had been deepened, too, by secret remorse. For +the preservation of his own life, constantly threatened by his unnatural +predecessor, he had been early driven into rebellion against his father. +In age, infirmity, and blindness, that fierce king had been made a +prisoner at Salobrena by his brother, El Zagal, Boabdil's partner in +rebellion; and dying suddenly, El Zagal was suspected of his murder. +Though Boabdil was innocent of such a crime, he felt himself guilty +of the causes which led to it; and a dark memory, resting upon his +conscience, served to augment his superstition and enervate the vigour +of his resolves; for, of all things that make men dreamers, none is so +effectual as remorse operating upon a thoughtful temperament. + +Revolving the character of his sovereign, and sadly foreboding the ruin +of his country, the young hero of Granada pursued his way, until his +steps, almost unconsciously, led him towards the abode of Leila. He +scaled the walls of the garden as before--he neared the house. All +was silent and deserted; his signal was unanswered--his murmured song +brought no grateful light to the lattice, no fairy footstep to the +balcony. Dejected, and sad of heart, he retired from the spot; and, +returning home, sought a couch, to which even all the fatigue and +excitement he had undergone, could not win the forgetfulness of slumber. +The mystery that wrapt the maiden of his homage, the rareness of their +interviews, and the wild and poetical romance that made a very principle +of the chivalry of the Spanish Moors, had imparted to Muza's love for +Leila a passionate depth, which, at this day, and in more enervated +climes, is unknown to the Mohammedan lover. His keenest inquiries had +been unable to pierce the secret of her birth and station. Little of the +inmates of that guarded and lonely house was known in the neighbourhood; +the only one ever seen without its walls was an old man of the Jewish +faith, supposed to be a superintendent of the foreign slaves (for no +Mohammedan slave would have been subjected to the insult of submission +to a Jew); and though there were rumours of the vast wealth and gorgeous +luxury within the mansion, it was supposed the abode of some Moorish +emir absent from the city--and the interest of the gossips was at this +time absorbed in more weighty matters than the affairs of a neighbour. +But when, the next eve, and the next, Muza returned to the spot equally +in vain, his impatience and alarm could no longer be restrained; he +resolved to lie in watch by the portals of the house night and day, +until, at least, he could discover some one of the inmates, whom he +could question of his love, and perhaps bribe to his service. As with +this resolution he was hovering round the mansion, he beheld, stealing +from a small door in one of the low wings of the house, a bended and +decrepit form: it supported its steps upon a staff; and, as now entering +the garden, it stooped by the side of a fountain to cull flowers and +herbs by the light of the moon, the Moor almost started to behold a +countenance which resembled that of some ghoul or vampire haunting the +places of the dead. He smiled at his own fear; and, with a quick and +stealthy pace, hastened through the trees, and, gaining the spot where +the old man bent, placed his hand on his shoulder ere his presence was +perceived. + +Ximen--for it was he--looked round eagerly, and a faint cry of terror +broke from his lips. + +"Hush!" said the Moor; "fear me not, I am a friend. Thou art old, +man--gold is ever welcome to the aged." As he spoke, he dropped several +broad pieces into the breast of the Jew, whose ghastly features gave +forth a yet more ghastly smile, as he received the gift, and mumbled +forth, + +"Charitable young man! generous, benevolent, excellent young man!" + +"Now then," said Muza, "tell me--you belong to this house--Leila, the +maiden within--tell me of her--is she well?" + +"I trust so," returned the Jew; "I trust so, noble master." + +"Trust so! know you not of her state?" + +"Not I; for many nights I have not seen her, excellent sir," answered +Ximen; "she hath left Granada, she hath gone. You waste your time +and mar your precious health amidst these nightly dews: they are +unwholesome, very unwholesome at the time of the new moon." + +"Gone!" echoed the Moor; "left Granada!--woe is me!--and +whither?--there, there, more gold for you,--old man, tell me whither?" + +"Alas! I know not, most magnanimous young man; I am but a servant--I +know nothing." + +"When will she return?" + +"I cannot tell thee." + +"Who is thy master? who owns yon mansion?" + +Ximen's countenance fell; he looked round in doubt and fear, and then, +after a short pause, answered,--"A wealthy man, good sir--a Moor of +Africa; but he hath also gone; he but seldom visits us; Granada is not +so peaceful a residence as it was,--I would go too, if I could." + +Muza released his hold of Ximen, who gazed at the Moor's working +countenance with a malignant smile--for Ximen hated all men. + +"Thou hast done with me, young warrior? Pleasant dreams to thee under +the new moon--thou hadst best retire to thy bed. Farewell! bless thy +charity to the poor old man!" + +Muza heard him not; he remained motionless for some moments; and then +with a heavy sigh as that of one who has gained the mastery of himself +after a bitter struggle, the said half aloud, "Allah be with thee, +Leila! Granada now is my only mistress." + + + + +CHAPTER V. BOABDIL'S RECONCILIATION WITH HIS PEOPLE. + +Several days had elapsed without any encounter between Moor and +Christian; for Ferdinand's cold and sober policy, warned by the loss he +had sustained in the ambush of Muza, was now bent on preserving rigorous +restraint upon the fiery spirits he commanded. He forbade all parties of +skirmish, in which the Moors, indeed, had usually gained the advantage, +and contented himself with occupying all the passes through which +provisions could arrive at the besieged city. He commenced strong +fortifications around his camp; and, forbidding assault on the Moors, +defied it against himself. + +Meanwhile, Almamen had not returned to Granada. No tidings of his fate +reached the king; and his prolonged disappearance began to produce +visible and salutary effect upon the long-dormant energies of Boabdil. +The counsels of Muza, the exhortations of the queen-mother, the +enthusiasm of his mistress, Amine, uncounteracted by the arts of the +magician, aroused the torpid lion of his nature. But still his army and +his subjects murmured against him; and his appearance in the Vivarrambla +might possibly be the signal of revolt. It was at this time that a +most fortunate circumstance at once restored to him the confidence and +affections of his people. His stern uncle, El Zagal--once a rival for +his crown, and whose daring valour, mature age, and military sagacity +had won him a powerful party within the city--had been, some months +since, conquered by Ferdinand; and, in yielding the possessions he held, +had been rewarded with a barren and dependent principality. His defeat, +far from benefiting Boabdil, had exasperated the Moors against their +king. "For," said they, almost with one voice, "the brave El Zagal never +would have succumbed had Boabdil properly supported his arms." And +it was the popular discontent and rage at El Zagal's defeat which had +indeed served Boabdil with a reasonable excuse for shutting himself +in the strong fortress of the Alhambra. It now happened that El Zagal, +whose dominant passion was hatred of his nephew, and whose fierce nature +chafed at its present cage, resolved in his old age to blast all his +former fame by a signal treason to his country. Forgetting everything +but revenge against his nephew, who he was resolved should share his own +ruin, he armed his subjects, crossed the country, and appeared at the +head of a gallant troop in the Spanish camp, an ally with Ferdinand +against Granada. When this was heard by the Moors, it is impossible +to conceive their indignant wrath: the crime of El Zagal produced an +instantaneous reaction in favour of Boabdil; the crowd surrounded the +Alhambra and with prayers and tears entreated the forgiveness of +the king. This event completed the conquest of Boabdil over his own +irresolution. He ordained an assembly of the whole army in the broad +space of the Vivarrambla: and when at break of day he appeared in full +armour in the square, with Muza at his right hand, himself in the flower +of youthful beauty, and proud to feel once more a hero and a king, the +joy of the people knew no limit; the air was rent with cries of "Long +live Boabdil el Chico!" and the young monarch, turning to Muza, with +his soul upon his brow exclaimed, "The hour has come--I am no longer El +Zogoybi!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. LEILA.--HER NEW LOVER.--PORTRAIT OF THE FIRST INQUISITOR OF SPAIN.--THE +CHALICE RETURNED TO THE LIPS OF ALMAMEN. + +While thus the state of events within Granada, the course of our story +transports us back to the Christian camp. It was in one of a long line +of tents that skirted the pavilion of Isabel, and was appropriated to +the ladies attendant on the royal presence, that a young female sat +alone. The dusk of evening already gathered around, and only the +outline of her form and features was visible. But even that, imperfectly +seen,--the dejected attitude of the form, the drooping head, the hands +clasped upon the knees,--might have sufficed to denote the melancholy +nature of the reverie which the maid indulged. + +"Ah," thought she, "to what danger am I exposed! If my father, if +my lover dreamed of the persecution to which their poor Leila is +abandoned!" + +A few tears, large and bitter, broke from her eyes, and stole unheeded +down her cheek. At that moment, the deep and musical chime of a bell was +heard summoning the chiefs of the army to prayer; for Ferdinand invested +all his worldly schemes with a religious covering, and to his politic +war he sought to give the imposing character of a sacred crusade. + +"That sound," thought she, sinking on her knees, "summons the Nazarenes +to the presence of their God. It reminds me, a captive by the waters of +Babylon, that God is ever with the friendless. Oh! succour and defend +me, Thou who didst look of old upon Ruth standing amidst the corn, and +didst watch over Thy chosen people in the hungry wilderness, and in the +stranger's land." + +Wrapt in her mute and passionate devotions, Leila remained long in +her touching posture. The bell had ceased; all without was hushed and +still--when the drapery, stretched across the opening of the tent, was +lifted, and a young Spaniard, cloaked, from head to foot, in a long +mantle, stood within the space. He gazed in silence, upon the kneeling +maiden; nor was it until she rose that he made his presence audible. + +"Ah, fairest!" said he, then, as he attempted to take her hand, "thou +wilt not answer my letters--see me, then, at thy feet. It is thou who +teachest me to kneel." + +"You, prince." said Leila, agitated, and in great and evident fear. "Why +harass and insult me thus? Am I not sacred as a hostage and a charge? +and are name, honour, peace, and all that woman is taught to hold most +dear, to be thus robbed from me under the pretext of a love dishonouring +to thee and an insult to myself?" + +"Sweet one," answered Don Juan, with a slight laugh, "thou hast learned, +within yonder walls, a creed of morals little known to Moorish maidens, +if fame belies them not. Suffer me to teach thee easier morality and +sounder logic. It is no dishonour to a Christian prince to adore beauty +like thine; it is no insult to a maiden hostage if the Infant of Spain +proffer her the homage of his heart. But we waste time. Spies, and +envious tongues, and vigilant eyes, are around us; and it is not often +that I can baffle them as I have done now. Fairest, hear me!" and this +time he succeeded in seizing the hand which vainly struggled against +his clasp. "Nay, why so coy? what can female heart desire that my love +cannot shower upon thine? Speak but the word, enchanting maiden, and I +will bear thee from these scenes unseemly to thy gentle eyes. Amidst +the pavilions of princes shalt thou repose; and, amidst gardens of the +orange and the rose, shalt thou listen to the vows of thine adorer. +Surely, in these arms thou wilt not pine for a barbarous home and a +fated city. And if thy pride, sweet maiden, deafen thee to the voice of +nature, learn that the haughtiest dames of Spain would bend, in envious +court, to the beloved of their future king. This night--listen to me--I +say, listen--this night I will bear thee hence! Be but mine, and no +matter, whether heretic or infidel, or whatever the priests style thee, +neither Church nor king shall tear thee from the bosom of thy lover." + +"It is well spoken, son of the most Christian monarch!" said a deep +voice; and the Dominican, Tomas de Torquemada, stood before the prince. + +Juan, as if struck by a thunderbolt, released his hold, and, staggering +back a few paces, seemed to cower, abashed and humbled, before the eye +of the priest, as it glared upon him through the gathering darkness. + +"Prince," said the friar, after a pause, "not to thee will our holy +Church attribute this crime; thy pious heart hath been betrayed by +sorcery. Retire!" + +"Father," said the prince,--in a tone into which, despite his awe of +that terrible man, THE FIRST GRAND INQUISITOR OF SPAIN, his libertine +spirit involuntarily forced itself, in a half latent raillery,--"sorcery +of eyes like those bewitched the wise son of a more pious sire than even +Ferdinand of Arragon." + +"He blasphemes!" muttered the monk. "Prince, beware! you know not what +you do." + +The prince lingered, and then, as if aware that he must yield, gathered +his cloak round him, and left the tent without reply. + +Pale and trembling,--with fears no less felt, perhaps, though more vague +and perplexed, than those from which she had just been delivered,--Leila +stood before the monk. + +"Be seated, daughter of the faithless," said Torquemada, "we would +converse with thee: and, as thou valuest--I say not thy soul, for, alas! +of that precious treasure thou art not conscious--but mark me, woman! as +thou prizest the safety of those delicate limbs, and that wanton beauty, +answer truly what I shall ask thee. The man who brought thee hither--is +he, in truth, thy father?" + +"Alas!" answered Leila, almost fainting with terror at this rude and +menacing address, "he is, in truth, mine only parent." + +"And his faith--his religion?" + +"I have never beheld him pray." + +"Hem! he never prays--a noticeable fact. But of what sect, what creed, +does he profess himself?" + +"I cannot answer thee." + +"Nay, there be means that may wring from thee an answer. Maiden, be +not so stubborn; speak! thinkest thou he serves the temple of the +Mohammedan?" + +"No! oh, no!" answered poor Leila, eagerly, deeming that her reply, in +this, at least, would be acceptable. "He disowns, he scorns, he abhors, +the Moorish faith,--even," she added, "with too fierce a zeal." + +"Thou dost not share that zeal, then? Well, worships he in secret after +the Christian rites?" + +Leila hung her head and answered not. + +"I understand thy silence. And in what belief, maiden, wert thou reared +beneath his roof?" + +"I know not what it is called among men," answered Leila, with firmness, +"but it is the faith of the ONE GOD, who protects His chosen, and shall +avenge their wrongs--the God who made earth and heaven; and who, in an +idolatrous and benighted world, transmitted the knowledge of Himself +and His holy laws, from age to age, through the channel of one solitary +people, in the plains of Palestine, and by the waters of the Hebron." + +"And in that faith thou wert trained, maiden, by thy father?" said the +Dominican, calmly. "I am satisfied. Rest here, in peace: we may meet +again, soon." + +The last words were spoken with a soft and tranquil smile--a smile in +which glazing eyes and agonising hearts had often beheld the ghastly +omen of the torture and the stake. + +On quitting the unfortunate Leila, the monk took his way towards the +neighbouring tent of Ferdinand. But, ere he reached it, a new thought +seemed to strike the holy man; he altered the direction of his steps, +and gained one of those little shrines common in Catholic countries, and +which had been hastily built of wood, in the centre of a small copse, +and by the side of a brawling rivulet, towards the back of the king's +pavilion. But one solitary sentry, at the entrance of the copse, guarded +the consecrated place; and its exceeding loneliness and quiet were a +grateful contrast to the animated world of the surrounding camp. The +monk entered the shrine, and fell down on his knees before an image of +the Virgin, rudely sculptured, indeed, but richly decorated. + +"Ah, Holy Mother!" groaned this singular man, "support me in the trial +to which I am appointed. Thou knowest that the glory of thy blessed Son +is the sole object for which I live, and move, and have my being; but at +times, alas! the spirit is infected with the weakness of the flesh. Ora +pro nobis, O Mother of mercy! Verily, oftentimes my heart sinks within +me when it is mine to vindicate the honour of thy holy cause against the +young and the tender, the aged and the decrepit. But what are beauty +and youth, grey hairs and trembling knees, in the eye of the Creator? +Miserable worms are we all; nor is there anything acceptable in the +Divine sight but the hearts of the faithful. Youth without faith, age +without belief, purity without grace, virtue without holiness, are only +more hideous by their seeming beauty--whited sepulchres, glittering +rottenness. I know this--I know it; but the human man is strong within +me. Strengthen me, that I pluck it out; so that, by diligent and +constant struggle with the feeble Adam, thy servant may be reduced into +a mere machine, to punish the godless and advance the Church." + +Here sobs and tears choked the speech of the Dominican; he grovelled in +the dust, he tore his hair, he howled aloud: the agony was fierce +upon him. At length, he drew from his robe a whip, composed of several +thongs, studded with small and sharp nails; and, stripping his gown, +and the shirt of hair worn underneath, over his shoulders, applied the +scourge to the naked flesh with a fury that soon covered the green sward +with the thick and clotted blood. The exhaustion which followed this +terrible penance seemed to restore the senses of the stern fanatic. A +smile broke over the features, that bodily pain only released from the +anguished expression of mental and visionary struggles; and, when he +rose, and drew the hair-cloth shirt over the lacerated and quivering +flesh, he said--"Now hast thou deigned to comfort and visit me, O +pitying Mother; and, even as by these austerities against this miserable +body, is the spirit relieved and soothed, so dost thou typify and +betoken that men's bodies are not to be spared by those who seek to save +souls and bring the nations of the earth into thy fold." + +With that thought the countenance of Torquemada reassumed its wonted +rigid and passionless composure; and, replacing the scourge, yet clotted +with blood, in his bosom, he pursued his way to the royal tent. + +He found Ferdinand poring over the accounts of the vast expenses of his +military preparations, which he had just received from his treasurer; +and the brow of the thrifty, though ostentatious monarch, was greatly +overcast by the examination. + +"By the Bulls of Guisando!" said the king, gravely, "I purchase the +salvation of my army in this holy war at a marvellous heavy price; and +if the infidels hold out much longer, we shalt have to pawn our very +patrimony of Arragon." + +"Son," answered the Dominican, "to purposes like thine fear not that +Providence itself will supply the worldly means. But why doubtest thou? +are not the means within thy reach? It is just that thou alone shouldst +not support the wars by which Christendom is glorified. Are there not +others?" + +"I know what thou wouldst say, father," interrupted the king, +quickly--"thou wouldst observe that my brother monarchs should assist me +with arms and treasure. Most just. But they are avaricious and envious, +Tomas; and Mammon hath corrupted them." + +"Nay, not to kings pointed my thought." + +"Well, then," resumed the king, impatiently, "thou wouldst imply that +mine own knights and nobles should yield up their coffers, and mortgage +their possessions. And so they ought; but they murmur already at what +they have yielded to our necessities." + +"And in truth," rejoined the friar, "these noble warriors should not +be shorn of a splendour that well becomes the valiant champions of the +Church. Nay, listen to me, son, and I may suggest a means whereby, not +the friends, but enemies, of the Catholic faith shall contribute to the +down fall of the Paynim. In thy dominions, especially those newly won, +throughout Andalusia, in the kingdom of Cordova, are men of enormous +wealth; the very caverns of the earth are sown with the impious treasure +they have plundered from Christian hands, and consume in the furtherance +of their iniquity. Sire, I speak of the race that crucified the Lord." + +"The Jews--ay, but the excuse--" + +"Is before thee. This traitor, with whom thou boldest intercourse, who +vowed to thee to render up Granada, and who was found the very next +morning, fighting with the Moors, with the blood of a Spanish martyr red +upon his hands, did he not confess that his fathers were of that hateful +race? did he not bargain with thee to elevate his brethren to the rank +of Christians? and has he not left with thee, upon false pretences, a +harlot of his faith, who, by sorcery and the help of the Evil One, hath +seduced into frantic passion the heart of the heir of the most Christian +king?" + +"Ha! thus does that libertine boy ever scandalise us!" said the king, +bitterly. + +"Well," pursued the Dominican, not heeding the interruption, "have you +not here excuse enough to wring from the whole race the purchase of +their existence? Note the glaring proof of this conspiracy of hell. The +outcasts of the earth employed this crafty agent to contract with +thee for power; and, to consummate their guilty designs, the arts that +seduced Solomon are employed against thy son. The beauty of the strange +woman captivates his senses; so that, through the future sovereign +of Spain the counsels of Jewish craft may establish the domination +of Jewish ambition. How knowest thou," he added as he observed that +Ferdinand listened to him with earnest attention--"how knowest thou but +what the next step might have been thy secret assassination, so that the +victim of witchcraft, the minion of the Jewess, might reign in the stead +of the mighty and unconquerable Ferdinand?" + +"Go on, father," said the king, thoughtfully; "I see, at least, enough +to justify an impost upon these servitors of Mammon." + +"But, though common sense suggests to us," continued Torquemada, "that +this disguised Israelite could not have acted on so vast a design +without the instigation of his brethren, not only in Granada, but +throughout all Andalusia,--would it not be right to obtain from him his +confession, and that of the maiden, within the camp, so that we may have +broad and undeniable evidence, whereon to act, and to still all cavil, +that may come not only from the godless, but even from the too tender +scruples of the righteous? Even the queen--whom the saints ever +guard!--hath ever too soft a heart for these infidels; and--" + +"Right!" cried the king, again breaking upon Torquemada; "Isabel, the +queen of Castile, must be satisfied of the justice of all our actions." + +"And, should it be proved that thy throne or life were endangered, and +that magic was exercised to entrap her royal son into a passion for a +Jewish maiden, which the Church holds a crime worthy of excommunication +itself, surely, instead of counteracting, she would assist our schemes." + +"Holy friend," said Ferdinand, with energy, "ever a comforter, both for +this world and the next, to thee, and to the new powers intrusted to +thee, we commit this charge; see to it at once; time presses--Granada is +obstinate--the treasury waxes low." + +"Son, thou hast said enough," replied the Dominican, closing his eyes, +and muttering a short thanksgiving. "Now then to my task." + +"Yet stay," said the king, with an altered visage; "follow me to my +oratory within: my heart is heavy, and I would fain seek the solace of +the confessional." + +The monk obeyed: and while Ferdinand, whose wonderful abilities were +mingled with the weakest superstition, who persecuted from policy, yet +believed, in his own heart, that he punished but from piety,--confessed +with penitent tears the grave offences of aves forgotten, and +beads untold; and while the Dominican admonished, rebuked, or +soothed,--neither prince nor monk ever dreamt that there was an error to +confess in, or a penance to be adjudged to, the cruelty that tortured a +fellow-being, or the avarice that sought pretences for the extortion of +a whole people. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE TRIBUNAL AND THE MIRACLE + +It was the dead of night--the army was hushed in sleep--when four +soldiers belonging to the Holy Brotherhood, bearing with them one whose +manacles proclaimed him a prisoner, passed in steady silence to a huge +tent in the neighbourhood of the royal pavilion. A deep dyke, formidable +barricadoes, and sentries stationed at frequent intervals, testified the +estimation in which the safety of this segment of the camp was held. The +tent to which the soldiers approached was, in extent, larger than even +the king's pavilion itself--a mansion of canvas, surrounded by a wide +wall of massive stones; and from its summit gloomed, in the clear and +shining starlight, a small black pennant, on which was wrought a white +broad-pointed cross. The soldiers halted at the gate in the wall, +resigned their charge, with a whispered watchword, to two gaunt +sentries; and then (relieving the sentries who proceeded on with the +prisoner) remained, mute and motionless, at the post: for stern silence +and Spartan discipline were the attributes of the brotherhood of St. +Hermandad. + +The prisoner, as he now neared the tent, halted a moment, looked round +steadily, as if to fix the spot in his remembrance, and then, with an +impatient though stately gesture, followed his guards. He passed two +divisions of the tent, dimly lighted, and apparently deserted. A +man, clad in long black robes, with a white cross on his breast, now +appeared; there was an interchange of signals in dumb-show-and in +another moment Almamen, the Hebrew, stood within a large chamber (if so +that division of the tent might be called) hung with black serge. At the +upper part of the space was an estrado, or platform, on which, by a long +table, sat three men; while at the head of the board was seen the calm +and rigid countenance of Tomas de Torquemada. The threshold of the tent +was guarded by two men, in garments similar in hue and fashion to +those of the figure who had ushered Almamen into the presence of the +inquisitor, each bearing a long lance, and with a long two-edged sword +by his side. This made all the inhabitants of that melancholy and +ominous apartment. + +The Israelite looked round with a pale brow, but a flashing and scornful +eye; and, when he met the gaze of the Dominican, it almost seemed as if +those two men, each so raised above his fellows, by the sternness of his +nature and the energy of his passions, sought by a look alone to assert +his own supremacy and crush his foe. Yet, in truth, neither did justice +to the other; and the indignant disdain of Almamen was retorted by the +cold and icy contempt of the Dominican. + +"Prisoner," said Torquemada (the first to withdraw his gaze), "a less +haughty and stubborn demeanour might have better suited thy condition: +but no matter; our Church is meek and humble. We have sent for thee in a +charitable and paternal hope; for although, as spy and traitor, thy +life is already forfeited, yet would we fain redeem and spare it to +repentance. That hope mayst thou not forego, for the nature of all of us +is weak and clings to life--that straw of the drowning seaman." + +"Priest, if such thou art," replied the Hebrew, "I have already, when +first brought to this camp, explained the causes of my detention amongst +the troops of the Moor. It was my zeal for the king of Spain that +brought me into that peril. Escaping from that peril, incurred in his +behalf, is the king of Spain to be my accuser and my judge? If, +however, my life now be sought as the grateful return for the proffer +of inestimable service, I stand here to yield it. Do thy worst; and tell +thy master, that he loses more by my death than he can win by the lives +of thirty thousand warriors." + +"Cease this idle babble," said the monk-inquisitor, contemptuously, +"nor think thou couldst ever deceive, with thy empty words, the mighty +intellect of Ferdinand of Spain. Thou hast now to defend thyself against +still graver charges than those of treachery to the king whom thou didst +profess to serve. Yea, misbeliever as thou art, it is thine to vindicate +thyself from blasphemy against the God thou shouldst adore. Confess the +truth: thou art of the tribe and faith of Israel?" + +The Hebrew frowned darkly. "Man," said he, solemnly, "is a judge of the +deeds of men, but not of their opinions. I will not answer thee." + +"Pause! We have means at hand that the strongest nerves and the stoutest +hearts have failed to encounter. Pause--confess!" + +"Thy threat awes me not," said the Hebrew; "but I am human; and since +thou wouldst know the truth, thou mayst learn it without the torture. I +am of the same race as the apostles of thy Church--I am a Jew." + +"He confesses--write down the words. Prisoner, thou hast done wisely; +and we pray the Lord that, acting thus, thou mayst escape both the +torture and the death. And in that faith thy daughter was reared? +Answer." + +"My daughter! there is no charge against her! By the God of Sinai and +Horeb, you dare not touch a hair of that innocent head!" + +"Answer," repeated the inquisitor, coldly. + +"I do answer. She was brought up no renegade to her father's faith." + +"Write down the confession. Prisoner," resumed the Dominican, after a +pause, "but few more questions remain; answer them truly, and thy life +is saved. In thy conspiracy to raise thy brotherhood of Andalusia to +power and influence--or, as thou didst craftily term it, to equal laws +with the followers of our blessed Lord; in thy conspiracy (by what dark +arts I seek not now to know _protege nos, beate Domine_!) to entangle +in wanton affections to thy daughter the heart of the Infant of +Spain-silence, I say--be still! in this conspiracy, thou wert aided, +abetted, or instigated by certain Jews of Andalusia--" + +"Hold, priest!" cried Almamen, impetuously, "thou didst name my child. +Do I hear aright? Placed under the sacred charge of a king, and a belted +knight, has she--oh! answer me, I implore thee--been insulted by the +licentious addresses of one of that king's own lineage? Answer! I am a +Jew--but I am a father and a man." + +"This pretended passion deceives us not," said the Dominican, who, +himself cut off from the ties of life, knew nothing of their power. +"Reply to the question put to thee: name thy accomplices." + +"I have told thee all. Thou hast refused to answer one. I scorn and defy +thee: my lips are closed." + +The Grand Inquisitor glanced to his brethren, and raised his hand. +His assistants whispered each other; one of them rose, and disappeared +behind the canvas at the back of the tent. Presently the hangings +were withdrawn; and the prisoner beheld an interior chamber, hung with +various instruments the nature of which was betrayed by their very +shape; while by the rack, placed in the centre of that dreary chamber, +stood a tall and grisly figure, his arms bare, his eyes bent, as by an +instinct, on the prisoner. + +Almamen gazed at these dread preparations with an unflinching aspect. +The guards at the entrance of the tent approached: they struck off the +fetters from his feet and hands; they led him towards the appointed +place of torture. + +Suddenly the Israelite paused. + +"Priest," said he, in a more humble accent than he had yet assumed, "the +tidings that thou didst communicate to me respecting the sole daughter +of my house and love bewildered and confused me for the moment. Suffer +me but for a single moment to recollect my senses, and I will answer +without compulsion all thou mayst ask. Permit thy questions to be +repeated." + +The Dominican, whose cruelty to others seemed to himself sanctioned by +his own insensibility to fear, and contempt for bodily pain, smiled with +bitter scorn at the apparent vacillation and weakness of the prisoner: +but, as he delighted not in torture merely for torture's sake, he +motioned to the guards to release the Israelite; and replied in a voice +unnaturally mild and kindly, considering the circumstances of the scene, + +"Prisoner, could we save thee from pain, even by the anguish of our own +flesh and sinews, Heaven is our judge that we would willingly undergo +the torture which, with grief and sorrow, we ordained to thee. +Pause--take breath--collect thyself. Three minutes shalt thou have +to consider what course to adopt ere we repeat the question. But then +beware how thou triflest with our indulgence." + +"It suffices--I thank thee," said the Hebrew, with a touch of gratitude +in his voice. As he spoke he bent his face within his bosom, which he +covered, as in profound meditation, with the folds of his long robe. +Scarcely half the brief time allowed him had expired, when he again +lifted his countenance and, as he did so, flung back his garment. +The Dominican uttered a loud cry; the guards started back in awe. A +wonderful change had come over the intended victim; he seemed to stand +amongst them literally--wrapt in fire; flames burst from his lip, and +played with his long locks, as, catching the glowing hue, they curled +over his shoulders like serpents of burning light: blood-red were his +breast and limbs, his haughty crest, and his outstretched arm; and +as for a single moment, he met the shuddering eyes of his judges, he +seemed, indeed, to verify all the superstitions of the time--no longer +the trembling captive but the mighty demon or the terrible magician. + +The Dominican was the first to recover his self-possession. "Seize the +enchanter!" he exclaimed; but no man stirred. Ere yet the exclamation +had died on his lip, Almamen took from his breast a phial, and dashed +it on the ground--it broke into a thousand shivers: a mist rose over the +apartment--it spread, thickened, darkened, as a sudden night; the lamps +could not pierce it. The luminous form of the Hebrew grew dull and dim, +until it vanished in the shade. On every eye blindness seemed to fall. +There was a dead silence, broken by a cry and a groan; and when, after +some minutes, the darkness gradually dispersed, Almamen was gone. One, +of the guards lay bathed in blood upon the ground; they raised him: he +had attempted to seize the prisoner, and had been stricken with a mortal +wound. He died as he faltered forth the explanation. In the confusion +and dismay of the scene none noticed, till long afterwards, that the +prisoner had paused long enough to strip the dying guard of his long +mantle; a proof that he feared his more secret arts might not suffice to +bear him safe through the camp, without the aid of worldly stratagem. + +"The fiend hath been amongst us!" said the Dominican, solemnly falling +on his knees,--"let us pray!" + + + + +BOOK III. + + + + +CHAPTER I. ISABEL AND THE JEWISH MAIDEN. + +While this scene took place before the tribunal of Torquemada, Leila had +been summoned from the indulgence of fears, which her gentle nature and +her luxurious nurturing had ill-fitted her to contend against, to the +presence of the queen. That gifted and high-spirited princess, whose +virtues were her own, whose faults were of her age, was not, it is true, +without the superstition and something of the intolerant spirit of her +royal spouse: but, even where her faith assented to persecution, her +heart ever inclined to mercy; and it was her voice alone that ever +counteracted the fiery zeal of Torquemada, and mitigated the sufferings +of the unhappy ones who fell under the suspicion of heresy. She had, +happily, too, within her a strong sense of justice, as well as the +sentiment of compassion; and often, when she could not save the accused, +she prevented the consequences of his imputed crime falling upon the +innocent members of his house or tribe. + +In the interval between his conversation with Ferdinand and the +examination of Almamen, the Dominican had sought the queen; and had +placed before her, in glowing colours, not only the treason of Almamen, +but the consequences of the impious passion her son had conceived for +Leila. In that day, any connection between a Christian knight and a +Jewess was deemed a sin, scarce expiable; and Isabel conceived all that +horror of her son's offence which was natural in a pious mother and a +haughty queen. But, despite all the arguments of the friar, she +could not be prevailed upon to render up Leila to the tribunal of the +Inquisition; and that dread court, but newly established, did not dare, +without her consent, to seize upon one under the immediate protection of +the queen. + +"Fear not, father," said Isabel, with quiet firmness, "I will take upon +myself to examine the maiden; and, at least, I will see her removed from +all chance of tempting or being tempted by this graceless boy. But she +was placed under the charge of the king and myself as a hostage and a +trust; we accepted the charge, and our royal honor is pledged to the +safety of the maiden. Heaven forbid that I should deny the existence +of sorcery, assured as we are of its emanation from the Evil One; but +I fear, in this fancy of Juan's, that the maiden is more sinned against +than sinning: and yet my son is, doubtless, not aware of the unhappy +faith of the Jewess; the knowledge of which alone will suffice to cure +him of his error. You shake your head, father; but, I repeat, I will act +in this affair so as to merit the confidence I demand. Go, good Tomas. +We have not reigned so long without belief in our power to control and +deal with a simple maiden." + +The queen extended her hand to the monk, with a smile so sweet in its +dignity, that it softened even that rugged heart; and, with a reluctant +sigh, and a murmured prayer that her counsels might be guided for the +best, Torquemada left the royal presence. + +"The poor child!" thought Isabel, "those tender limbs, and that fragile +form, are ill fitted for yon monk's stern tutelage. She seems gentle: +and her face has in it all the yielding softness of our sex; doubtless +by mild means, she may be persuaded to abjure her wretched creed; and +the shade of some holy convent may hide her alike from the licentious +gaze of my son and the iron zeal of the Inquisitor. I will see her." + +When Leila entered the queen's pavilion, Isabel, who was alone, marked +her trembling step with a compassionate eye; and, as Leila, in obedience +to the queen's request, threw up her veil, the paleness of her cheek and +the traces of recent tears appealed to Isabel's heart with more success +than had attended all the pious invectives of Torquemada. + +"Maiden," said Isabel, encouragingly, "I fear thou hast been strangely +harassed by the thoughtless caprice of the young prince. Think of it no +more. But, if thou art what I have ventured to believe, and to assert +thee to be, cheerfully subscribe to the means I will suggest for +preventing the continuance of addresses which cannot but injure thy fair +name." + +"Ah, madam!" said Leila, as she fell on one knee beside the queen, +"most joyfully, most gratefully, will I accept any asylum which proffers +solitude and peace." + +"The asylum to which I would fain lead thy steps," answered Isabel, +gently, "is indeed one whose solitude is holy--whose peace is that of +heaven. But of this hereafter. Thou wilt not hesitate, then, to quit the +camp, unknown to the prince, and ere he can again seek thee?" + +"Hesitate, madam? Ah rather, how shall I express my thanks?" + +"I did not read that face misjudgingly," thought the queen, as she +resumed. "Be it so; we will not lose another night. Withdraw yonder, +through the inner tent; the litter shall be straight prepared for thee; +and ere midnight thou shalt sleep in safety under the roof of one of the +bravest knights and noblest ladies that our realm can boast. Thou shalt +bear with thee a letter that shall commend thee specially to the care of +thy hostess--thou wilt find her of a kindly and fostering nature. And, +oh, maiden!" added the queen, with benevolent warmth, "steel not thy +heart against her--listen with ductile senses to her gentle ministry; +and may God and His Son prosper that pious lady's counsel, so that it +may win a new strayling to the Immortal Fold!" + +Leila listened and wondered, but made no answer; until, as she gained +the entrance to the interior division of the tent, she stopped +abruptly, and said, "Pardon me, gracious queen, but dare I ask thee one +question?--it is not of myself." + +"Speak, and fear not." + +"My father--hath aught been heard of him? He promised, that ere the +fifth day were past, he would once more see his child; and, alas! that +date is past, and I am still alone in the dwelling of the stranger." + +"Unhappy child!" muttered Isabel to herself; "thou knowest not his +treason nor his fate--yet why shouldst thou? Ignorant of what would +render thee blest hereafter, continue ignorant of what would afflict +thee here. Be cheered, maiden," answered the queen, aloud. "No doubt, +there are reasons sufficient to forbid your meeting. But thou shalt not +lack friends in the dwelling-house of the stranger." + +"Ah, noble queen, pardon me, and one word more! There hath been with me, +more than once, a stern old man, whose voice freezes the blood within my +veins; he questions me of my father, and in the tone of a foe who would +entrap from the child something to the peril of the sire. That man--thou +knowest him, gracious queen--he cannot have the power to harm my +father?" + +"Peace, maiden! the man thou speakest of is the priest of God, and the +innocent have nothing to dread from his reverend zeal. For thyself, I +say again, be cheered; in the home to which I consign thee thou wilt see +him no more. Take comfort, poor child--weep not: all have their cares; +our duty is to bear in this life, reserving hope only for the next." + +The queen, destined herself to those domestic afflictions which pomp +cannot soothe, nor power allay, spoke with a prophetic sadness which +yet more touched a heart that her kindness of look and tone had already +softened; and, in the impulse of a nature never tutored in the rigid +ceremonials of that stately court, Leila suddenly came forward, and +falling on one knee, seized the hand of her protectress, and kissed it +warmly through her tears. + +"Are you, too, unhappy?" she said. "I will pray for you to _my_ God!" + +The queen, surprised and moved at an action which, had witnesses been +present, would only perhaps (for such is human nature) have offended +her Castilian prejudices, left her hand in Leila's grateful clasp; and +laying the other upon the parted and luxuriant ringlets of the kneeling +maiden, said, gently,--"And thy prayers shall avail thee and me when thy +God and mine are the same. Bless thee, maiden! I am a mother; thou art +motherless--bless thee!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE TEMPTATION OF THE JEWESS,--IN WHICH THE HISTORY PASSES FROM THE +OUTWARD TO THE INTERNAL. + +It was about the very hour, almost the very moment, in which Almamen +effected his mysterious escape from the tent of the Inquisition, that +the train accompanying the litter which bore Leila, and which was +composed of some chosen soldiers of Isabel's own body-guard, after +traversing the camp, winding along that part of the mountainous defile +which was in the possession of the Spaniards, and ascending a high and +steep acclivity, halted before the gates of a strongly fortified castle +renowned in the chronicles of that memorable war. The hoarse challenge +of the sentry, the grating of jealous bars, the clanks of hoofs upon +the rough pavement of the courts, and the streaming glare of +torches--falling upon stern and bearded visages, and imparting a ruddier +glow to the moonlit buttresses and battlements of the fortress--aroused +Leila from a kind of torpor rather than sleep, in which the fatigue and +excitement of the day had steeped her senses. An old seneschal conducted +her, through vast and gloomy halls (how unlike the brilliant chambers +and fantastic arcades of her Moorish home) to a huge Gothic apartment, +hung with the arras of Flemish looms. In a few moments, maidens, hastily +aroused from slumber, grouped around her with a respect which would +certainly not have been accorded had her birth and creed been known. +They gazed with surprise at her extraordinary beauty and foreign garb, +and evidently considered the new guest a welcome addition to the scanty +society of the castle. Under any other circumstances, the strangeness +of all she saw, and the frowning gloom of the chamber to which she was +consigned, would have damped the spirits of one whose destiny had so +suddenly passed from the deepest quiet into the sternest excitement. But +any change was a relief to the roar of the camp, the addresses of the +prince, and the ominous voice and countenance of Torquemada; and +Leila looked around her, with the feeling that the queen's promise was +fulfilled, and that she was already amidst the blessings of shelter and +repose. It was long, however, before sleep revisited her eyelids, and +when she woke the noonday sun streamed broadly through the lattice. +By the bedside sat a matron advanced in years, but of a mild and +prepossessing countenance, which only borrowed a yet more attractive +charm from an expression of placid and habitual melancholy. She was +robed in black; but the rich pearls that were interwoven in the sleeves +and stomacher, the jewelled cross that was appended from a chain +of massive gold, and, still more, a certain air of dignity and +command,--bespoke, even to the inexperienced eye of Leila, the evidence +of superior station. + +"Thou hast slept late, daughter," said the lady, with a benevolent +smile; "may thy slumbers have refreshed thee! Accept my regrets that I +knew not till this morning of thine arrival, or I should have been the +first to welcome the charge of my royal mistress." + +There was in the look, much more than in the words of the Donna Inez de +Quexada, a soothing and tender interest that was as balm to the heart of +Leila; in truth, she had been made the guest of, perhaps, the only lady +in Spain, of pure and Christian blood, who did not despise or execrate +the name of Leila's tribe. Donna Inez had herself contracted to a Jew a +debt of gratitude which she had sought to return to the whole race. Many +years before the time in which our tale is cast, her husband and herself +had been sojourning at Naples, then closely connected with the politics +of Spain, upon an important state mission. They had then an only son, +a youth of a wild and desultory character, whom the spirit of adventure +allured to the East. In one of those sultry lands the young Quexada +was saved from the hands of robbers by the caravanserai of a wealthy +traveller. With this stranger he contracted that intimacy which +wandering and romantic men often conceive for each other, without +any other sympathy than that of the same pursuits. Subsequently, he +discovered that his companion was of the Jewish faith; and, with the +usual prejudice of his birth and time, recoiled from the friendship +he had solicited, and shrank from the sense of the obligation he had +incurred he--quitted his companion. Wearied, at length, with travel, he +was journeying homeward, when he was seized with a sudden and virulent +fever, mistaken for plague: all fled from the contagion of the +supposed pestilence--he was left to die. One man discovered his +condition--watched, tended, and, skilled in the deeper secrets of the +healing art, restored him to life and health: it was the same Jew who +had preserved him from the robbers. At this second and more inestimable +obligation the prejudices of the Spaniard vanished: he formed a deep +and grateful attachment for his preserver; they lived together for some +time, and the Israelite finally accompanied the young Quexada to Naples. +Inez retained a lively sense of the service rendered to her only son, +and the impression had been increased not only by the appearance of +the Israelite, which, dignified and stately, bore no likeness to the +cringing servility of his brethren, but also by the singular beauty and +gentle deportment of his then newly-wed bride, whom he had wooed and won +in that holy land, sacred equally to the faith of Christian and of Jew. +The young Quexada did not long survive his return: his constitution +was broken by long travel, and the debility that followed his fierce +disease. On his deathbed he had besought the mother whom he left +childless, and whose Catholic prejudices were less stubborn than those +of his sire, never to forget the services a Jew had conferred upon him; +to make the sole recompense in her power--the sole recompense the Jew +himself had demanded--and to lose no occasion to soothe or mitigate the +miseries to which the bigotry of the time often exposed the oppressed +race of his deliverer. Donna Inez had faithfully kept the promise +she gave to the last scion of her house; and, through the power and +reputation of her husband and her own connections, and still more +through an early friendship with the queen, she had, on her return to +Spain, been enabled to ward off many a persecution, and many a charge +on false pretences, to which the wealth of some son of Israel made +the cause, while his faith made the pretext. Yet, with all the natural +feelings of a rigid Catholic, she had earnestly sought to render the +favor she had thus obtained amongst the Jews minister to her pious zeal +for their more than temporal welfare. She had endeavored, by gentle +means, to make the conversions which force was impotent to effect; and, +in some instances, her success had been signal. The good senora had thus +obtained high renown for sanctity; and Isabel thought rightly that she +could not select a protectress for Leila who would more kindly shelter +her youth, or more strenuously labor for her salvation. It was, indeed, +a dangerous situation for the adherence of the maiden to that faith +which it had cost her fiery father so many sacrifices to preserve and to +advance. + +It was by little and little that Donna Inez sought rather to undermine +than to storm the mental fortress she hoped to man with spiritual +allies; and, in her frequent conversation with Leila, she was at once +perplexed and astonished by the simple and sublime nature of the belief +upon which she waged war. For whether it was that, in his desire +to preserve Leila as much as possible from contact even with Jews +themselves, whose general character (vitiated by the oppression which +engendered meanness, and the extortion which fostered avarice) Almamen +regarded with lofty though concealed repugnance; or whether it was, that +his philosophy did not interpret the Jewish formula of belief in the +same spirit as the herd,--the religion inculcated in the breast of Leila +was different from that which Inez had ever before encountered amongst +her proselytes. It was less mundane and material--a kind of passionate +rather than metaphysical theism, which invested the great ONE, indeed, +with many human sympathies and attributes, but still left Him the +August and awful God of the Genesis, the Father of a Universe though +the individual Protector of a fallen sect. Her attention had been +less directed to whatever appears, to a superficial gaze, stern and +inexorable in the character of the Hebrew God, and which the religion +of Christ so beautifully softened and so majestically refined, than to +those passages in which His love watched over a chosen people, and His +forbearance bore with their transgressions. Her reason had been worked +upon to its belief by that mysterious and solemn agency, by which--when +the whole world beside was bowed to the worship of innumerable deities, +and the adoration of graven images,--in a small and secluded portion of +earth, amongst a people far less civilised and philosophical than many +by which they were surrounded, had been alone preserved a pure and +sublime theism, disdaining a likeness in the things of heaven or +earth. Leila knew little of the more narrow and exclusive tenets of her +brethren; a Jewess in name, she was rather a deist in belief; a deist +of such a creed as Athenian schools might have taught to the imaginative +pupils of Plato, save only that too dark a shadow had been cast over +the hopes of another world. Without the absolute denial of the Sadducee, +Almamen had, probably, much of the quiet scepticism which belonged to +many sects of the early Jews, and which still clings round the wisdom of +the wisest who reject the doctrine of Revelation; and while he had not +sought to eradicate from the breast of his daughter any of the vague +desire which points to a Hereafter, he had never, at least, directed her +thoughts or aspirations to that solemn future. Nor in the sacred book +which was given to her survey, and which so rigidly upheld the unity of +the Supreme Power, was there that positive and unequivocal assurance +of life beyond "the grave where all things are forgotten," that might +supply the deficiencies of her mortal instructor. Perhaps, sharing +those notions of the different value of the sexes, prevalent, from the +remotest period, in his beloved and ancestral East, Almamen might have +hopes for himself which did not extend to his child. And thus she grew +up, with all the beautiful faculties of the soul cherished and unfolded, +without thought, without more than dim and shadowy conjectures, of the +Eternal Bourne to which the sorrowing pilgrim of the earth is bound. It +was on this point that the quick eye of Donna Inez discovered her faith +was vulnerable: who would not, if belief were voluntary, believe in +the world to come? Leila's curiosity and interest were aroused: +she willingly listened to her new guide--she willingly inclined to +conclusions pressed upon her, not with menace, but persuasion. Free from +the stubborn associations, the sectarian prejudices, and unversed in the +peculiar traditions and accounts of the learned of her race, she found +nothing to shock her in the volume which seemed but a continuation of +the elder writings of her faith. The sufferings of the Messiah, His +sublime purity, His meek forgiveness, spoke to her woman's heart; His +doctrines elevated, while they charmed, her reason: and in the Heaven +that a Divine hand opened to all,--the humble as the proud, the +oppressed as the oppressor, to the woman as to the lords of the +earth,--she found a haven for all the doubts she had known, and for the +despair which of late had darkened the face of earth. Her home lost, the +deep and beautiful love of her youth blighted,--that was a creed almost +irresistible which told her that grief was but for a day, that happiness +was eternal. Far, too, from revolting such of the Hebrew pride of +association as she had formed, the birth of the Messiah in the land +of the Israelites seemed to consummate their peculiar triumph as the +Elected of Jehovah. And while she mourned for the Jews who persecuted +the Saviour, she gloried in those whose belief had carried the name and +worship of the descendants of David over the furthest regions of the +world. Often she perplexed and startled the worthy Inez by exclaiming, +"This, your belief, is the same as mine, adding only the assurance of +immortal life--Christianity is but the Revelation of Judaism." + +The wise and gentle instrument of Leila's conversion did not, however, +give vent to those more Catholic sentiments which might have scared away +the wings of the descending dove. She forbore too vehemently to point +out the distinctions of the several creeds, and rather suffered them +to melt insensibly one into the other: Leila was a Christian, while she +still believed herself a Jewess. But in the fond and lovely weakness of +mortal emotions, there was one bitter thought that often and often came +to mar the peace that otherwise would have settled on her soul. That +father, the sole softener of whose stern heart and mysterious fates she +was, with what pangs would he receive the news of her conversion! And +Muza, that bright and hero-vision of her youth--was she not setting +the last seal of separation upon all hope of union with the idol of the +Moors? But, alas! was she not already separated from him, and had not +their faiths been from the first at variance? From these thoughts she +started with sighs and tears; and before her stood the crucifix already +admitted into her chamber, and--not, perhaps, too wisely--banished so +rigidly from the oratories of the Huguenot. For the representation of +that Divine resignation, that mortal agony, that miraculous sacrifice, +what eloquence it hath for our sorrows! what preaching hath the symbol +to the vanities of our wishes, to the yearnings of our discontent! + +By degrees, as her new faith grew confirmed, Leila now inclined herself +earnestly to those pictures of the sanctity and calm of the conventual +life which Inez delighted to draw. In the reaction of her thoughts, and +her despondency of all worldly happiness, there seemed, to the young +maiden, an inexpressible charm in a solitude which was to release her +for ever from human love, and render her entirely up to sacred visions +and imperishable hopes. And with this selfish, there mingled a generous +and sublime sentiment. The prayers of a convert might be heard in favour +of those yet benighted: and the awful curse upon her outcast race +be lightened by the orisons of one humble heart. In all ages, in all +creeds, a strange and mystic impression has existed of the efficacy of +self-sacrifice in working the redemption even of a whole people: this +belief, so strong in the old orient and classic religions, was yet more +confirmed by Christianity--a creed founded upon the grandest of historic +sacrifices; and the lofty doctrine of which, rightly understood, +perpetuates in the heart of every believer the duty of self-immolation, +as well as faith in the power of prayer, no matter how great the object, +how mean the supplicator. On these thoughts Leila meditated, till +thoughts acquired the intensity of passions, and the conversion of the +Jewess was completed. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE HOUR AND THE MAN + +It was on the third morning after the King of Granada, reconciled to his +people, had reviewed his gallant army in the Vivarrambla; and Boabdil, +surrounded by his chiefs and nobles, was planning a deliberate and +decisive battle, by assault on the Christian camp,--when a scout +suddenly arrived, breathless, at the gates of the palace, to communicate +the unlooked-for and welcome intelligence that Ferdinand had in the +night broken up his camp, and marched across the mountains towards +Cordova. In fact, the outbreak of formidable conspiracies had suddenly +rendered the appearance of Ferdinand necessary elsewhere; and, his +intrigues with Almamen frustrated, he despaired of a very speedy +conquest of the city. The Spanish king resolved, therefore, after +completing the devastation of the Vega, to defer the formal and +prolonged siege, which could alone place Granada within his power, until +his attention was no longer distracted to other foes, and until, it must +be added, he had replenished an exhausted treasury. He had formed, with +Torquemada, a vast and wide scheme of persecution, not only against +Jews, but against Christians whose fathers had been of that race, +and who were suspected of relapsing into Judaical practices. The two +schemers of this grand design were actuated by different motives; the +one wished to exterminate the crime, the other to sell forgiveness for +it. And Torquemada connived at the griping avarice of the king, because +it served to give to himself, and to the infant Inquisition, a power and +authority which the Dominican foresaw would be soon greater even than +those of royalty itself, and which, he imagined, by scourging earth, +would redound to the interests of Heaven. + +The strange disappearance of Almamen, which was distorted and +exaggerated, by the credulity of the Spaniards, into an event of the +most terrific character, served to complete the chain of evidence +against the wealthy Jews, and Jew-descended Spaniards, of Andalusia; +and while, in imagination, the king already clutched the gold of their +redemption here, the Dominican kindled the flame that was to light them +to punishment hereafter. + +Boabdil and his chiefs received the intelligence of the Spanish retreat +with a doubt which soon yielded to the most triumphant delight. Boabdil +at once resumed all the energy for which, though but by fits and starts, +his earlier youth had been remarkable. + +"Alla Achbar! God is great!" cried he; "we will not remain here till +it suit the foe to confine the eagle again to his eyrie. They have left +us--we will burst on them. Summon our alfaquis, we will proclaim a holy +war! The sovereign of the last possessions of the Moors is in the field. +Not a town that contains a Moslem but shall receive our summons, and we +will gather round our standard all the children of our faith!" + +"May the king live for ever!" cried the council, with one voice. + +"Lose not a moment," resumed Boabdil--"on to the Vivarrambla, marshal +the troops--Muza heads the cavalry; myself our foot. Ere the sun's +shadow reach yonder forest, our army shall be on its march." + +The warriors, hastily and in joy, left the palace; and when he was +alone, Boabdil again relapsed into his wonted irresolution. After +striding to and fro for some minutes in anxious thought, he abruptly +quitted the hall of council, and passed in to the more private chambers +of the palace, till he came to a door strongly guarded by plates of +iron. It yielded easily, however, to a small key which he carried in his +girdle; and Boabdil stood in a small circular room, apparently without +other door or outlet; but, after looking cautiously round, the king +touched a secret spring in the wall, which, giving way, discovered a +niche, in which stood a small lamp, burning with the purest naphtha, +and a scroll of yellow parchment covered with strange letters and +hieroglyphics. He thrust the scroll in his bosom, took the lamp in his +hand, and pressing another spring within the niche, the wall receded, +and showed a narrow and winding staircase. The king reclosed the +entrance, and descended: the stairs led, at last, into clamp and rough +passages; and the murmur of waters, that reached his ear through the +thick walls, indicated the subterranean nature of the soil through which +they were hewn. The lamp burned clear and steady through the darkness of +the place; and Boabdil proceeded with such impatient rapidity, that +the distance (in reality, considerable) which he traversed, before he +arrived at his destined bourne, was quickly measured. He came at last +into a wide cavern, guarded by doors concealed and secret as those which +had screened the entrance from the upper air. He was in one of the many +vaults which made the mighty cemetery of the monarchs of Granada; and +before him stood the robed and crowned skeleton, and before him glowed +the magic dial-plate of which he had spoken in his interview with Muza. + +"Oh, dread and awful image!" cried the king, throwing himself on his +knees before the skeleton,--"shadow of what was once a king, wise in +council, and terrible in war, if in those hollow bones yet lurks the +impalpable and unseen spirit, hear thy repentant son. Forgive, while +it is yet time, the rebellion of his fiery youth, and suffer thy daring +soul to animate the doubt and weakness of his own. I go forth to battle, +waiting not the signal thou didst ordain. Let not the penance for a +rashness, to which fate urges me on, attach to my country, but to me. +And if I perish in the field, may my evil destinies be buried with me, +and a worthier monarch redeem my errors and preserve Granada!" + +As the king raised his looks, the unrelaxed grin of the grim dead, made +yet more hideous by the mockery of the diadem and the royal robe, froze +back to ice the passion and sorrow at his heart. He shuddered, and rose +with a deep sigh; when, as his eyes mechanically followed the lifted arm +of the skeleton, he beheld, with mingled delight and awe, the hitherto +motionless finger of the dial-plate pass slowly on, and rest at the word +so long and so impatiently desired. "ARM!" cried the king; "do I read +aright?--are my prayers heard?" A low and deep sound, like that of +subterranean thunder, boomed through the chamber; and in the same +instant the wall opened, and the king beheld the long-expected figure of +Almamen, the magician. But no longer was that stately form clad in the +loose and peaceful garb of the Eastern santon. Complete armour cased his +broad chest and sinewy limbs; his head alone was bare, and his prominent +and impressive features were lighted, not with mystical enthusiasm, but +with warlike energy. In his right hand, he carried a drawn sword--his +left supported the staff of a snow-white and dazzling banner. + +So sudden was the apparition, and so excited the mind of the king, that +the sight of a supernatural being could scarcely have impressed him with +more amaze and awe. + +"King of Granada," said Almamen, "the hour hath come at last; go forth +and conquer! With the Christian monarch, there is no hope of peace or +compact. At thy request I sought him, but my spells alone preserved the +life of thy herald. Rejoice! for thine evil destinies have rolled away +from thy spirit, like a cloud from the glory of the sun. The genii of +the East have woven this banner from the rays of benignant stars. It +shall beam before thee in the front of battle--it shall rise over the +rivers of Christian blood. As the moon sways the bosom of the tides, it +shall sway and direct the surges and the course of war!" + +"Man of mystery! thou hast given me a new life." + +"And, fighting by thy side," resumed Almamen, "I will assist to carve +out for thee, from the ruins of Arragon and Castile, the grandeur of +a new throne. Arm, monarch of Granada!--arm! I hear the neigh of thy +charger, in the midst of the mailed thousands! Arm!" + + + + + + +BOOK IV. + + + + +CHAPTER. I. LEILA IN THE CASTLE--THE SIEGE. + +The calmer contemplations and more holy anxieties of Leila were, at +length, broken in upon by intelligence, the fearful interest of which +absorbed the whole mind and care of every inhabitant of the castle. +Boabdil el Chico had taken the field, at the head of a numerous army. +Rapidly scouring the country, he had descended, one after one, upon the +principal fortresses, which Ferdinand had left, strongly garrisoned, +in the immediate neighbourhood. His success was as immediate as it was +signal; the terror of his arms began, once more to spread far and wide; +every day swelled his ranks with new recruits; and from the snow-clad +summits of the Sierra Nevada poured down, in wild hordes, the fierce +mountain race, who, accustomed to eternal winter, made a strange +contrast, in their rugged appearance and shaggy clothing, to the +glittering and civilised soldiery of Granada. + +Moorish towns, which had submitted to Ferdinand, broke from their +allegiance, and sent their ardent youth and experienced veterans to the +standard of the Keys and Crescent. To add to the sudden panic of the +Spaniards, it went forth that a formidable magician, who seemed inspired +rather with the fury of a demon than the valour of a man, had made an +abrupt appearance in the ranks of the Moslems. Wherever the Moors shrank +back from wall or tower, down which poured the boiling pitch, or rolled +the deadly artillery of the besieged, this sorcerer--rushing into the +midst of the flagging force, and waving, with wild gestures, a white +banner, supposed by both Moor and Christian to be the work of magic and +preternatural spells--dared every danger, and escaped every weapon: with +voice, with prayer, with example, he fired the Moors to an enthusiasm +that revived the first days of Mohammedan conquest; and tower after +tower, along the mighty range of the mountain chain of fortresses, was +polluted by the wave and glitter of the ever-victorious banner. The +veteran, Mendo de Quexada, who, with a garrison of two hundred and +fifty men, held the castle of Almamen, was, however, undaunted by the +unprecedented successes of Boabdil. Aware of the approaching storm, he +spent the days of peace yet accorded to him in making every preparation +for the siege that he foresaw; messengers were despatched to Ferdinand; +new out-works were added to the castle; ample store of provisions laid +in; and no precaution omitted that could still preserve to the Spaniards +a fortress that, from its vicinity to Granada, its command of the Vega +and the valleys of the Alpuxarras, was the bitterest thorn in the side +of the Moorish power. + +It was early, one morning, that Leila stood by the lattice of her lofty +chamber gazing, with many and mingled emotions, on the distant domes +of Granada, as they slept in the silent sunshine. Her heart, for the +moment, was busy with the thoughts of home, and the chances and peril of +the time were forgotten. + +The sound of martial music, afar off, broke upon her reveries; she +started, and listened breathlessly; it became more distinct and clear. +The clash of the zell, the boom of the African drum, and the wild and +barbarous blast of the Moorish clarion, were now each distinguishable +from the other; and, at length, as she gazed and listened, winding along +the steeps of the mountain were seen the gleaming spears and pennants of +the Moslem vanguard. Another moment and the whole castle was astir. + +Mendo de Quexada, hastily arming, repaired, himself, to the battlements; +and, from her lattice, Leila beheld him, from time to time, stationing +to the best advantage his scanty troops. In a few minutes she was joined +by Donna Inez and the women of the castle, who fearfully clustered round +their mistress,--not the less disposed, however, to gratify the passion +of the sex, by a glimpse through the lattice at the gorgeous array of +the Moorish army. + +The casements of Leila's chamber were peculiarly adapted to command a +safe nor insufficient view of the progress of the enemy; and, with a +beating heart and flushing cheek, the Jewish maiden, deaf to the voices +around her, imagined she could already descry amidst the horsemen the +lion port and snowy garments of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. + +What a situation was hers! Already a Christian, could she hope for the +success of the infidel? ever a woman, could she hope for the defeat of +her lover? But the time for meditation on her destiny was but brief; the +detachment of the Moorish cavalry was now just without the walls of the +little town that girded the castle, and the loud clarion of the heralds +summoned the garrison to surrender. + +"Not while one stone stands upon another!" was the short answer +of Quexada; and, in ten minutes afterwards, the sullen roar of the +artillery broke from wall and tower over the vales below. + +It was then that the women, from Leila's lattice, beheld, slowly +marshalling themselves in order, the whole power and pageantry of the +besieging army. Thick-serried--line after line, column upon column--they +spread below the frowning steep. The sunbeams lighted up that goodly +array, as it swayed, and murmured, and advanced, like the billows of a +glittering sea. The royal standard was soon descried waving above the +pavilion of Boabdil; and the king himself, mounted on his cream-coloured +charger, which was covered with trappings of cloth-of-gold, was +recognised amongst the infantry, whose task it was to lead the assault. + +"Pray with us, my daughter!" cried Inez, falling on her knees.-Alas! +what could Leila pray for? + +Four days and four nights passed away in that memorable siege; for the +moon, then at her full, allowed no respite, even in night itself. Their +numbers, and their vicinity to Granada, gave the besiegers the advantage +of constant relays, and troop succeeded to troop; so that the weary had +ever successors in the vigour of new assailants. + +On the fifth day, all of the fortress, save the keep (an immense tower), +was in the hands of the Moslems; and in this last hold, the worn-out and +scanty remnant of the garrison mustered, in the last hope of a brave, +despair. + +Quexada appeared, covered with gore and dust-his eyes bloodshot, his +cheek haggard and hollow, his locks blanched with sudden age-in the hall +of the tower, where the women, half dead with terror, were assembled. + +"Food!" cried he,--"food and wine!--it may be our last banquet." + +His wife threw her arms round him. "Not yet," he cried, "not yet; we +will have one embrace before we part." + +"Is there, then, no hope?" said Inez, with a pale cheek, yet steady eye. + +"None; unless to-morrow's dawn gild the spears of Ferdinand's army +upon yonder hills. Till morn we may hold out." As he spoke, he hastily +devoured some morsels of food, drained a huge goblet of wine, and +abruptly quitted the chamber. + +At that moment, the women distinctly heard the loud shouts of the Moors; +and Leila, approaching the grated casement, could perceive the approach +of what seemed to her like moving wails. + +Covered by ingenious constructions of wood and thick hides, the +besiegers advanced to the foot of the tower in comparative shelter from +the burning streams which still poured, fast and seething, from the +battlements; while, in the rear came showers of darts and cross-bolts +from the more distant Moors, protecting the work of the engineer, and +piercing through almost every loophole and crevice in the fortress. + +Meanwhile the stalwart governor beheld, with dismay and despair, the +preparations of the engineers, whom the wooden screen-works protected +from every weapon. + +"By the Holy Sepulchre!" cried he, gnashing his teeth, "they are mining +the tower, and we shall be buried in its ruins! Look out, Gonsalvo! see +you not a gleam of spears yonder over the mountain? Mine eyes are dim +with watching." + +"Alas! brave Mendo, it is only the sloping sun upon the snows--but there +is hope yet." + +The soldier's words terminated in a shrill and sudden cry of agony; and +he fell dead by the side of Quexada, the brain crushed by a bolt from a +Moorish arquebus. + +"My best warrior!" said Quexada; "peace be with him! Ho, there! see you +yon desperate infidel urging on the miners? By the heavens above, it is +he of the white banner!--it is the sorcerer! Fire on him! he is without +the shelter of the woodworks." + +Twenty shafts, from wearied and nerveless arms, fell innocuous round the +form of Almamen: and as, waving aloft his ominous banner, he disappeared +again behind the screen-works, the Spaniards almost fancied they could +hear his exulting and demon laugh. + +The sixth day came, and the work of the enemy was completed. The tower +was entirely undermined--the foundations rested only upon wooden props, +which, with a humanity that was characteristic of Boabdil, had been +placed there in order that the besieged might escape ere the final crash +of their last hold. + +It was now noon: the whole Moorish force, quitting the plain, occupied +the steep that spread below the tower, in multitudinous array and +breathless expectation. The miners stood aloof--the Spaniards lay +prostrate and exhausted upon the battlements, like mariners who, after +every effort against the storm, await, resigned, and almost indifferent, +the sweep of the fatal surge. + +Suddenly the lines of the Moors gave way, and Boabdil himself, with Muza +at his right hand, and Almamen on his left, advanced towards the foot of +the tower. At the same time, the Ethiopian guards, each bearing a torch, +marched slowly in the rear; and from the midst of them paced the +royal herald and sounded the last warning. The hush of the immense +armament--the glare of the torches, lighting the ebon faces and giant +forms of their bearers--the majestic appearance of the king himself--the +heroic aspect of Muza--the bare head and glittering banner of +Almamen--all combined with the circumstances of the time to invest the +spectacle with something singularly awful, and, perhaps, sublime. + +Quexada turned his eyes, mutely, round the ghastly faces of his +warriors, and still made not the signal. His lips muttered--his eyes +glared: when, suddenly, he heard below the wail of women; and the +thought of Inez, the bride of his youth, the partner of his age, came +upon him; and, with a trembling hand, he lowered the yet unquailing +standard of Spain. Then, the silence below broke into a mighty shout, +which shook the grim tower to its unsteady and temporary base. + +"Arise, my friends," he said, with a bitter sigh; "we have fought like +men--and our country will not blush for us." He descended the winding +stairs--his soldiers followed him with faltering steps: the gates of the +keep unfolded, and these gallant Christians surrendered themselves to +the Moor. + +"Do with it as you will," said Quexada, as he laid the keys at the hoofs +of Boabdil's barb; "but there are women in the garrison, who--" + +"Are sacred," interrupted the king. "At once we accord their liberty, +and free transport whithersoever ye would desire. Speak, then! To what +place of safety shall they be conducted?" + +"Generous king!" replied the veteran Quexada, brushing away his tears +with the back of his hand; "you take the sting from our shame. We accept +your offer in the same spirit in which it is made. Across the mountains, +on the verge of the plain of Olfadez, I possess a small castle, +ungarrisoned and unfortified. Thence, should the war take that +direction, the women can readily obtain safe conduct to the queen at +Cordova." + +"Be it so," returned Boabdil. Then, with Oriental delicacy, selecting +the eldest of the officers round him, he gave him instructions to enter +the castle, and, with a strong guard, provide for the safety of the +women, according to the directions of Quexada. To another of his +officers he confided the Spanish prisoners, and gave the signal to his +army to withdraw from the spot, leaving only a small body to complete +the ruin of the fortress. + +Accompanied by Almamen and his principal officers, Boabdil now hastened +towards Granada; and while, with slower progress, Quexada and his +companions, under a strong escort, took their way across the Vega, a +sudden turn in their course brought abruptly before them the tower they +had so valiantly defended. There it still stood, proud and stern, amidst +the blackened and broken wrecks around it, shooting aloft, dark and +grim, against the sky. Another moment, and a mighty crash sounded +on their ears, while the tower fell to the earth, amidst volumes of +wreathing smoke and showers of dust, which were borne, by the concussion +to the spot on which they took their last gaze of the proudest fortress +on which the Moors of Granada had beheld, from their own walls, the +standard of Arragon and Castile. + +At the same time, Leila--thus brought so strangely within the very +reach of her father and her lover, and yet, by a mysterious fate, still +divided from both,--with Donna Inez, and the rest of the females of the +garrison, pursued her melancholy path along the ridges of the mountains. + + + + +CHAPTER II. ALMAMEN'S PROPOSED ENTERPRISE.--THE THREE ISRAELITES--CIRCUMSTANCE +IMPRESSES EACH CHARACTER WITH A VARYING DIE. + +Boadbil followed up his late success with a series of brilliant assaults +on-the neighbouring fortresses. Granada, like a strong man bowed to the +ground, wrenched one after one the bands that had crippled her liberty +and strength; and, at length, after regaining a considerable portion of +the surrounding territory, the king resolved to lay siege to the seaport +of Salobrena. Could he obtain this town, Boabdil, by establishing +communication between the sea and Granada, would both be enabled to +avail himself of the assistance of his African allies, and also prevent +the Spaniards from cutting off supplies to the city, should they again +besiege it. Thither, then, accompanied by Muza, the Moorish king bore +his victorious standard. + +On the eve of his departure, Almamen sought the king's presence. A great +change had come over the canton since the departure of Ferdinand; his +wonted stateliness of mien was gone; his eyes were sunk and hollow; his +manner disturbed and absent. In fact, his love for his daughter made the +sole softness of his character; and that daughter was in the hands +of the king who had sentenced the father to the tortures of the +Inquisition! To what dangers might she not be subjected, by the +intolerant zeal of conversion! and could that frame, and gentle heart, +brave the terrific engines that might be brought against her fears? +"Better," thought he, "that she should perish, even by the torture, +than adopt that hated faith." He gnashed his teeth in agony at either +alternative. His dreams, his objects, his revenge, his ambition--all +forsook him: one single hope, one thought, completely mastered his +stormy passions and fitful intellect. + +In this mood the pretended santon met Boabdil. He represented to the +king, over whom his influence had prodigiously increased since the +late victories of the Moors, the necessity of employing the armies of +Ferdinand at a distance. He proposed, in furtherance of this policy, +to venture himself in Cordova; to endeavour secretly to stir up those +Moors, in that, their ancient kingdom, who had succumbed to the +Spanish yoke, and whose hopes might naturally be inflamed by the recent +successes of Boabdil; and, at least, to foment such disturbances as +might afford the king sufficient time to complete his designs, and +recruit his force by aid of the powers with which he was in league. + +The representations of Almamen at length conquered Boabdil's reluctance +to part with his sacred guide; and it was finally arranged that the +Israelite should at once depart from the city. + +As Almamen pursued homeward his solitary way, he found himself suddenly +accosted in the Hebrew tongue. He turned hastily, and saw before him an +old man in the Jewish gown: he recognised Elias, one of the wealthiest +and most eminent of the race of Israel. + +"Pardon me, wise countryman!" said the Jew, bowing to the earth, "but I +cannot resist the temptation of claiming kindred with one through whom +the horn of Israel may be so triumphantly exalted." + +"Hush, man!" said Almamen, quickly, and looking sharply round; "I thy +countryman! Art thou not, as thy speech betokens, an Israelite?" + +"Yea," returned the Jew, "and of the same tribe as thy honoured +father--peace be with his ashes! I remembered thee at once, boy +though thou wert when thy steps shook off the dust against Granada. +I remembered thee, I say, at once, on thy return; but I have kept thy +secret, trusting that, through thy soul and genius, thy fallen brethren +might put off sackcloth and feast upon the house-tops." + +Almamen looked hard at the keen, sharp, Arab features of the Jew; and at +length he answered, "And how can Israel be restored? wilt thou fight for +her?" + +"I am too old, son of Issachar, to bear arms; but our tribes are many, +and our youth strong. Amid these disturbances between dog and dog--" + +"The lion may get his own," interrupted Almamen, impetuously,--"let us +hope it. Hast thou heard of the new persecutions against us that the +false Nazarene king has already commenced in Cordova--persecutions that +make the heart sick and the blood cold?" + +"Alas!" replied Elias, "such woes indeed have not failed to reach mine +ear; and I have kindred, near and beloved kindred, wealthy and honoured +men, scattered throughout that land." + +"Were it not better that they should die on the field than by the rack?" +exclaimed Almamen, fiercely. "God of my fathers! if there be yet a spark +of manhood left amongst thy people, let thy servant fan it to a flame, +that shall burn as the fire burns the stubble, so that the earth may +bare before the blaze!" + +"Nay," said Elias, dismayed rather than excited by the vehemence of his +comrade,--"be not rash, son of Issachar, be not rash: peradventure thou +wilt but exasperate the wrath of the rulers, and our substance thereby +will be utterly consumed." + +Almamen drew back, placed his hand quietly on the Jew's shoulder, looked +him hard in the face, and, gently laughing, turned away. + +Elias did not attempt to arrest his steps. "Impracticable," he muttered; +"impracticable and dangerous! I always thought so. He may do us harm: +were he not so strong and fierce, I would put my knife under his left +rib. Verily, gold is a great thing; and--out on me! the knaves at home +will be wasting the oil, now they know old Elias is abroad." Thereat the +Jew drew his cloak around him, and quickened his pace. + +Almamen, in the meanwhile, sought, through dark and subterranean +passages, known only to himself, his accustomed home. He passed much +of the night alone; but, ere the morning star announced to the mountain +tops the presence of the sun, he stood, prepared for his journey, in his +secret vault, by the door of the subterranean passages, with old Ximen +beside him. + +"I go, Ximen," said Almamen, "upon a doubtful quest: whether I +discover my daughter, and succeed in bearing her in safety from their +contaminating grasp, or whether I fall into their snares and perish, +there is an equal chance that I may return no more to Granada. Should +this be so, you will be heir to such wealth as I leave in these places +I know that your age will be consoled for the lack of children when your +eyes look upon the laugh of gold." + +Ximen bowed low, and mumbled out some inaudible protestations and +thanks. Almamen sighed heavily as he looked round the room. "I have evil +omens in my soul, and evil prophecies in my books," said he, mournfully. +"But the worst is here," he added, putting his finger significantly to +his temples; "the string is stretched--one more blow would snap it." + +As he thus said, he opened the door and vanished through that labyrinth +of galleries by which he was enabled at all times to reach unobserved +either the palace of the Alhambra or the gardens without the gates of +the city. + +Ximen remained behind a few moments in deep thought. "All mine if he +dies!" said he: "all mine if he does not return! All mine, all mine! +and I have not a child nor a kinsman in the world to clutch it away from +me!" With that he locked the vault, and returned to the upper air. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE FUGITIVE AND THE MEETING + +In their different directions the rival kings were equally successful. +Salobrena, but lately conquered by the Christians, was thrown into a +commotion by the first glimpse of Boabdil's banners; the populace rose, +beat back their Christian guards, and opened the gates to the last +of their race of kings. The garrison alone, to which the Spaniards +retreated, resisted Boabdil's arms; and, defended by, impregnable walls, +promised an obstinate and bloody siege. + +Meanwhile, Ferdinand had no sooner entered Cordova than his extensive +scheme of confiscation and holy persecution commenced. Not only did more +than five hundred Jews perish in the dark and secret gripe of the Grand +Inquisitor, but several hundred of the wealthiest Christian families, in +whose blood was detected the hereditary Jewish taint, were thrown into +prison; and such as were most fortunate purchased life by the sacrifice +of half their treasures. At this time, however, there suddenly broke +forth a formidable insurrection amongst these miserable subjects--the +Messenians of the Iberian Sparta. The Jews were so far aroused from +their long debasement by omnipotent despair, that a single spark, +falling on the ashes of their ancient spirit, rekindled the flame of the +descendants of the fierce warriors of Palestine. They were encouraged +and assisted by the suspected Christians, who had been involved in +the same persecution; and the whole were headed by a man who appeared +suddenly amongst them, and whose fiery eloquence and martial spirit +produced, at such a season, the most fervent enthusiasm. Unhappily, the +whole details of this singular outbreak are withheld from us; only by +wary hints and guarded allusions do the Spanish chroniclers apprise us +of its existence and its perils. It is clear that all narrative of an +event that might afford the most dangerous precedent, and was alarming +to the pride and avarice of the Spanish king, as well as the pious zeal +of the Church, was strictly forbidden; and the conspiracy was hushed +in the dread silence of the Inquisition, into whose hands the principal +conspirators ultimately fell. We learn, only, that a determined and +sanguinary struggle was followed by the triumph of Ferdinand, and the +complete extinction of the treason. + +It was one evening, that a solitary fugitive, hard chased by an armed +troop of the brothers of St. Hermandad, was seen emerging from a wild +and rocky defile, which opened abruptly on the gardens of a small, +and, by the absence of fortification and sentries, seemingly deserted, +castle. Behind him; in the exceeding stillness which characterises the +air of a Spanish twilight, he heard, at a considerable distance the +blast of the horn and the tramp of hoofs. His pursuers, divided into +several detachments, were scouring the country after him, as the +fishermen draw their nets, from bank to bank, conscious that the +prey they drive before the meshes cannot escape them at the last. +The fugitive halted in doubt, and gazed round him: he was well-nigh +exhausted; his eyes were bloodshot; the large drops rolled fast down his +brow; his whole frame quivered and palpitated, like that of a stag when +he stands at bay. Beyond the castle spread a broad plain, far as the eye +could reach, without shrub or hollow to conceal his form: flight +across a space so favourable to his pursuers was evidently in vain. No +alternative was left unless he turned back on the very path taken by the +horsemen, or trusted to such scanty and perilous shelter as the copses +in the castle garden might afford him. He decided on the latter refuge, +cleared the low and lonely wall that girded the demesne, and plunged +into a thicket of overhanging oaks and chestnuts. + +At that hour, and in that garden, by the side of a little fountain, were +seated two females: the one of mature and somewhat advanced years; the +other, in the flower of virgin youth. But the flower was prematurely +faded; and neither the bloom, nor sparkle, nor undulating play of +feature, that should have suited her age, was visible in the marble +paleness and contemplative sadness of her beautiful countenance. + +"Alas! my young friend," said the elder of these ladies, "it is in these +hours of solitude and calm that we are most deeply impressed with the +nothingness of life. Thou, my sweet convert, art now the object, no +longer of my compassion, but my envy; and earnestly do I feel convinced +of the blessed repose thy spirit will enjoy in the lap of the Mother +Church. Happy are they who die young! but thrice happy they who die in +the spirit rather than the flesh: dead to sin, but not to virtue; to +terror, not to hope; to man, but not to God!" + +"Dear senora," replied the young maiden, mournfully, "were I alone on +earth, Heaven is my witness with what deep and thankful resignation I +should take the holy vows, and forswear the past; but the heart remains +human, however divine the hope that it may cherish. And sometimes +I start, and think of home, of childhood, of my strange but beloved +father, deserted and childless in his old age." + +"Thine, Leila," returned the elder Senora, "are but the sorrows our +nature is doomed to. What matter, whether absence or death sever the +affections? Thou lamentest a father; I, a son, dead in the pride of his +youth and beauty--a husband, languishing in the fetters of the Moor. +Take comfort for thy sorrows, in the reflection that sorrow is the +heritage of all." + +Ere Leila could reply, the orange-boughs that sheltered the spot where +they sat were put aside, and between the women and the fountain stood +the dark form of Almamen the Israelite. Leila rose, shrieked, and flung +herself, unconscious, on his breast. + +"O Lord of Israel!" cried Almamen, in atone of deep anguish. "I, then, +at last regain my child? Do I press her to my heart? and is it only +for that brief moment, when I stand upon the brink of death? Leila, my +child, look up! smile upon thy father; let him feel, on his maddening +and burning brow, the sweet breath of the last of his race, and bear +with him, at least, one holy and gentle thought to the dark grave." + +"My father! is it indeed my father?" said Leila, recovering herself, and +drawing back, that she might assure herself of that familiar face; "it +is thou! it is--it is! Oh! what blessed chance brings us together?" + +"That chance is the destiny that hurries me to my tomb," answered +Almamen, solemnly. "Hark! hear you not the sound of their rushing +steeds--their impatient voices? They are on me now!" + +"Who? Of whom speakest thou?" + +"My pursuers--the horsemen of the Spaniard." + +"Oh, senora, save him!" cried Leila, turning to Donna Inez, whom both +father and child had hitherto forgotten, and who now stood gazing upon +Almamen with wondering and anxious eyes. "Whither can he fly? The vaults +of the castle may conceal him. This way-hasten!" + +"Stay," said Inez, trembling, and approaching close to Almamen: "do +I see aright? and, amidst the dark change of years and trial, do I +recognise that stately form, which once contrasted to the sad eye of a +mother the drooping and faded form of her only son? Art thou not he who +saved my boy from the pestilence, who accompanied him to the shores +of Naples, and consigned him to these arms? Look on me! dost thou not +recall the mother of thy friend?" + +"I recall thy features dimly and as in a dream," answered the Hebrew; +"and while thou speakest, there rush upon me the memories of an earlier +time, in lands where Leila first looked upon the day, and her mother +sang to me at sunset by the stream of the Euphrates, and on the sites of +departed empires. Thy son--I remember now: I had friendship then with a +Christian--for I was still young." + +"Waste not the time--father--senora!" cried Leila, impatiently clinging +still to her father's breast. + +"You are right; nor shall your sire, in whom I thus wonderfully +recognise my son's friend, perish if I can save him." + +Inez then conducted her strange guest to a small door in the rear of the +castle; and after leading him through some of the principal apartments, +left him in one of the tiring-rooms adjoining her own chamber, and the +entrance to which the arras concealed. She rightly judged this a safer +retreat than the vaults of the castle might afford, since her great +name and known intimacy with Isabel would preclude all suspicion of her +abetting in the escape of the fugitive, and keep those places the most +secure in which, without such aid, he could not have secreted himself. + +In a few minutes, several of the troop arrived at the castle, and on +learning the name of its owner contented themselves with searching +the gardens, and the lower and more exposed apartments; and then +recommending to the servants a vigilant look-out remounted, and +proceeded to scour the plain, over which now slowly fell the starlight +and shade of night. When Leila stole, at last, to the room in which +Almamen was hid, she found him, stretched on his mantle, in a deep +sleep. Exhausted by all he had undergone, and his rigid nerves, as it +were, relaxed by the sudden softness of that interview with his child, +the slumber of that fiery wanderer was as calm as an infant's. And their +relation almost seemed reversed; and the daughter to be as a mother +watching over her offspring, when Leila seated herself softly by him, +fixing her eyes--to which the tears came ever, ever to be brushed +away-upon his worn but tranquil features, made yet more serene by the +quiet light that glimmered through the casement. And so passed the +hours of that night; and the father and the child--the meek convert, the +revengeful fanatic--were under the same roof. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. ALMAMEN HEARS AND SEES, BUT REFUSES TO BELIEVE; FOR THE BRAIN, +OVERWROUGHT, GROWS DULL, EVEN IN THE KEENEST. + +The dawn broke slowly upon the chamber, and Almamen still slept. It was +the Sabbath of the Christians--that day on which the Saviour rose from +the dead--thence named so emphatically and sublimely by the early Church +THE LORD'S DAY. + + [Before the Christian era, the Sunday was, however, called the + Lord's day--i.e., the day of the Lord the Sun.] + +And as the ray of the sun flashed in the east it fell like a glory, +over a crucifix, placed in the deep recess of the Gothic casement; and +brought startlingly before the eyes of Leila that face upon which the +rudest of the Catholic sculptors rarely fail to preserve the mystic and +awful union of the expiring anguish of the man with the lofty patience +of the God. It looked upon her, that face; it invited, it encouraged, +while it thrilled and subdued. She stole gently from the side of her +father; she crept to the spot, and flung herself on her knees beside the +consecrated image. + +"Support me, O Redeemer!" she murmured--"support thy creature! +strengthen her steps in the blessed path, though it divide her +irrevocably from all that on earth she loves: and if there be a +sacrifice in her solemn choice, accept, O Thou, the Crucified! accept +it, in part atonement of the crime of her stubborn race; and, hereafter, +let the lips of a maiden of Judaea implore thee, not in vain, for some +mitigation of the awful curse that hath fallen justly upon her tribe." + +As broken by low sobs, and in a choked and muttered voice, Leila poured +forth her prayer, she was startled by a deep groan; and turning, in +alarm she saw that Almamen had awaked, and, leaning on his arm, was now +bending upon her his dark eyes, once more gleaming with all their wonted +fire. + +"Speak," he said, as she coweringly hid her face, "speak to me, or I +shall be turned to stone by one horrid thought. It is not before that +symbol that thou kneelest in adoration; and my sense wanders, if it tell +me that thy broken words expressed the worship of an apostate? In mercy, +speak!" + +"Father!" began Leila; but her lips refused to utter more than that +touching and holy word. + +Almamen rose; and plucking the hands from her face, gazed on her some +moments, as if he would penetrate her very soul; and Leila, recovering +her courage in the pause, by degrees met his eyes unquailing--her pure +and ingenuous brow raised to his, and sadness, but not guilt, speaking +from every line of that lovely face. + +"Thou dost not tremble," said Almamen, at length, breaking the silence, +"and I have erred. Thou art not the criminal I deemed thee. Come to my +arms!" + +"Alas!" said Leila, obeying the instinct, and casting herself upon that +rugged bosom. "I will dare, at least, not to disavow my God. Father! by +that dread anathema which is on our race, which has made us homeless and +powerless--outcasts and strangers in the land; by the persecution +and anguish we have known, teach thy lordly heart that we are rightly +punished for the persecution and the anguish we doomed to Him, whose +footstep hallowed our native earth! FIRST, IN THE HISTORY of THE +WORLD, DID THE STERN HEBREWS INFLICT UPON MANKIND THE AWFUL CRIME OF +PERSECUTION FOR OPINIONS SAKE. The seed we sowed hath brought forth the +Dead Sea fruit upon which we feed. I asked for resignation and for hope: +I looked upon yonder cross, and I found both. Harden not thy heart; +listen to thy child; wise though thou be, and weak though her woman +spirit, listen to me." + +"Be dumb!" cried Almamen, in such a voice as might have come from the +charnel, so ghostly and deathly sounded its hollow tone; then, recoiling +some steps, he placed both his hands upon his temples, and muttered, +"Mad, mad! yes, yes, this is but a delirium, and I am tempted with a +devil! Oh, my child!" he resumed, in a voice that became, on the sudden, +inexpressibly tender and imploring, "I have been sorely tried; and I +dreamt a feverish dream of passion and revenge. Be thine the lips, and +thine the soothing hand, that shall wake me from it. Let us fly for ever +from these hated lands; let us leave to these miserable infidels their +bloody contest, careless which shall fall. To a soil on which the iron +heel does not clang, to an air where man's orisons rise, in solitude, to +the Great Jehovah, let us hasten our weary steps. Come! while the castle +yet sleeps, let us forth unseen--the father and the child. We will hold +sweet commune by the way. And hark ye, Leila," he added, in a low and +abrupt whisper, "talk not to me of yonder symbol; for thy God is a +jealous God, and hath no likeness in the graven image." + +Had he been less exhausted by long travail and racking thoughts, far +different, perhaps, would have been the language of a man so stern. But +circumstance impresses the hardest substance; and despite his native +intellect and affected superiority over others, no one, perhaps, was +more human, in his fitful moods,--his weakness and his strength, his +passion and his purpose,--than that strange man, who had dared, in his +dark studies and arrogant self-will, to aspire beyond humanity. + +That was, indeed, a perilous moment for the young convert. The +unexpected softness of her father utterly subdued her; nor was she +sufficiently possessed of that all-denying zeal of the Catholic +enthusiast to which every human tie and earthly duty has been often +sacrificed on the shrine of a rapt and metaphysical piety. Whatever her +opinions, her new creed, her secret desire of the cloister, fed as it +was by the sublime, though fallacious notion, that in her conversion, +her sacrifice, the crimes of her race might be expiated in the eyes of +Him whose death had been the great atonement of a world; whatever such +higher thoughts and sentiments, they gave way, at that moment, to the +irresistible impulse of household nature and of filial duty. Should she +desert her father, and could that desertion be a virtue? Her heart put +and answered both questions in a breath. She approached Almamen, placed +her hand in his, and said, steadily and calmly, "Father, wheresoever +thou goest, I will wend with thee." + +But Heaven ordained to each another destiny than might have been theirs, +had the dictates of that impulse been fulfilled. + +Ere Almamen could reply, a trumpet sounded clear and loud at the gate. + +"Hark!" he said, griping his dagger, and starting back to a sense of the +dangers round him. "They come--my pursuers and my murtherers!--but these +limbs are sacred from--the rack." + +Even that sound of ominous danger was almost a relief to Leila: "I +will go," she said, "and learn what the blast betokens; remain here--be +cautious--I will return." + +Several minutes, however, elapsed before Leila reappeared; she was +accompanied by Donna Inez, whose paleness and agitation betokened her +alarm. A courier had arrived at the gate to announce the approach of the +queen, who, with a considerable force, was on her way to join Ferdinand, +then, in the usual rapidity of his movements, before one of the Moorish +towns that had revolted from his allegiance. It was impossible for +Almamen to remain in safety in the castle; and the only hope of escape +was departing immediately and in disguise. + +"I have," she said, "a trusty and faithful servant with me in the +castle, to whom I can, without anxiety, confide the charge of your +safety; and even if suspected by the way, my name, and the companionship +of my servant, will remove all obstacles; it is not a long journey hence +to Guadix, which has already revolted to the Moors: there, till the +armies of Ferdinand surround the walls, your refuge may be secure." + +Almamen remained for some moments plunged in a gloomy silence. But, at +length, he signified his assent to the plan proposed, and Donna Inez +hastened to give the directions of his intended guide. + +"Leila," said the Hebrew, when left alone with his daughter, "think not +that it is for mine own safety that I stoop to this flight from thee. +No! but never till thou wert lost to me, by mine own rash confidence in +another, did I know how dear to my heart was the last scion of my race, +the sole memorial left to me of thy mother's love. Regaining thee once +more, a new and a soft existence opens upon my eyes; and the earth seems +to change, as by a sudden revolution, from winter into spring. For thy +sake, I consent to use all the means that man's intellect can devise for +preservation from my foes. Meanwhile, here will rest my soul; to this +spot, within one week from this period--no matter through what danger I +pass--I shall return: then I shall claim thy promise. I will arrange all +things for our flight, and no stone shall harm thy footstep by the way. +The Lord of Israel be with thee, my daughter, and strengthen thy heart! +But," he added, tearing himself from her embrace, as he heard steps +ascending to the chamber, "deem not that, in this most fond and fatherly +affection, I forget what is due to me and thee. Think not that my +love is only the brute and insensate feeling of the progenitor to the +offspring: I love thee for thy mother's sake--I love thee for thine +own--I love thee yet more for the sake of Israel. If thou perish, if +thou art lost to us, thou, the last daughter of the house of Issachar, +then the haughtiest family of God's great people is extinct." + +Here Inez appeared at the door, but withdrew, at the impatient +and lordly gesture of Almamen, who, without further heed of the +interruption, resumed: + +"I look to thee, and thy seed, for the regeneration which I once +trusted, fool that I was, mine own day might see effected. Let this +pass. Thou art under the roof of the Nazarene. I will not believe that +the arts we have resisted against fire and sword can prevail with thee. +But, if I err, awful will be the penalty! Could I once know that thou +hadst forsaken thy ancestral creed, though warrior and priest stood by +thee, though thousands and ten thousands were by thy right hand, this +steel should save the race of Issachar from dishonour. Beware! Thou +weepest; but, child, I warn, not threaten. God be with thee!" + +He wrung the cold hand of his child, turned to the door, and, after such +disguise as the brief time allowed him could afford, quitted the castle +with his Spanish guide, who, accustomed to the benevolence of his +mistress, obeyed her injunction without wonder, though not without +suspicion. + +The third part of an hour had scarcely elapsed, and the sun was yet on +the mountain-tops, when Isabel arrived. She came to announce that +the outbreaks of the Moorish towns in the vicinity rendered the +half-fortified castle of her friend no longer a secure abode; and she +honoured the Spanish lady with a command to accompany her, with her +female suite, to the camp of Ferdinand. + +Leila received the intelligence with a kind of stupor. Her interview +with her father, the strong and fearful contests of emotion which that +interview occasioned, left her senses faint and dizzy; and when she +found herself, by the twilight star, once more with the train of +Isabel, the only feeling that stirred actively through her stunned and +bewildered mind, was, that the hand of Providence conducted her from a +temptation that, the Reader of all hearts knew, the daughter and woman +would have been too feeble to resist. + +On the fifth day from his departure, Almamen returned to find the castle +deserted, and his daughter gone. + + + + +CHAPTER V. IN THE FERMENT OF GREAT EVENTS THE DREGS RISE. + +The Israelites did not limit their struggles to the dark conspiracy to +which allusion has been made. In some of the Moorish towns that +revolted from Ferdinand, they renounced the neutrality they had hitherto +maintained between Christian and Moslem. Whether it was that they were +inflamed by the fearful and wholesale barbarities enforced by Ferdinand +and the Inquisition against their tribe, or whether they were stirred up +by one of their own order, in whom was recognised the head of their +most sacred family; or whether, as is most probable, both causes +combined--certain it is, that they manifested a feeling that was +thoroughly unknown to the ordinary habits and policy of that peaceable +people. They bore great treasure to the public stock--they demanded +arms, and, under their own leaders, were admitted, though with much +jealousy and precaution, into the troops of the arrogant and disdainful +Moslems. + +In this conjunction of hostile planets, Ferdinand had recourse to his +favourite policy of wile and stratagem. Turning against the Jews the +very treaty Almamen had once sought to obtain in their favour, he caused +it to be circulated, privately, that the Jews, anxious to purchase their +peace with him, had promised to betray the Moorish towns, and Granada +itself into his hands. The paper, which Ferdinand himself had signed in +his interview with Almamen, and of which, on the capture of the Hebrew, +he had taken care to repossess himself, he gave to a spy whom he sent, +disguised as a Jew, into one of the revolted cities. + +Private intelligence reached the Moorish ringleader of the arrival of +this envoy. He was seized, and the document found on his person. The +form of the words drawn up by Almamen (who had carefully omitted mention +of his own name--whether that which he assumed, or that which, by birth, +he should have borne) merely conveyed the compact, that if by a Jew, +within two weeks from the date therein specified, Granada was delivered +to the Christian king, the Jews should enjoy certain immunities and +rights. + +The discovery of this document filled the Moors of the city to which +the spy had been sent with a fury that no words can describe. Always +distrusting their allies, they now imagined they perceived the sole +reason of their sudden enthusiasm, of their demand for arms. The mob +rose: the principal Jews were seized and massacred without trial; +some by the wrath of the multitude, some by the slower tortures of the +magistrate. Messengers were sent to the different revolted towns, and, +above all, to Granada itself, to put the Moslems on their guard against +these unhappy enemies of either party. At once covetous and ferocious, +the Moors rivalled the Inquisition in their cruelty, and Ferdinand in +their extortion. + +It was the dark fate of Almamen, as of most premature and heated +liberators of the enslaved, to double the terrors and the evils he had +sought to cure. The warning arrived at Granada at a time in which the +vizier, Jusef, had received the commands of his royal master, still +at the siege of Salobrena, to use every exertion to fill the wasting +treasuries. Fearful of new exactions against the Moors, the vizier +hailed, as a message from Heaven, so just a pretext for a new and +sweeping impost on the Jews. The spendthrift violence of the mob was +restrained, because it was headed by the authorities, who were wisely +anxious that the state should have no rival in the plunder it required; +and the work of confiscation and robbery was carried on with a majestic +and calm regularity, which redounded no less to the credit of Jusef than +it contributed to the coffers of the king. + +It was late, one evening, when Ximen was making his usual round through +the chambers of Almamen's house. As he glanced around at the various +articles of wealth and luxury, he ever and anon burst into a low, fitful +chuckle, rubbed his lean hands, and mumbled out, "If my master should +die! if my master should die!" + +While thus engaged, he heard a confused and distant shout; and, +listening attentively, he distinguished a cry, grown of late +sufficiently familiar, of, "Live, Jusef the just--perish, the traitor +Jews!" + +"Ah!" said Ximen, as the whole character of his face changed; "some new +robbery upon our race! And this is thy work, son of Issachar! Madman +that thou wert, to be wiser than thy sires, and seek to dupe the +idolaters in the council chamber and the camp--their field, their +vantage ground; as the bazaar and the market-place are ours. None +suspect that the potent santon is the traitor Jew; but I know it! I +could give thee to the bow-string--and, if thou Overt dead, all thy +goods and gold, even to the mule at the manger, would be old Ximen's." + +He paused at that thought, shut his eyes, and smiled at the prospect his +fancy conjured up and completing his survey, retired to his own chamber, +which opened, by a small door, upon one of the back courts. He had +scarcely reached the room, when he heard a low tap at the outer door; +and, when it was thrice repeated, he knew that it was one of his +Jewish-brethren. For Ximen--as years, isolation, and avarice gnawed +away whatever of virtue once put forth some meagre fruit from a heart +naturally bare and rocky--still reserved one human feeling towards his +countrymen. It was the bond which unites all the persecuted: and Ximen +loved them, because he could not envy their happiness. The power--the +knowledge--the lofty, though wild designs of his master, stung and +humbled him--he secretly hated, because he could not compassionate or +contemn him. But the bowed frame, and slavish voice, and timid nerves of +his crushed brotherhood presented to the old man the likeness of things +that could not exult over him. Debased and aged, and solitary as he +was, he felt a kind of wintry warmth in the thought that even he had the +power to protect! + +He thus maintained an intercourse with his fellow Israelites; and often, +in their dangers, had afforded them a refuge in the numerous vaults +and passages, the ruins of which may still be descried beneath the +mouldering foundations of that mysterious mansion. And, as the house +was generally supposed the property of an absent emir, and had been +especially recommended to the care of the cadis by Boabdil, who alone +of the Moors knew it as one of the dwelling-places of the santon, +whose ostensible residence was in apartments allotted to him within the +palace,--it was, perhaps, the sole place within Granada which afforded +an unsuspected and secure refuge to the hunted Israelites. + +When Ximen recognised the wonted signal of his brethren, he crawled to +the door; and, after the precaution of a Hebrew watchword, replied to +in the same tongue, he gave admittance to the tall and stooping frame of +the rich Elias. + +"Worthy and excellent master!" said Ximen, after again securing the +entrance; "what can bring the honoured and wealthy Elias to the chamber +of the poor hireling?" + +"My friend," answered the Jew; "call me not wealthy, nor honoured. For +years I have dwelt within the city; safe and respected, even by the +Moslemin; verily and because I have purchased with jewel and treasure +the protection of the king and the great men. But now, alas! in the +sudden wrath of the heathen--ever imagining vain things--I have been +summoned into the presence of their chief rabbi, and only escaped the +torture by a sum that ten years of labour and the sweat of my brow +cannot replace. Ximen! the bitterest thought of all is, that the frenzy +of one of our own tribe has brought this desolation upon Israel." + +"My lord speaks riddles," said Ximen, with well-feigned astonishment in +his glassy eyes. + +"Why dost thou wind and turn, good Ximen?" said the Jew, shaking his +head; "thou knowest well what my words drive at. Thy master is the +pretended Almamen; and that recreant Israelite (if Israelite, indeed, +still be one who hath forsaken the customs and the forms of his +forefathers) is he who hath stirred up the Jews of Cordova and Guadix, +and whose folly hath brought upon us these dread things. Holy Abraham! +this Jew hath cost me more than fifty Nazarenes and a hundred Moors." + +Ximen remained silent; and, the tongue of Elias being loosed by the +recollection of his sad loss, the latter continued: "At the first, when +the son of Issachar reappeared, and became a counsellor in the king's +court, I indeed, who had led him, then a child, to the synagogue--for +old Issachar was to me dear as a brother--recognised him by his eyes and +voice: but I exulted in his craft and concealment; I believed he would +work mighty things for his poor brethren, and would obtain, for his +father's friend, the supplying of the king's wives and concubines with +raiment and cloth of price. But years have passed: he hath not lightened +our burthens; and, by the madness that hath of late come over him, +heading the heathen armies, and drawing our brethren into danger and +death, he hath deserved the curse of the synagogue, and the wrath of our +whole race. I find, from our brethren who escaped the Inquisition by +the surrender of their substance, that his unskilful and frantic schemes +were the main pretext for the sufferings of the righteous under the +Nazarene; and, again, the same schemes bring on us the same oppression +from the Moor. Accursed be he, and may his name perish!" + +Ximen sighed, but remained silent, conjecturing to what end the Jew +would bring his invectives. He was not long in suspense. After a pause, +Elias recommenced, in an altered and more careless tone, "He is rich, +this son of Issachar--wondrous rich." + +"He has treasures scattered over half the cities of Africa and the +Orient," said Ximen. + +"Thou seest, then, my friend, that thy master hath doomed me to a heavy +loss. I possess his secret; I could give him up 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, and +hastened to bury himself in the Alhambra. As he passed dejectedly into +the women's apartments, his stern mother met him. + +"My son," she said, bitterly, "dost thou return and not a conqueror?" + +Before Boabdil could reply, a light and rapid step sped through the +glittering arcades; and weeping with joy, and breaking all the Oriental +restraints, Amine fell upon his bosom. "My beloved! my king! light of +mine eyes! thou hast returned. Welcome--for thou art safe." + +The different form of these several salutations struck Boabdil forcibly. +"Thou seest, my mother," said he, "how great the contrast between +those who love us from affection, and those who love us from pride. In +adversity, God keep me, O my mother, from thy tongue!" + +"But I love thee from pride, too," murmured Amine; "and for that reason +is thine adversity dear to me, for it takes thee from the world to make +thee more mine own and I am proud of the afflictions that my hero shares +with his slave." + +"Lights there, and the banquet!" cried the king, turning from his +haughty mother; "we will feast and be merry while we may. My adored +Amine, kiss me!" + +Proud, melancholy, and sensitive as he was in that hour of reverse, +Boabdil felt no grief: such balm has Love for our sorrows, when its +wings are borrowed from the dove! And although the laws of the Eastern +life confined to the narrow walls of a harem the sphere of Amine's +gentle influence; although, even in romance, THE NATURAL compels us to +portray her vivid and rich colours only in a faint and hasty sketch, yet +still are left to the outline the loveliest and the noblest features of +the sex--the spirit to arouse us to exertion, the softness to console us +in our fall! + +While Boabdil and the body of the army remained in the city, Muza, +with a chosen detachment of the horse, scoured the country to visit the +newly-acquired cities, and sustain their courage. + +From this charge he was recalled by the army of Ferdinand, which once +more poured down into the Vega, completely devastated its harvests, and +then swept back to consummate the conquests of the revolted towns. +To this irruption succeeded an interval of peace--the calm before the +storm. From every part of Spain, the most chivalric and resolute of the +Moors, taking advantage of the pause in the contest, flocked to Granada; +and that city became the focus of all that paganism in Europe possessed +of brave and determined spirits. + +At length, Ferdinand, completing his conquests, and having refilled +his treasury, mustered the whole force of his dominions--forty thousand +foot, and ten thousand horse; and once more, and for the last +time, appeared before the walls of Granada. A solemn and prophetic +determination filled both besiegers and besieged: each felt that the +crowning crisis was at hand. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE CONFLAGRATION.--THE MAJESTY OF AN INDIVIDUAL PASSION IN THE MIDST OF +HOSTILE THOUSANDS. + +It was the eve of a great and general assault upon Granada, deliberately +planned by the chiefs of the Christian army. The Spanish camp (the most +gorgeous Christendom had ever known) gradually grew calm and hushed. The +shades deepened--the stars burned forth more serene and clear. Bright, +in that azure air, streamed the silken tents of the court, blazoned with +heraldic devices, and crowned by gaudy banners, which, filled by a brisk +and murmuring wind from the mountains, flaunted gaily on their gilded +staves. In the centre of the camp rose the pavilion of the queen--a +palace in itself. Lances made its columns; brocade and painted arras +its walls; and the space covered by its numerous compartments would have +contained the halls and outworks of an ordinary castle. The pomp of +that camp realised the wildest dreams of Gothic, coupled with Oriental +splendour; something worthy of a Tasso to have imagined, or a Beckford +to create. Nor was the exceeding costliness of the more courtly tents +lessened in effect by those of the soldiery in the outskirts, many of +which were built from boughs, still retaining their leaves--savage and +picturesque huts;--as if, realising old legends, wild men of the woods +had taken up the cross, and followed the Christian warriors against the +swarthy followers of Termagaunt and Mahound. There, then, extended that +mighty camp in profound repose, as the midnight threw deeper and longer +shadows over the sward from the tented avenues and canvas streets. +It was at that hour that Isabel, in the most private recess of her +pavilion, was employed in prayer for the safety of the king, and the +issue of the Sacred War. Kneeling before the altar of that warlike +oratory, her spirit became rapt and absorbed from earth in the intensity +of her devotions; and in the whole camp (save the sentries), the eyes +of that pious queen were, perhaps, the only ones unclosed. All was +profoundly still; her guards, her attendants, were gone to rest; and +the tread of the sentinel, without that immense pavilion, was not heard +through the silken walls. + +It was then that Isabel suddenly felt a strong grasp upon her shoulder, +as she still knelt by the altar. A faint shriek burst from her lips; she +turned, and the broad curved knife of an eastern warrior gleamed close +before her eyes. + +"Hush! utter a cry, breathe more loudly than thy wont, and, queen though +thou art, in the centre of swarming thousands, thou diest!" + +Such were the words that reached the ear of the royal Castilian, +whispered by a man of stern and commanding, though haggard aspect. + +"What is thy purpose? wouldst thou murder me?" said the queen, +trembling, perhaps for the first time, before a mortal presence. + +"Thy life is safe, if thou strivest not to delude or to deceive me. Our +time is short--answer me. I am Almamen, the Hebrew. Where is the hostage +rendered to thy hands? I claim my child. She is with thee--I know it. In +what corner of thy camp?" + +"Rude stranger!" said Isabel, recovering somewhat from her alarm,--"thy +daughter is removed, I trust for ever, from thine impious reach. She is +not within the camp." + +"Lie not, Queen of Castile," said Almamen, raising his knife; "for days +and weeks I have tracked thy steps, followed thy march, haunted even +thy slumbers, though men of mail stood as guards around them; and I +know that my daughter has been with thee. Think not I brave this danger +without resolves the most fierce and dread. Answer me, where is my +child?" + +"Many days since," said Isabel, awed, despite herself, by her strange +position,--"thy daughter left the camp for the house of God. It was her +own desire. The Saviour hath received her into His fold." + +Had a thousand lances pierced his heart, the vigour and energy of life +could scarce more suddenly have deserted Almamen. The rigid muscles +of his countenance relaxed at once, from resolve and menace, into +unutterable horror, anguish, and despair. He recoiled several steps; his +knees trembled violently; he seemed stunned by a death-blow. Isabel, the +boldest and haughtiest of her sex, seized that moment of reprieve; +she sprang forward, darted through the draperies into the apartments +occupied by her train, and, in a moment, the pavilion resounded with her +cries for aid. The sentinels were aroused; retainers sprang from their +pillows; they heard the cause of the alarm; they made to the spot; when, +ere they reached its partition of silk, a vivid and startling blaze +burst forth upon them. The tent was on fire. The materials fed the flame +like magic. Some of the guards had yet the courage to dash forward; +but the smoke and the glare drove them back, blinded and dizzy. Isabel +herself had scarcely time for escape, so rapid was the conflagration. +Alarmed for her husband, she rushed to his tent--to find him already +awakened by the noise, and issuing from its entrance, his drawn sword +in his hand. The wind, which had a few minutes before but curled the +triumphant banners, now circulated the destroying flame. It spread +from tent to tent, almost as a flash of lightning that shoots along +neighbouring clouds. The camp was in one continued blaze, ere a man +could dream of checking the conflagration. + +Not waiting to hear the confused tale of his royal consort, Ferdinand, +exclaiming, "The Moors have done this--they will be on us!" ordered the +drums to beat and the trumpets to sound, and hastened in person, +wrapped merely in his long mantle, to alarm his chiefs. While that +well-disciplined and veteran army, fearing every moment the rally of the +foe, endeavoured rapidly to form themselves into some kind of order, the +flame continued to spread till the whole heavens were illumined. By its +light, cuirass and helmet glowed, as in the furnace, and the armed men +seemed rather like life-like and lurid meteors than human forms. The +city of Granada was brought near to them by the intensity of the glow; +and, as a detachment of cavalry spurred from the camp to meet the +anticipated surprise of the Paynims, they saw, upon the walls and roofs +of Granada, the Moslems clustering and their spears gleaming. But, +equally amazed with the Christians, and equally suspicious of craft +and design, the Moors did not issue from their gates. Meanwhile the +conflagration, as rapid to die as to begin, grew fitful and feeble; and +the night seemed to fall with a melancholy darkness over the ruin of +that silken city. + +Ferdinand summoned his council. He had now perceived it was no ambush of +the Moors. The account of Isabel, which, at last, he comprehended; the +strange and almost miraculous manner in which Almamen had baffled his +guards, and penetrated to the royal tent; might have aroused his Gothic +superstition, while it relieved his more earthly apprehensions, if he +had not remembered the singular, but far from supernatural dexterity +with which Eastern warriors and even robbers continued then, as now, to +elude the most vigilant precautions and baffle the most wakeful guards; +and it was evident that the fire which burned the camp of an army had +been kindled merely to gratify the revenge, or favour the escape of an +individual. Shaking, therefore, from his kingly spirit the thrill of +superstitious awe that the greatness of the disaster, when associated +with the name of a sorcerer, at first occasioned, he resolved to make +advantage out of misfortune itself. The excitement, the wrath of the +troops, produced the temper most fit for action. + +"And Heaven," said the King of Spain to his knights and chiefs, as +they assembled round him, "has, in this conflagration, announced to the +warriors of the Cross, that henceforth their camp shall be the palaces +of Granada! Woe to the Moslem with to-morrow's sun!" + +Arms clanged, and swords leaped from their sheaths, as the Christian +knights echoed the anathema--"WOE TO THE MOSLEM!" + + + + + + +BOOK V. + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE GREAT BATTLE. + +The day slowly dawned upon that awful night; and the Moors, still upon +the battlements of Granada, beheld the whole army of Ferdinand on its +march towards their wails. At a distance lay the wrecks of the blackened +and smouldering camp; while before them, gaudy and glittering pennons +waving, and trumpets sounding, came the exultant legions of the foe. +The Moors could scarcely believe their senses. Fondly anticipating +the retreat of the Christians, after so signal a disaster, the gay +and dazzling spectacle of their march to the assault filled them with +consternation and alarm. + +While yet wondering and inactive, the trumpet of Boabdil was heard +behind; and they beheld the Moorish king, at the head of his guards, +emerging down the avenues that led to the gate. The sight restored and +exhilarated the gazers; and, when Boabdil halted in the space before +the portals, the shout of twenty thousand warriors rose ominously to the +ears of the advancing Christians. + +"Men of Granada!" said Boabdil, as soon as the deep and breathless +silence had succeeded to that martial acclamation,--"the advance of the +enemy is to their destruction! In the fire of last night the hand of +Allah wrote their doom. Let us forth, each and all! We will leave our +homes unguarded--our hearts shall be their wall! True, that our numbers +are thinned by famine and by slaughter, but enough of us are yet left +for the redemption of Granada. Nor are the dead departed from us: the +dead fight with us--their souls animate our own. He who has lost a +brother, becomes twice a man. On this battle we will set all. Liberty or +chains! empire or exile! victory or death! Forward!" + +He spoke, and gave the rein to his barb. It bounded forward, and cleared +the gloomy arch of the portals, and Boabdil el Chico was the first Moor +who issued from Granada, to that last and eventful field. Out, then, +poured, as a river that rushes from caverns into day, the burnished and +serried files of the Moorish cavalry. Muza came the last, closing the +array. Upon his dark and stern countenance there spoke not the ardent +enthusiasm of the sanguine king. It was locked and rigid; and the +anxieties of the last dismal weeks had thinned his cheeks, and ploughed +deep lines around the firm lips and iron jaw which bespoke the obstinate +and unconquerable resolution of his character. + +As Muza now spurred forward, and, riding along the wheeling ranks, +marshalled them in order, arose the acclamation of female voices; and +the warriors, who looked back at the sound, saw that their women--their +wives and daughters, their mothers and their beloved (released from +their seclusion, by a policy which bespoke the desperation of +the cause)--were gazing at them, with outstretched arms, from the +battlements and towers. The Moors knew that they were now to fight for +their hearths and altars in the presence of those who, if they failed, +became slaves and harlots; and each Moslem felt his heart harden like +the steel of his own sabre. + +While the cavalry formed themselves into regular squadrons, and the +tramp of the foemen came more near and near, the Moorish infantry, +in miscellaneous, eager, and undisciplined bands, poured out, until, +spreading wide and deep below the walls, Boabdil's charger was seen, +rapidly careering amongst them, as, in short but distinct directions, +or fiery adjurations, he sought at once to regulate their movements, and +confirm their hot but capricious valour. + +Meanwhile the Christians had abruptly halted; and the politic Ferdinand +resolved not to incur the full brunt of a whole population, in the first +flush of their enthusiasm and despair. He summoned to his side Hernando +del Pulgar, and bade him, with a troop of the most adventurous and +practised horsemen, advance towards the Moorish cavalry, and endeavour +to draw the fiery valour of Muza away from the main army. Then, +splitting up his force into several sections, he dismissed each to +different stations; some to storm the adjacent towers, others to fire +the surrounding gardens and orchards; so that the action might consist +rather of many battles than of one, and the Moors might lose the +concentration and union, which made, at present, their most formidable +strength. + +Thus, while the Mussulmans were waiting in order for the attack, they +suddenly beheld the main body of the Christians dispersing, and, while +yet in surprise and perplexed, they saw the fires breaking out from +their delicious gardens, to the right and left of the walls, and hear +the boom of the Christian artillery against the scattered bulwarks that +guarded the approaches of that city. + +At that moment a cloud of dust rolled rapidly towards the post occupied +in the van by Muza, and the shock of the Christian knights, in their +mighty mail, broke upon the centre of the prince's squadron. + +Higher, by several inches, than the plumage of his companions, waved +the crest of the gigantic del Pulgar; and, as Moor after Moor went +down before his headlong lance, his voice, sounding deep and sepulchral +through his visor, shouted out--"Death to the infidel!" + +The rapid and dexterous horsemen of Granada were not, however, +discomfited by this fierce assault: opening their ranks with +extraordinary celerity, they suffered the charge to pass comparatively +harmless through their centre, and then, closing in one long and +bristling line, cut off the knights from retreat. The Christians wheeled +round, and charged again upon their foe. + +"Where art thou, O Moslem dog! that wouldst play the lion'?--Where art +thou, Muza Ben Abil Gazan'?" + +"Before thee, Christian!" cried a stern and clear voice; and from +amongst the helmets of his people, gleamed the dazzling turban of the +Moor. + +Hernando checked his steed, gazed a moment at his foe, turned back, +for greater impetus to his charge, and, in a moment more, the bravest +warriors of the two armies met, lance to lance. + +The round shield of Muza received the Christian's weapon; his own spear +shivered, harmless, upon the breast of the giant. He drew his sword, +whirled it rapidly over his head, and, for some minutes, the eyes of +the bystanders could scarcely mark the marvellous rapidity with which +strokes were given and parried by those redoubted swordsmen. + +At length, Hernando, anxious to bring to bear his superior strength, +spurred close to Muza; and, leaving his sword pendant by a thong to his +wrist, seized the shield of Muza in his formidable grasp, and plucked +it away, with a force that the Moor vainly endeavoured to resist: +Muza, therefore, suddenly released his bold; and, ere the Spaniard +had recovered his balance (which was lost by the success of his own +strength, put forth to the utmost), he dashed upon him the hoofs of his +black charger, and with a short but heavy mace, which he caught up from +the saddlebow, dealt Hernando so thundering a blow upon the helmet, that +the giant fell to the ground, stunned and senseless. + +To dismount, to repossess himself of his shield, to resume his sabre, to +put one knee to the breast of his fallen foe, was the work of a moment; +and then had Don Hernando del Pulgar been sped, without priest or +surgeon, but that, alarmed by the peril of their most valiant comrade, +twenty knights spurred at once to the rescue, and the points of twenty +lances kept the Lion of Granada from his prey. Thither, with similar +speed, rushed the Moorish champions; and the fight became close and +deadly round the body of the still unconscious Christian. Not an instant +of leisure to unlace the helmet of Hernando, by removing which, alone, +the Moorish blade could find a mortal place, was permitted to Muza; and, +what with the spears and trampling hoofs around him, the situation of +the Paynim was more dangerous than that of the Christian. Meanwhile, +Hernando recovered his dizzy senses; and, made aware of his state, +watched his occasion, and suddenly shook off the knee of the Moor. +With another effort he was on his feet and the two champions stood +confronting each other, neither very eager to renew the combat. But +on foot, Muza, daring and rash as he was, could not but recognise his +disadvantage against the enormous strength and impenetrable armour of +the Christian. He drew back, whistled to his barb, that, piercing the +ranks of the horsemen, was by his side on the instant, remounted, +and was in the midst of the foe, almost ere the slower Spaniard was +conscious of his disappearance. + +But Hernando was not delivered from his enemy. Clearing a space around +him, as three knights, mortally wounded, fell beneath his sabre, Muza +now drew from behind his shoulder his short Arabian bow, and shaft after +shaft came rattling upon the mail of the dismounted Christian with +so marvellous a celerity, that, encumbered as he was with his heavy +accoutrements, he was unable either to escape from the spot, or ward off +that arrowy rain; and felt that nothing but chance, or Our Lady, could +prevent the death which one such arrow would occasion, if it should find +the opening of the visor, or the joints of the hauberk. + +"Mother of Mercy," groaned the knight, perplexed and enraged, "let not +thy servant be shot down like a hart, by this cowardly warfare; but, if +I must fall, be it with mine enemy, grappling hand to hand." + +While yet muttering this short invocation, the war-cry of Spain was +heard hard by, and the gallant company of Villena was seen scouring +across the plain to the succour of their comrades. The deadly attention +of Muza was distracted from individual foes, however eminent; he wheeled +round, re-collected his men, and, in a serried charge, met the new enemy +in midway. + +While the contest thus fared in that part of the field, the scheme of +Ferdinand had succeeded so far as to break up the battle in detached +sections. Far and near, plain, grove, garden, tower, presented each the +scene of obstinate and determined conflict. Boabdil, at the head of +his chosen guard, the flower of the haughtier tribe of nobles who were +jealous of the fame and blood of the tribe of Muza, and followed also +by his gigantic Ethiopians, exposed his person to every peril, with the +desperate valour of a man who feels his own stake is greatest in the +field. As he most distrusted the infantry, so amongst the infantry he +chiefly bestowed his presence; and wherever he appeared, he sufficed, +for the moment, to turn the changes of the engagement. At length, at +mid-day Ponce de Leon led against the largest detachment of the Moorish +foot a strong and numerous battalion of the best-disciplined and veteran +soldiery of Spain. He had succeeded in winning a fortress, from which +his artillery could play with effect; and the troops he led were +composed, partly of men flushed with recent triumph, and partly of +a fresh reserve, now first brought into the field. A comely and a +breathless spectacle it was to behold this Christian squadron emerging +from a blazing copse, which they fired on their march; the red light +gleaming on their complete armour, as, in steady and solemn order, they +swept on to the swaying and clamorous ranks of the Moorish infantry. +Boabdil learned the danger from his scouts; and hastily quitting a +tower from which he had for a while repulsed a hostile legion, he threw +himself into the midst of the battalions menaced by the skilful Ponce +de Leon. Almost at the same moment, the wild and ominous apparition of +Almamen, long absent from the eyes of the Moors, appeared in the same +quarter, so suddenly and unexpectedly, that none knew whence he had +emerged; the sacred standard in his left hand--his sabre, bared and +dripping gore, in his right--his face exposed, and its powerful features +working with an excitement that seemed inspired; his abrupt presence +breathed a new soul into the Moors. + +"They come! they come!" he shrieked aloud. "The God of the East hath +delivered the Goth into your hands!" From rank to rank--from line to +line--sped the santon; and, as the mystic banner gleamed before +the soldiery, each closed his eyes and muttered an "amen" to his +adjurations. And now, to the cry of "Spain and St. Iago," came trampling +down the relentless charge of the Christian war. At the same instant, +from the fortress lately taken by Ponce de Leon, the artillery opened +upon the Moors, and did deadly havoc. The Moslems wavered a moment when +before them gleamed the white banner of Almamen; and they beheld him +rushing, alone and on foot, amidst the foe. Taught to believe the war +itself depended on the preservation of the enchanted banner, the Paynims +could not see it thus rashly adventured without anxiety and shame: they +rallied, advanced firmly, and Boabdil himself, with waving cimiter and +fierce exclamations, dashed impetuously at the head of his guards and +Ethiopians into the affray. The battle became obstinate and bloody. +Thrice the white banner disappeared amidst the closing ranks; and +thrice, like a moon from the clouds, it shone forth again--the light and +guide of the Pagan power. + +The day ripened; and the hills already cast lengthening shadows over the +blazing groves and the still Darro, whose waters, in every creek where +the tide was arrested, ran red with blood, when Ferdinand, collecting +his whole reserve, descended from the eminence on which hitherto he had +posted himself. With him moved three thousand foot and a thousand horse, +fresh in their vigour, and panting for a share in that glorious day. +The king himself, who, though constitutionally fearless, from motives +of policy rarely perilled his person, save on imminent occasions, was +resolved not to be outdone by Boabdil; and armed cap-a-pied in mail, so +wrought with gold that it seemed nearly all of that costly metal, with +his snow-white plumage waving above a small diadem that surmounted his +lofty helm, he seemed a fit leader to that armament of heroes. Behind +him flaunted the great gonfanon of Spain, and trump and cymbal heralded +his approach. The Count de Tendilla rode by his side. + +"Senor," said Ferdinand, "the infidels fight hard; but they are in the +snare--we are about to close the nets upon them. But what cavalcade is +this?" + +The group that thus drew the king's attention consisted of six squires, +bearing, on a martial litter, composed of shields, the stalwart form of +Hernando del Pulgar. + +"Ah, the dogs!" cried the king, as he recognised the pale features of +the darling of the army,--"have they murdered the bravest knight that +ever fought for Christendom?" + +"Not that, your majesty," quoth he of the Exploits, faintly, "but I am +sorely stricken." + +"It must have been more than man who struck thee down," said the king. + +"It was the mace of Muza Ben Abil Gazan, an please you, sire," said one +of the squires; "but it came on the good knight unawares, and long after +his own arm had seemingly driven away the Pagan." + +"We will avenge thee well," said the king, setting his teeth: "let our +own leeches tend thy wounds. Forward, sir knights! St. Iago and Spain!" + +The battle had now gathered to a vortex; Muza and his cavalry had +joined Boabdil and the Moorish foot. On the other hand, Villena had +been reinforced by detachments that in almost every other quarter of the +field had routed the foe. The Moors had been driven back, though inch +by inch; they were now in the broad space before the very walls of the +city, which were still crowded by the pale and anxious faces of the aged +and the women: and, at every pause in the artillery, the voices that +spoke of HOME were borne by that lurid air to the ears of the infidels. +The shout that rang through the Christian force as Ferdinand now joined +it struck like a death-knell upon the last hope of Boabdil. But the +blood of his fierce ancestry burned in his veins, and the cheering +voice of Almamen, whom nothing daunted, inspired him with a kind of +superstitious frenzy. + +"King against king--so be it! Let Allah decide between us!" cried the +Moorish monarch. "Bind up this wound 'tis well! A steed for the santon! +Now, my prophet and my friend, mount by the side of thy king--let us, at +least, fall together. Lelilies! Lelilies!" + +Throughout the brave Christian ranks went a thrill of reluctant +admiration, as they beheld the Paynim king, conspicuous by his fair +beard and the jewels of his harness, lead the scanty guard yet left to +him once more into the thickest of their lines. Simultaneously Muza and +his Zegris made their fiery charge; and the Moorish infantry, excited by +the example of their leaders, followed with unslackened and dogged +zeal. The Christians gave way--they were beaten back: Ferdinand spurred +forward; and, ere either party were well aware of it, both kings met in +the same melee: all order and discipline, for the moment, lost, general +and monarch were, as common soldiers, fighting hand to hand. It was then +that Ferdinand, after bearing down before his lance Naim Reduon, second +only to Muza in the songs of Granada, beheld opposed to him a strange +form, that seemed to that royal Christian rather fiend than man: his +raven hair and beard, clotted with blood, hung like snakes about a +countenance whose features, naturally formed to give expression to the +darkest passions, were distorted with the madness of despairing rage. +Wounded in many places, the blood dabbled his mail; while, over +his head, he waved the banner wrought with mystic characters, which +Ferdinand had already been taught to believe the workmanship of demons. + +"Now, perjured king of the Nazarenes!" shouted this formidable champion, +"we meet at last!--no longer host and guest, monarch and dervise, but +man to man! I am Almamen! Die!" + +He spoke; and his sword descended so fiercely on that anointed head that +Ferdinand bent to his saddle-bow. But the king quickly recovered his +seat, and gallantly met the encounter; it was one that might have tasked +to the utmost the prowess of his bravest knight. Passions which, in +their number, their nature, and their excess, animated no other champion +on either side, gave to the arm of Almamen the Israelite a preternatural +strength; his blows fell like rain upon the harness of the king; and +the fiery eyes, the gleaming banner of the mysterious sorcerer, who +had eluded the tortures of his Inquisition,--who had walked unscathed +through the midst of his army,--whose single hand had consumed the +encampment of a host, filled the stout heart of a king with a belief +that he encountered no earthly foe. Fortunately, perhaps, for Ferdinand +and Spain, the contest did not last long. Twenty horsemen spurred into +the melee to the rescue of the plumed diadem: Tendilla arrived the +first; with a stroke of his two-handed sword, the white banner was cleft +from its staff, and fell to the earth. At that sight the Moors round +broke forth in a wild and despairing cry: that cry spread from rank to +rank, from horse to foot; the Moorish infantry, sorely pressed on all +sides, no sooner learned the disaster than they turned to fly: the rout +was as fatal as it was sudden. The Christian reserve, just brought into +the field, poured down upon them with a simultaneous charge. Boabdil, +too much engaged to be the first to learn the downfall of the sacred +insignia, suddenly saw himself almost alone, with his diminished +Ethiopians and a handful of his cavaliers. + +"Yield thee, Boabdil el Chico!" cried Tendilla, from his rear, "or thou +canst not be saved." + +"By the Prophet, never!" exclaimed the king: and he dashed his barb +against the wall of spears behind him; and with but a score or so of his +guard, cut his way through the ranks that were not unwilling, perhaps, +to spare so brave a foe. As he cleared the Spanish battalions, the +unfortunate monarch checked his horse for a moment and gazed along the +plain: he beheld his army flying in all directions, save in that single +spot where yet glittered the turban of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. As he +gazed, he heard the panting nostrils of the chargers behind, and saw the +levelled spears of a company despatched to take him, alive or dead, by +the command of Ferdinand. He laid the reins upon his horse's neck and +galloped into the city--three lances quivered against the portals as he +disappeared through the shadows of the arch. But while Muza remained, +all was not yet lost: he perceived the flight of the infantry and the +king, and with his followers galloped across the plain: he came in time +to encounter and slay, to a man, the pursuers of Boabdil; he then threw +himself before the flying Moors: + +"Do ye fly in the sight of your wives and daughters? Would ye not rather +they beheld ye die?" + +A thousand voices answered him. "The banner is in the hands of the +infidel--all is lost!" They swept by him, and stopped not till they +gained the gates. + +But still a small and devoted remnant of the Moorish cavaliers remained +to shed a last glory over defeat itself. With Muza, their soul and +centre, they fought every atom of ground: it was, as the chronicler +expresses it, as if they grasped the soil with their arms. Twice they +charged into the midst of the foe: the slaughter they made doubled their +own number; but, gathering on and closing in, squadron upon squadron, +came the whole Christian army--they were encompassed, wearied out, +beaten back, as by an ocean. Like wild beasts, driven, at length, to +their lair, they retreated with their faces to the foe; and when Muza +came, the last--his cimiter shivered to the hilt,--he had scarcely +breath to command the gates to be closed and the portcullis lowered, ere +he fell from his charger in a sudden and deadly swoon, caused less by +his exhaustion than his agony and shame. So ended the last battle fought +for the Monarchy of Granada! + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE NOVICE. + +It was in one of the cells of a convent renowned for the piety of its +inmates and the wholesome austerity of its laws that a young novice sat +alone. The narrow casement was placed so high in the cold grey wall as +to forbid to the tenant of the cell the solace of sad or the distraction +of pious thoughts, which a view of the world without might afford. +Lovely, indeed, was the landscape that spread below; but it was barred +from those youthful and melancholy eyes: for Nature might tempt to a +thousand thoughts, not of a tenor calculated to reconcile the heart to +an eternal sacrifice of the sweet human ties. But a faint and partial +gleam of sunshine broke through the aperture and made yet more cheerless +the dreary aspect and gloomy appurtenances of the cell. And the young +novice seemed to carry on within herself that struggle of emotions +without which there is no victory in the resolves of virtue: sometimes +she wept bitterly, but with a low, subdued sorrow, which spoke rather of +despondency than passion; sometimes she raised her head from her breast, +and smiled as she looked upward, or as her eyes rested on the crucifix +and the death's head that were placed on the rude table by the pallet +on which she sat. They were emblems of death here, and life hereafter, +which, perhaps, afforded to her the sources of a twofold consolation. + +She was yet musing, when a slight tap at the door was heard, and the +abbess of the convent appeared. + +"Daughter," said she, "I have brought thee the comfort of a sacred +visitor. The Queen of Spain, whose pious tenderness is maternally +anxious for thy full contentment with thy lot, has sent hither a holy +friar, whom she deems more soothing in his counsels than our brother +Tomas, whose ardent zeal often terrifies those whom his honest spirit +only desires to purify and guide. I will leave him with thee. May +the saints bless his ministry!" So saying the abbess retired from the +threshold, making way for a form in the garb of a monk, with the hood +drawn over the face. The monk bowed his head meekly, advanced into the +cell, closed the door, and seated himself, on a stool--which, save the +table and the pallet, seemed the sole furniture of the dismal chamber. + +"Daughter," said he, after a pause, "it is a rugged and a mournful +lot this renunciation of earth and all its fair destinies and soft +affections, to one not wholly prepared and armed for the sacrifice. +Confide in me, my child; I am no dire inquisitor, seeking to distort +thy words to thine own peril. I am no bitter and morose ascetic. Beneath +these robes still beats a human heart that can sympathise with human +sorrows. Confide in me without fear. Dost thou not dread the fate they +would force upon thee? Dost thou not shrink back? Wouldst thou not be +free?" + +"No," said the poor novice; but the denial came faint and irresolute +from her lips. + +"Pause," said the friar, growing more earnest in his tone: "pause--there +is yet time." + +"Nay," said the novice, looking up with some surprise in her +countenance; "nay, even were I so weak, escape now is impossible. What +hand could unbar the gates of the convent?" + +"Mine!" cried the monk, with impetuosity. "Yes, I have that power. In +all Spain, but one man can save thee, and I am he." + +"You!" faltered the novice, gazing at her strange visitor with mingled +astonishment and alarm. "And who are you that could resist the fiat of +that Tomas de Torquemada, before whom, they tell me, even the crowned +heads of Castile and Arragon veil low?" + +The monk half rose, with an impatient and almost haughty start, at +this interrogatory; but, reseating himself, replied, in a deep and +half-whispered voice "Daughter, listen to me! It is true, that Isabel of +Spain (whom the Mother of Mercy bless! for merciful to all is her secret +heart, if not her outward policy)--it is true that Isabel of Spain, +fearful that the path to Heaven might be made rougher to thy feet than +it well need be (there was a slight accent of irony in the monk's voice +as he thus spoke), selected a friar of suasive eloquence and gentle +manners to visit thee. He was charged with letters to yon abbess from +the queen. Soft though the friar, he was yet a hypocrite. Nay, hear me +out! he loved to worship the rising sun; and he did not wish always to +remain a simple friar, while the Church had higher dignities of this +earth to bestow. In the Christian camp, daughter, there was one who +burned for tidings of thee,--whom thine image haunted--who, stern as +thou wert to him, loved thee with a love he knew not of, till thou +wert lost to him. Why dost thou tremble, daughter? listen, yet! To that +lover, for he was one of high birth, came the monk; to that lover the +monk sold his mission. The monk will have a ready tale, that he was +waylaid amidst the mountains by armed men, and robbed of his letters +to the abbess. The lover took his garb, and he took the letters; and he +hastened hither. Leila! beloved Leila! behold him at thy feet!" + +The monk raised his cowl; and, dropping on his knee beside her, +presented to her gaze the features of the Prince of Spain. + +"You!" said Leila, averting her countenance, and vainly endeavouring to +extricate the hand which he had seized. "This is indeed cruel. You, the +author of so many sufferings--such calumny--such reproach!" + +"I will repair all," said Don Juan, fervently. "I alone, I repeat it, +have the power to set you free. You are no longer a Jewess; you are one +of our faith; there is now no bar upon our loves. Imperious though my +father,--all dark and dread as is this new POWER which he is rashly +erecting in his dominions, the heir of two monarchies is not so poor in +influence and in friends as to be unable to offer the woman of his love +an inviolable shelter alike from priest and despot. Fly with me!--quit +this dreary sepulchre ere the last stone close over thee for ever! I +have horses, I have guards at hand. This night it can be arranged. This +night--oh, bliss!--thou mayest be rendered up to earth and love!" + +"Prince," said Leila, who had drawn herself from Juan's grasp during +this address, and who now stood at a little distance erect and proud, +"you tempt me in vain; or, rather you offer me no temptation. I have +made my choice; I abide by it." + +"Oh! bethink thee," said the prince, in a voice of real and imploring +anguish; "bethink thee well of the consequences of thy refusal. Thou +canst not see them yet; thine ardour blinds thee. But, when hour +after hour, day after day, year after year, steals on in the +appalling monotony of this sanctified prison; when thou shalt see thy +youth--withering without love--thine age without honour; when thy heart +shall grow as stone within thee, beneath the looks of you icy spectres; +when nothing shall vary the aching dulness of wasted life save a longer +fast or a severer penance: then, then will thy grief be rendered tenfold +by the despairing and remorseful thought, that thine own lips sealed +thine own sentence. Thou mayest think," continued Juan, with rapid +eagerness, "that my love to thee was at first light and dishonouring. Be +it so. I own that my youth has passed in idle wooings, and the mockeries +of affection. But for the first time in my life I feel that--I love. Thy +dark eyes--thy noble beauty--even thy womanly scorn, have fascinated me. +I--never yet disdained where I have been a suitor--acknowledge, at last, +that there is a triumph in the conquest of a woman's heart. Oh, Leila! +do not--do not reject me. You know not how rare and how deep a love you +cast away." + +The novice was touched: the present language of Don Juan was so +different from what it had been before; the earnest love that breathed +in his voice--that looked from his eyes, struck a chord in her breast; +it reminded her of her own unconquered, unconquerable love for the lost +Muza. She was touched, then--touched to tears; but her resolves were not +shaken. + +"Oh, Leila!" resumed the prince, fondly, mistaking the nature of her +emotion, and seeking to pursue the advantage he imagined he had gained, +"look at yonder sunbeam, struggling through the loophole of thy cell. Is +it not a messenger from the happy world? does it not plead for me? does +it not whisper to thee of the green fields and the laughing vineyards, +and all the beautiful prodigality of that earth thou art about to +renounce for ever? Dost thou dread my love? Are the forms around thee, +ascetic and lifeless, fairer to thine eyes than mine? Dost thou doubt +my power to protect thee? I tell thee that the proudest nobles of Spain +would flock around my banner, were it necessary to guard thee by force +of arms. Yet, speak the word--be mine--and I will fly hence with thee +to climes where the Church has not cast out its deadly roots, and, +forgetful of crowns and cares, live alone for thee: Ah, speak!" + +"My lord," said Leila, calmly, and rousing herself to the necessary +effort, "I am deeply and sincerely grateful for the interest you +express--for the affection you avow. But you deceive yourself. I have +pondered well over the alternative I have taken. I do not regret nor +repent--much less would I retract it. The earth that you speak of, full +of affections and of bliss to others, has no ties, no allurements for +me. I desire only peace, repose, and an early death." + +"Can it be possible," said the prince, growing pale, "that thou lovest +another? Then, indeed, and then only, would my wooing be in vain." + +The cheek of the novice grew deeply flushed, but the color soon +subsided; she murmured to herself, "Why should I blush to own it now?" +and then spoke aloud: "Prince, I trust I have done with the world; and +bitter the pang I feel when you call me back to it. But you merit my +candour; I have loved another; and in that thought, as in an urn, lie +the ashes of all affection. That other is of a different faith. We may +never--never meet again below, but it is a solace to pray that we may +meet above. That solace, and these cloisters, are dearer to me than all +the pomp, all the pleasures, of the world." + +The prince sank down, and, covering his face with his hands, groaned +aloud--but made no reply. + +"Go, then, Prince of Spain," continued the novice; "son of the noble +Isabel, Leila is not unworthy of her cares. Go, and pursue the great +destinies that await you. And if you forgive--if you still cherish a +thought of--the poor Jewish maiden, soften, alleviate, mitigate, +the wretched and desperate doom that awaits the fallen race she has +abandoned for thy creed." + +"Alas, alas!" said the prince, mournfully; "thee alone, perchance, of +all thy race, I could have saved from the bigotry that is fast covering +this knightly land like the rising of an irresistible sea--and thou +rejectest me! Take time, at least, to pause--to consider. Let me see +thee again tomorrow." + +"No, prince, no--not again! I will keep thy secret only if I see thee no +more. If thou persist in a suit that I feel to be that of sin and shame, +then, indeed, mine honour--" + +"Hold!" interrupted Juan, with haughty impatience, "I torment, I harass +you no more. I release you from my importunity. Perhaps already I +have stooped too low." He drew the cowl over his features, and strode +sullenly to the door; but, turning for one last gaze on the form that +had so strangely fascinated a heart capable of generous emotions, the +meek and despondent posture of the novice, her tender youth, her +gloomy fate, melted his momentary pride and resentment. "God bless and +reconcile thee, poor child!" he said, in a voice choked with contending +passions--and the door closed upon his form. + +"I thank thee, Heaven, that it was not Muza!" muttered Leila, breaking +from a reverie in which she seemed to be communing with her own soul: +"I feel that I could not have resisted him." With that thought she knelt +down, in humble and penitent self-reproach, and prayed for strength. + +Ere she had risen from her supplications, her solitude was again invaded +by Torquemada, the Dominican. + +This strange man, though the author of cruelties at which nature +recoils, had some veins of warm and gentle feeling streaking, as it +were, the marble of his hard character; and when he had thoroughly +convinced himself of the pure and earnest zeal of the young convert, he +relaxed from the grim sternness he had at first exhibited towards her. +He loved to exert the eloquence he possessed, in raising her spirit, +in reconciling her doubts. He prayed for her, and he prayed beside her, +with passion and with tears. + +He stayed long with the novice; and, when he left her, she was, if +not happy, at least contented. Her warmest wish now was to abridge the +period of her novitiate, which, at her desire, the Church had already +rendered merely a nominal probation. She longed to put irresolution +out of her power, and to enter at once upon the narrow road through the +strait gate. + +The gentle and modest piety of the young novice touched the sisterhood; +she was endeared to all of them. Her conversion was an event that broke +the lethargy of their stagnant life. She became an object of general +interest, of avowed pride, of kindly compassion; and their kindness to +her, who from her cradle had seen little of her own sex, had a great +effect towards calming and soothing her mind. But, at night, her dreams +brought before her the dark and menacing countenance of her father. +Sometimes he seemed to pluck her from the gates of heaven, and to sink +with her into the yawning abyss below. Sometimes she saw him with her +beside the altar, but imploring her to forswear the Saviour, before +whose crucifix she knelt. Occasionally her visions were haunted, also, +with Muza--but in less terrible guise She saw his calm and melancholy +eyes fixed upon her; and his voice asked, "Canst thou take a vow that +makes it sinful to remember me?" + +The night, that usually brings balm and oblivion to the sad, was thus +made more dreadful to Leila than the day. + +Her health grew feebler, and feebler, but her mind still was firm. In +happier time and circumstance that poor novice would have been a great +character; but she was one of the countless victims the world knows +not of, whose virtues are in silent motives, whose struggles are in the +solitary heart. + +Of the prince she heard and saw no more. There were times when she +fancied, from oblique and obscure hints, that the Dominican had been +aware of Don Juan's disguise and visit. But, if so, that knowledge +appeared only to increase the gentleness, almost the respect, which +Torquemada manifested towards her. Certainly, since that day, from some +cause or other the priest's manner had been softened when he addressed +her; and he who seldom had recourse to other arts than those of censure +and of menace, often uttered sentiments half of pity and half of praise. + +Thus consoled and supported in the day,--thus haunted and terrified by +night, but still not repenting her resolve, Leila saw the time glide on +to that eventful day when her lips were to pronounce that irrevocable +vow which is the epitaph of life. While in this obscure and remote +convent progressed the history of an individual, we are summoned back to +witness the crowning fate of an expiring dynasty. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE PAUSE BETWEEN DEFEAT AND SURRENDER. + +The unfortunate Boabdil plunged once more amidst the recesses of the +Alhambra. Whatever his anguish or his despondency, none were permitted +to share, or even to witness, his emotions. But he especially resisted +the admission to his solitude, demanded by his mother, implored by his +faithful Amine, and sorrowfully urged by Muza: those most loved, or most +respected, were, above all, the persons from whom he most shrank. + +Almamen was heard of no more. It was believed that he had perished in +the battle. But he was one of those who, precisely as they are effective +when present, are forgotten in absence. And, in the meanwhile, as the +Vega was utterly desolated, and all supplies were cut off, famine, daily +made more terrifically severe, diverted the attention of each humbler +Moor from the fall of the city to his individual sufferings. + +New persecutions fell upon the miserable Jews. Not having taken any +share in the conflict (as was to be expected from men who had no stake +in the country which they dwelt in, and whose brethren had been taught +so severe a lesson upon the folly of interference), no sentiment of +fellowship in danger mitigated the hatred and loathing with which they +were held; and as, in their lust of gain, many of them continued, amidst +the agony and starvation of the citizens, to sell food at enormous +prices, the excitement of the multitude against them--released by the +state of the city from all restraint and law--made itself felt by the +most barbarous excesses. Many of the houses of the Israelites were +attacked by the mob, plundered, razed to the ground, and the owner +tortured to death, to extort confession of imaginary wealth. Not to +sell what was demanded was a crime; to sell it was a crime also. These +miserable outcasts fled to whatever secret places the vaults of their +houses or the caverns in the hills within the city could yet afford +them, cursing their fate, and almost longing even for the yoke of the +Christian bigots. + +Thus passed several days; the defence of the city abandoned to its naked +walls and mighty gates. The glaring sun looked down upon closed shops +and depopulated streets, save when some ghostly and skeleton band of +the famished poor collected, in a sudden paroxysm of revenge or despair, +around the stormed and fired mansion of a detested Israelite. + +At length Boabdil aroused himself from his seclusion; and Muza, to his +own surprise, was summoned to the presence of the king. He found Boabdil +in one of the most gorgeous halls of his gorgeous palace. + +Within the Tower of Comares is a vast chamber, still called the hall +of the Ambassadors. Here it was that Boabdil now held his court. On the +glowing walls hung trophies and banners, and here and there an Arabian +portrait of some bearded king. By the windows, which overlooked the most +lovely banks of the Llarro, gathered the santons and alfaquis, a little +apart from the main crowd. Beyond, through half-veiling draperies, might +be seen the great court of the Alberca, whose peristyles were hung with +flowers; while, in the centre, the gigantic basin, which gives its name +to the court, caught the sunlight obliquely, and its waves glittered on +the eye from amidst the roses that then clustered over it. + +In the audience hall itself, a canopy, over the royal cushions on which +Boabdil reclined, was blazoned with the heraldic insignia of Granada's +monarchs. His guard, and his mutes, and his eunuchs, and his courtiers, +and his counsellors, and his captains, were ranged in long files on +either side the canopy. It seemed the last flicker of the lamp of the +Moorish empire, that hollow and unreal pomp! As Muza approached the +monarch, he was startled by the change of his countenance: the young +and beautiful Boabdil seemed to have grown suddenly old; his eyes were +sunken, his countenance sown with wrinkles, and his voice sounded broken +and hollow on the ears of his kinsman. + +"Come hither, Muza," said he; "seat thyself beside me, and listen as +thou best canst to the tidings we are about to hear." + +As Muza placed himself on a cushion, a little below the king, Boabdil +motioned to one amongst the crowd. "Hamet," said he, "thou hast examined +the state of the Christian camp; what news dost thou bring?" + +"Light of the Faithful," answered the Moor, "it is a camp no longer--it +has already become a city. Nine towns of Spain were charged with the +task; stone has taken the place of canvas; towers and streets arise like +the buildings of a genius; and the misbelieving king hath sworn that +this new city shall not be left until Granada sees his standard on its +walls." + +"Go on," said Boabdil, calmly. + +"Traders and men of merchandise flock thither daily; the spot is one +bazaar; all that should supply our famishing country pours its plenty +into their mart." + +Boabdil motioned to the Moor to withdraw, and an alfaqui advanced in his +stead. + +"Successor of the Prophet, and darling of the world!" said the reverend +man, "the alfaquis and seers of Granada implore thee on their knees to +listen to their voice. They have consulted the Books of Fate; thy have +implored a sign from the Prophet; and they find that the glory has left +thy people and thy crown. The fall of Granada is predestined; God is +great!" + +"You shall have my answer forthwith," said Boabdil. "Abdelemic, +approach." + +From the crowd came an aged and white-bearded man, the governor of the +city. + +"Speak, old man," said the king. + +"Oh, Boabdil!" said the veteran, with faltering tones, while the tears +rolled down his cheeks; "son of a race of kings and heroes! would that +thy servant had fallen dead on thy threshold this day, and that the +lips of a Moorish noble had never been polluted by the words that I +now utter! Our state is hopeless; our granaries are as the sands of the +desert: there is in them life neither for beast nor man. The war-horse +that bore the hero is now consumed for his food; the population of thy +city, with one voice, cry for chains and--bread! I have spoken." + +"Admit the Ambassador of Egypt," said Boabdil, as Abdelmelic retired. +There was a pause: one of the draperies at the end of the hall was drawn +aside; and with the slow and sedate majesty of their tribe and land, +paced forth a dark and swarthy train, the envoys of the Egyptian soldan. +Six of the band bore costly presents of gems and weapons, and the +procession closed with four veiled slaves, whose beauty had been the +boast of the ancient valley of the Nile. + +"Sun of Granada and day--star of the faithful!" said the chief of the +Egyptians, "my lord, the Soldan of Egypt, delight of the world, and +rose-tree of the East, thus answers to the letters of Boabdil. He +grieves that he cannot send the succour thou demandest; and informing +himself of the condition of thy territories, he finds that Granada no +longer holds a seaport by which his forces (could he send them) might +find an entrance into Spain. He implores thee to put thy trust in Allah, +who will not desert his chosen ones, and lays these gifts, in pledge of +amity and love, at the feet of my lord the king." + +"It is a gracious and well-timed offering," said Boabdil, with a +writhing lip; "we thank him." There was now a long and dead silence as +the ambassadors swept from the hall of audience, when Boabdil suddenly +raised his head from his breast and looked around his hall with a kingly +and majestic look: "Let the heralds of Ferdinand of Spain approach." + +A groan involuntarily broke from the breast of Muza: it was echoed by +a murmur of abhorrence and despair from the gallant captains who stood +around; but to that momentary burst succeeded a breathless silence, as +from another drapery, opposite the royal couch, gleamed the burnished +mail of the knights of Spain. Foremost of these haughty visitors, whose +iron heels clanked loudly on the tesselated floor, came a noble and +stately form, in full armour, save the helmet, and with a mantle of +azure velvet, wrought with the silver cross that made the badge of the +Christian war. Upon his manly countenance was visible no sign of undue +arrogance or exultation; but something of that generous pity which brave +men feel for conquered foes dimmed the lustre of his commanding eye, and +softened the wonted sternness of his martial bearing. He and his train +approached the king with a profound salutation of respect; and falling +back, motioned to the herald that accompanied him, and whose garb, +breast and back, was wrought with the arms of Spain, to deliver himself +of his mission. + +"To Boabdil!" said the herald, with a loud voice, that filled the whole +expanse, and thrilled with various emotions the dumb assembly. "To +Boabdil el Chico, King of Granada, Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabel of +Castile send royal greeting. They command me to express their hope that +the war is at length concluded; and they offer to the King of Granada +such terms of capitulation as a king, without dishonour, may receive. +In the stead of this city, which their Most Christian Majesties will +restore to their own dominion, as is just, they offer, O king, princely +territories in the Alpuxarras mountains to your sway, holding them by +oath of fealty to the Spanish crown. To the people of Granada, their +Most Christian Majesties promise full protection of property, life, +and faith under a government by their own magistrates, and according +to their own laws; exemption from tribute for three years; and taxes +thereafter, regulated by the custom and ratio of their present imposts. +To such Moors as, discontented with these provisions, would abandon +Granada, are promised free passage for themselves and their wealth. +In return for these marks of their royal bounty, their Most Christian +Majesties summon Granada to surrender (if no succour meanwhile arrive) +within seventy days. And these offers are now solemnly recorded in the +presence, and through the mission, of the noble and renowned knight, +Gonzalvo of Cordova, deputed by their Most Christian Majesties from +their new city of Santa Fe." + +When the herald had concluded, Boabdil cast his eye over his thronged +and splendid court. No glance of fire met his own; amidst the silent +crowd, a resigned content was alone to be perceived: the proposals +exceeded the hope of the besieged. + +"And," asked Boabdil, with a deep-drawn sigh, "if we reject these +offers?" + +"Noble prince," said Gonzalvo, earnestly, "ask us not to wound thine +ears with the alternative. Pause, and consider of our offers; and, if +thou doubtest, O brave king! mount the towers of thine Alhambra, survey +our legions marshalled beneath thy walls, and turn thine eyes upon a +brave people, defeated, not by human valour, but by famine, and the +inscrutable will of God." + +"Your monarchs shall have our answer, gentle Christian, perchance ere +nightfall. And you, Sir Knight, who hast delivered a message bitter for +kings to bear, receive, at least, our thanks for such bearing as might +best mitigate the import. Our vizier will bear to your apartment those +tokens of remembrance that are yet left to the monarch of Granada to +bestow." + +"Muza," resumed the king, as the Spaniards left the presence--"thou hast +heard all. What is the last counsel thou canst give thy sovereign?" + +The fierce Moor had with difficulty waited this licence to utter such +sentiments as death only could banish from that unconquerable heart. He +rose, descended from the couch, and, standing a little below the +king, and facing the motley throng of all of wise or brave yet left to +Granada, thus spoke:-- + +"Why should we surrender? two hundred thousand inhabitants are yet +within our walls; of these, twenty thousand, at least, are Moors, who +have hands and swords. Why should we surrender? Famine presses us, it is +true; but hunger, that makes the lion more terrible, shall it make the +man more base? Do ye despair? so be it! despair in the valiant ought +to have an irresistible force. Despair has made cowards brave: shall it +sink the brave to cowards? Let us arouse the people; hitherto we have +depended too much upon the nobles. Let us collect our whole force, and +march upon this new city, while the soldiers of Spain are employed in +their new profession of architects and builders. Hear me, O God and +prophet of the Moslem! hear one who never was forsworn! If, Moors of +Granada, ye adopt my counsel, I cannot promise ye victory, but I +promise ye never to live without it: I promise ye, at least, your +independence--for the dead know no chains! If we cannot live, let us +so die that we may leave to remotest ages a glory that shall be more +durable than kingdoms. King of Granada! this is the counsel of Muza Ben +Abil Gazan." + +The prince ceased. But he, whose faintest word had once breathed fire +into the dullest, had now poured out his spirit upon frigid and lifeless +matter. No man answered--no man moved. + +Boabdil alone, clinging to the shadow of hope, turned at last towards +the audience. + +"Warriors and sages!" he said, "as Muza's counsel is your king's desire, +say but the word, and, ere the hour-glass shed its last sand, the blast +of our trumpet shall be ringing through the Vivarrambla." + +"O king! fight not against the will of fate--God is great!" replied the +chief of the alfaquis. + +"Alas!" said Abdelmelic, "if the voice of Muza and your own falls thus +coldly upon us, how can ye stir the breadless and heartless multitude?" + +"Is such your general thought and your general will?" said Boabdil. + +An universal murmur answered, "Yes!" + +"Go then, Abdelmelic;" resumed the ill-starred king; "go with yon +Spaniards to the Christian camp, and bring us back the best terms you +can obtain. The crown has passed from the head of El Zogoybi; Fate +sets her seal upon my brow. Unfortunate was the commencement of my +reign--unfortunate its end. Break up the divan." + +The words of Boabdil moved and penetrated an audience, never till then +so alive to his gentle qualities, his learned wisdom, and his natural +valour. Many flung themselves at his feet, with tears and sighs; and the +crowd gathered round to touch the hem of his robe. + +Muza gazed at them in deep disdain, with folded arms and heaving breast. + +"Women, not men!" he exclaimed, "ye weep, as if ye had not blood still +left to shed! Ye are reconciled to the loss of liberty, because ye are +told ye shall lose nothing else. Fools and dupes! I see, from the spot +where my spirit stands above ye, the dark and dismal future to which ye +are crawling on your knees: bondage and rapine--the violence of lawless +lust--the persecution of hostile faith--your gold wrung from ye by +torture--your national name rooted from the soil. Bear this, and +remember me! Farewell, Boabdil! you I pity not; for your gardens have +yet a poison, and your armories a sword. Farewell, nobles and santons of +Granada! I quit my country while it is yet free." + +Scarcely had he ceased, ere he had disappeared from the hall. It was as +the parting genius of Granada! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SOLITARY HORSEMAN. + +It was a burning and sultry noon, when, through a small valley, skirted +by rugged and precipitous hills, at the distance of several leagues from +Granada, a horseman, in complete armour, wound his solitary way; His +mail was black and unadorned; on his vizor waved no plume. But there +was something in his carriage and mien, and the singular beauty of his +coal-black steed, which appeared to indicate a higher rank than the +absence of page and squire, and the plainness of his accoutrements, +would have denoted to a careless eye. He rode very slowly; and his +steed, with the licence of a spoiled favourite, often halted lazily in +his sultry path, as a tuft of herbage, or the bough of some overhanging +tree, offered its temptation. At length, as he thus paused, a noise was +heard in a copse that clothed the descent of a steep mountain; and the +horse started suddenly back, forcing the traveller from his reverie. +He looked mechanically upward, and beheld the figure of a man bounding +through the trees, with rapid and irregular steps. It was a form that +suited well the silence and solitude of the spot; and might have passed +for one of those stern recluses--half hermit, half soldier--who, in the +earlier crusades, fixed their wild homes amidst the sands and caves of +Palestine. The stranger supported his steps by a long staff. His hair +and beard hung long and matted over his broad shoulders. A rusted mail, +once splendid with arabesque enrichments, protected his breast; but the +loose gown--a sort of tartan, which descended below the cuirass--was +rent and tattered, and his feet bare; in his girdle was a short curved +cimiter, a knife or dagger, and a parchment roll, clasped and bound with +iron. + +As the horseman gazed at this abrupt intruder on the solitude, his +frame quivered with emotion; and, raising himself to his full height, he +called aloud, "Fiend or santon--whatsoever thou art--what seekest thou +in these lonely places, far from the king thy counsels deluded, and the +city betrayed by thy false prophecies and unhallowed charms?" + +"Ha!" cried Almamen, for it was indeed the Israelite; "by thy black +charger, and the tone of thy haughty voice, I know the hero of Granada. +Rather, Muza Ben Abil Gazan, why art thou absent from the last hold of +the Moorish empire?" + +"Dost thou pretend to read the future, and art thou blind to the +present? Granada has capitulated to the Spaniard. Alone I have left a +land of slaves, and shall seek, in our ancestral Africa, some spot where +the footstep of the misbeliever hath not trodden." + +"The fate of one bigotry is, then, sealed," said Almamen, gloomily; "but +that which succeeds it is yet more dark." + +"Dog!" cried Muza, couching his lance, "what art thou that thus +blasphemest?" + +"A Jew!" replied Almamen, in a voice of thunder, and drawing his +cimiter: "a despised and despising Jew! Ask you more? I am the son of +a race of kings. I was the worst enemy of the Moors till I found the +Nazarene more hateful than the Moslem; and then even Muza himself was +not their more renowned champion. Come on, if thou wilt--man to man: I +defy thee" + +"No, no," muttered Muza, sinking his lance; "thy mail is rusted with +the blood of the Spaniard, and this arm cannot smite the slayer of the +Christian. Part we in peace." + +"Hold, prince!" said Almamen, in an altered voice: "is thy country the +sole thing dear to thee? Has the smile of woman never stolen beneath +thine armour? Has thy heart never beat for softer meetings than the +encounter of a foe?" + +"Am I human, and a Moor?" returned Muza. "For once you divine aright; +and, could thy spells bestow on these eyes but one more sight of the +last treasure left to me on earth, I should be as credulous of thy +sorcery as Boabdil." + +"Thou lovest her still, then--this Leila?" + +"Dark necromancer, hast thou read my secret? and knowest thou the name +of my beloved one? Ah! let me believe thee indeed wise, and reveal to +me the spot of earth which holds the delight of my soul! Yes," continued +the Moor, with increased emotion, and throwing up his vizor, as if for +air--"yes; Allah forgive me! but, when all was lost at Granada, I had +still one consolation in leaving my fated birthplace: I had licence to +search for Leila; I had the hope to secure to my wanderings in distant +lands one to whose glance the eyes of the houris would be dim. But I +waste words. Tell me where is Leila, and conduct me to her feet!" + +"Moslem, I will lead thee to her," answered Almamen, gazing on the +prince with an expression of strange and fearful exultation in his dark +eyes: "I will lead thee to her-follow me. It is only yesternight that I +learned the walls that confined her; and from that hour to this have I +journeyed over mountain and desert, without rest or food." + +"Yet what is she to thee?" asked Muza, suspiciously. + +"Thou shalt learn full soon. Let us on." + +So saying, Almamen sprang forward with a vigour which the excitement of +his mind supplied to the exhaustion of his body. Muza wonderingly +pushed on his charger, and endeavoured to draw his mysterious guide into +conversation: but Almamen scarcely heeded him. And when he broke from +his gloomy silence, it was but in incoherent and brief exclamations, +often in a tongue foreign to the ear of his companion. The hardy Moor, +though steeled against the superstitions of his race, less by the +philosophy of the learned than the contempt of the brave, felt an awe +gather over him as he glanced, from the giant rocks and lonely valleys, +to the unearthly aspect and glittering eyes of the reputed sorcerer; and +more than once he muttered such verses of the Koran as were esteemed by +his countrymen the counterspell to the machinations of the evil genii. + +It might be an hour that they had thus journeyed together, when Almamen +paused abruptly. "I am wearied," said he, faintly; "and, though time +presses, I fear that my strength will fail me." + +"Mount, then, behind me," returned the Moor, after some natural +hesitation: "Jew though thou art, I will brave the contamination for the +sake of Leila." + +"Moor!" cried the Hebrew, fiercely, "the contamination would be mine. +Things of yesterday, as thy Prophet and thy creed are, thou canst not +sound the unfathomable loathing which each heart faithful to the Ancient +of Days feels for such as thou and thine." + +"Now, by the Kaaba!" said Muza, and his brow became dark, "another such +word and the hoofs of my steed shall trample the breath of blasphemy +from thy body." + +"I would defy thee to the death," answered Almamen, disdainfully; "but +I reserve the bravest of the Moors to witness a deed worthy of the +descendant of Jephtha. But hist! I hear hoofs." + +Muza listened; and his sharp ear caught a distinct ring upon the hard +and rocky soil. He turned round and saw Almamen gliding away through +the thick underwood, until the branches concealed his form. Presently, +a curve in the path brought in view a Spanish cavalier, mounted on an +Andalusian jennet: the horseman was gaily singing one of the popular +ballads of the time; and, as it related to the feats of the Spaniards +against the Moors, Muza's haughty blood was already stirred, and his +moustache quivered on his lip. "I will change the air," muttered the +Moslem, grasping his lance, when, as the thought crossed him, he beheld +the Spaniard suddenly reel in his saddle and lay prostrate on the +ground. In the same instant Almamen had darted from his hiding-place, +seized the steed of the cavalier, mounted, and, ere Muza recovered from +his surprise, was by the side of the Moor. + +"By what harm," said Muza, curbing his barb, "didst thou fell the +Spaniard--seemingly without a blow?" + +"As David felled Goliath--by the pebble and the sling," answered +Almamen, carelessly. "Now, then, spur forward, if thou art eager to see +thy Leila." + +The horsemen dashed over the body of the stunned and insensible +Spaniard. Tree and mountain glided by; gradually the valley vanished, +and a thick forest loomed upon their path. Still they made on, though +the interlaced boughs and the ruggedness of the footing somewhat +obstructed their way; until, as the sun began slowly to decline, they +entered a broad and circular space, round which trees of the eldest +growth spread their motionless and shadowy boughs. In the midmost sward +was a rude and antique stone, resembling the altar of some barbarous and +departed creed. Here Almamen abruptly halted, and muttered inaudibly to +himself. + +"What moves thee, dark stranger?" said the Moor; "and why dost thou +mutter and gaze on space?" + +Almamen answered not, but dismounted, hung his bridle to a branch of a +scathed and riven elm, and advanced alone into the middle of the +space. "Dread and prophetic power that art within me!" said the Hebrew, +aloud,--"this, then, is the spot that, by dream and vision, thou hast +foretold me wherein to consummate and record the vow that shall sever +from the spirit the last weakness of the flesh. Night after night hast +thou brought before mine eyes, in darkness and in slumber, the solemn +solitude that I now survey. Be it so! I am prepared!" + +Thus speaking, he retired for a few moments into the wood: collected +in his arms the dry leaves and withered branches which cumbered the +desolate clay, and placed the fuel upon the altar. Then, turning to the +East, and raising his hands he exclaimed, "Lo! upon this altar, once +worshipped, perchance, by the heathen savage, the last bold spirit of +thy fallen and scattered race dedicates, O Ineffable One! that precious +offering Thou didst demand from a sire of old. Accept the sacrifice!" + +As the Hebrew ended his adjuration he drew a phial from his bosom, and +sprinkled a few drops upon the arid fuel. A pale blue flame suddenly +leaped up; and, as it lighted the haggard but earnest countenance of +the Israelite, Muza felt his Moorish blood congeal in his veins, and +shuddered, though he scarce knew why. Almamen, with his dagger, severed +from his head one of his long locks, and cast it upon the flame. He +watched it until it was consumed; and then, with a stifled cry, fell +upon the earth in a dead swoon. The Moor hastened to raise him; he +chafed his hands and temples; he unbuckled the vest upon his bosom; he +forgot that his comrade was a sorcerer and a Jew, so much had the agony +of that excitement moved his sympathy. + +It was not till several minutes had elapsed that Almamen, with a +deep-drawn sigh, recovered from his swoon. "Ah, beloved one! bride of my +heart!" he murmured, "was it for this that thou didst commend to me +the only pledge of our youthful love? Forgive me! I restore her to the +earth, untainted by the Gentile." He closed his eyes again, and a strong +convulsion shook his frame. It passed; and he rose as a man from a +fearful dream, composed, and almost as it were refreshed, by the terrors +he had undergone. The last glimmer of the ghastly light was dying away +upon that ancient altar, and a low wind crept sighing through the trees. + +"Mount, prince," said Almamen, calmly, but averting his eyes from the +altar; "we shall have no more delays." + +"Wilt thou not explain thy incantation?" asked Muza; "or is it, as my +reason tells me, but the mummery of a juggler?" + +"Alas! alas!" answered Almamen, in a sad and altered tone, "thou wilt +soon know all." + + + + +CHAPTER V. THE SACRIFICE. + +The sun was now sinking slowly through those masses of purple cloud +which belong to Iberian skies; when, emerging from the forest, the +travellers saw before them a small and lovely plain, cultivated like a +garden. Rows of orange and citron trees were backed by the dark green +foliage of vines; and these again found a barrier in girdling copses +of chestnut, oak, and the deeper verdure of pines: while, far to +the horizon, rose the distant and dim outline of the mountain range, +scarcely distinguishable from the mellow colourings of the heaven. +Through this charming spot went a slender and sparkling torrent, that +collected its waters in a circular basin, over which the rose and orange +hung their contrasted blossoms. On a gentle eminence above this plain, +or garden, rose the spires of a convent: and, though it was still clear +daylight, the long and pointed lattices were illumined within; and, +as the horsemen cast their eyes upon the pile, the sound of the holy +chorus--made more sweet and solemn from its own indistinctness, from the +quiet of the hour, from the sudden and sequestered loveliness of that +spot, suiting so well the ideal calm of the conventual life--rolled its +music through the odorous and lucent air. + +But that scene and that sound, so calculated to soothe and harmonise the +thought, seemed to arouse Almamen into agony and passion. He smote his +breast with his clenched hand; and, shrieking, rather than exclaiming, +"God of my fathers! have I come too late?" buried his spurs to the +rowels in the sides of his panting steed. Along the sward, through the +fragrant shrubs, athwart the pebbly and shallow torrent, up the ascent +to the convent, sped the Israelite. Muza, wondering and half reluctant, +followed at a little distance. Clearer and nearer came the voices of the +choir; broader and redder glowed the tapers from the Gothic casements: +the porch of the convent chapel was reached; the Hebrew sprang from his +horse. A small group of the peasants dependent on the convent loitered +reverently round the threshold; pushing through them, as one frantic, +Almamen entered the chapel and disappeared. + +A minute elapsed. Muza was at the door; but the Moor paused +irresolutely, ere he dismounted. "What is the ceremony?" he asked of the +peasants. + +"A nun is about to take the vows," answered one of them. + +A cry of alarm, of indignation, of terror, was heard within. Muza no +longer delayed: he gave his steed to the bystanders, pushed aside the +heavy curtain that screened the threshold and was within the chapel. + +By the altar gathered a confused and disordered group--the sisterhood, +with their abbess. Round the consecrated rail flocked the spectators, +breathless and amazed. Conspicuous above the rest, on the elevation of +the holy place, stood Almamen with his drawn dagger in his right hand, +his left arm clasped around the form of a novice, whose dress, not yet +replaced by the serge, bespoke her the sister fated to the veil; and, +on the opposite side of that sister, one hand on her shoulder, the other +rearing on high the sacred crucifix, stood a stern, commanding form, in +the white robes of the Dominican order; it was Tomas de Torquemada. + +"Avaunt, Almamen!" were the first words which reached Muza's ear as +he stood, unnoticed, in the middle of the aisle: "here thy sorcery and +thine arts cannot avail thee. Release the devoted one of God!" + +"She is mine! she is my daughter! I claim her from thee as a father, in +the name of the great Sire of Man!" + +"Seize the sorcerer! seize him!" exclaimed the Inquisitor, as, with +a sudden movement, Almamen cleared his way through the scattered and +dismayed group, and stood with his daughter in his arms, on the first +step of the consecrated platform. + +But not a foot stirred--not a hand was raised. The epithet bestowed on +the intruder had only breathed a supernatural terror into the audience; +and they would have sooner rushed upon a tiger in his lair, than on the +lifted dagger and savage aspect of that grim stranger. + +"Oh, my father!" then said a low and faltering voice, that startled Muza +as a voice from the grave--"wrestle not against the decrees of Heaven. +Thy daughter is not compelled to her solemn choice. Humbly, but +devotedly, a convert to the Christian creed, her only wish on earth is +to take the consecrated and eternal vow." + +"Ha!" groaned the Hebrew, suddenly relaxing his hold, as his daughter +fell on her knees before him, "then have I indeed been told, as I have +foreseen, the worst. The veil is rent--the spirit hath left the temple. +Thy beauty is desecrated; thy form is but unhallowed clay. Dog!" +he cried, more fiercely, glaring round upon the unmoved face of the +Inquisitor, "this is thy work: but thou shalt not triumph. Here, by +thine own shrine, I spit at and defy thee, as once before, amidst +the tortures of thy inhuman court. Thus--thus--thus--Almamen the Jew +delivers the last of his house from the curse of Galilee!" + +"Hold, murderer!" cried a voice of thunder; and an armed man burst +through the crowd and stood upon the platform. It was too late: thrice +the blade of the Hebrew had passed through that innocent breast; thrice +was it reddened with that virgin blood. Leila fell in the arms of her +lover; her dim eyes rested upon his countenance, as it shone upon +her, beneath his lifted vizor-a faint and tender smile played upon her +lips--Leila was no more. + +One hasty glance Almamen cast upon his victim, and then, with a wild +laugh that woke every echo in the dreary aisles, he leaped from the +place. Brandishing his bloody weapon above his head, he dashed through +the coward crowd; and, ere even the startled Dominican had found +a voice, the tramp of his headlong steed rang upon the air; an +instant--and all was silent. + +But over the murdered girl leaned the Moor, as yet incredulous of her +death; her head still unshorn of its purple tresses, pillowed on his +lap--her icy hand clasped in his, and her blood weltering fast over his +armour. None disturbed him; for, habited as the knights of Christendom, +none suspected his faith; and all, even the Dominican, felt a thrill of +sympathy at his distress. How he came hither, with what object,--what +hope, their thoughts were too much locked in pity to conjecture. +There, voiceless and motionless, bent the Moor, until one of the monks +approached and felt the pulse, to ascertain if life was, indeed, utterly +gone. + +The Moor at first waved him haughtily away; but, when he divined the +monk's purpose, suffered him in silence to take the beloved hand. He +fixed on him his dark and imploring eyes; and when the father dropped +the hand, and, gently shaking his head, turned away, a deep and +agonising groan was all that the audience heard from that heart in which +the last iron of fate had entered. Passionately he kissed the brow, the +cheeks, the lips of the hushed and angel face, and rose from the spot. + +"What dost thou here? and what knowest thou of yon murderous enemy of +God and man?" asked the Dominican, approaching. + +Muza made no reply, as he stalked slowly through the chapel. The +audience was touched to sudden tears. "Forbear!" said they, almost with +one accord, to the harsh Inquisitor; "he hath no voice to answer thee." + +And thus, amidst the oppressive grief and sympathy of the Christian +throng, the unknown Paynim reached the door, mounted his steed, and as +he turned once more and cast a hurried glance upon the fatal pile, the +bystanders saw the large tears rolling down his swarthy cheeks. + +Slowly that coal-black charger wound down the hillock, crossed the quiet +and lovely garden, and vanished amidst the forest. And never was known, +to Moor or Christian, the future fate of the hero of Granada. Whether he +reached in safety the shores of his ancestral Africa, and carved out +new fortunes and a new name; or whether death, by disease or strife, +terminated obscurely his glorious and brief career, mystery--deep +and unpenetrated, even by the fancies of the thousand bards who have +consecrated his deeds--wraps in everlasting shadow the destinies of Muza +Ben Abil Gazan, from that hour, when the setting sun threw its parting +ray over his stately form and his ebon barb, disappearing amidst the +breathless shadows of the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE RETURN--THE RIOT--THE TREACHERY--AND THE DEATH. + +It was the eve of the fatal day on which Granada was to be delivered +to the Spaniards, and in that subterranean vault beneath the house of +Almamen, before described, three elders of the Jewish persuasion were +met. + +"Trusty and well-beloved Ximen," cried one, a wealthy and usurious +merchant, with a twinkling and humid eye, and a sleek and unctuous +aspect, which did not, however, suffice to disguise something fierce +and crafty in his low brow and pinched lips--"trusty and well-beloved +Ximen," said this Jew--"truly thou hast served us well, in yielding +to thy persecuted brethren this secret shelter. Here, indeed, may the +heathen search for us in vain! Verily, my veins grow warm again; and thy +servant hungereth, and hath thirst." + +"Eat, Isaac--eat; yonder are viands prepared for thee; eat, and spare +not. And thou, Elias--wilt thou not draw near the board? the wine is old +and precious, and will revive thee." + +"Ashes and hyssop--hyssop and ashes, are food and drink for me," +answered Elias, with passionate bitterness; "they have rased my +house--they have burned my granaries--they have molten down my gold. I +am a ruined man!" + +"Nay," said Ximen, who gazed at him with a malevolent eye--for so +utterly had years and sorrows mixed with gall even the one kindlier +sympathy he possessed, that he could not resist an inward chuckle +over the very afflictions he relieved, and the very impotence he +protected--"nay, Elias, thou hast wealth yet left in the seaport towns +sufficient to buy up half Granada." + +"The Nazarene will seize it all!" cried Elias; "I see it already in his +grasp!" + +"Nay, thinkest thou so?--and wherefore?" asked Ximen, startled into +sincere, because selfish anxiety. + +"Mark me! Under licence of the truce, I went, last night, to the +Christian camp: I had an interview with the Christian king; and when +he heard my name and faith, his very beard curled with ire. 'Hound of +Belial!' he roared forth, 'has not thy comrade carrion, the sorcerer +Almamen, sufficiently deceived and insulted the majesty of Spain? For +his sake, ye shall have no quarter. Tarry here another instant, and thy +corpse shall be swinging to the winds! Go, and count over thy misgotten +wealth; just census shall be taken of it; and if thou defraudest our +holy impost by one piece of copper, thou shalt sup with Dives!' Such +was my mission, and mine answer. I return home to see the ashes of mine +house! Woe is me!" + +"And this we owe to Almamen, the pretended Jew!" cried Isaac, from his +solitary but not idle place at the board. "I would this knife were at +his false throat!" growled Elias, clutching his poniard with his long +bony fingers. + +"No chance of that," muttered Ximen; "he will return no more to Granada. +The vulture and the worm have divided his carcass between them ere this; +and (he added inly with a hideous smile) his house and his gold have +fallen into the hands of old childless Ximen." + +"This is a strange and fearful vault," said Isaac, quaffing a large +goblet of the hot wine of the Vega; "here might the Witch of Endor have +raised the dead. Yon door--whither doth it lead?" + +"Through passages none that I know of, save my master, hath trodden," +answered Ximen. "I have heard that they reach even to the Alhambra. +Come, worthy Elias! thy form trembles with the cold: take this wine." + +"Hist!" said Elias, shaking from limb to limb; "our pursuers are upon +us--I hear a step!" + +As he spoke, the door to which Isaac had pointed slowly opened and +Almamen entered the vault. + +Had, indeed, a new Witch of Endor conjured up the dead, the apparition +would not more have startled and appalled that goodly trio. Elias, +griping his knife, retreated to the farthest end of the vault. Isaac +dropped the goblet he was about to drain, and fell upon his knees. +Ximen, alone, growing, if possible, a shade more ghastly--retained +something of self-possession, as he muttered to himself--"He lives! and +his gold is not mine! Curse him!" + +Seemingly unconscious of the strange guests his sanctuary shrouded, +Almamen stalked on, like a man walking in his sleep. + +Ximen roused himself--softly unbarred the door which admitted to the +upper apartments, and motioned to his comrades to avail themselves of +the opening, but as Isaac--the first to accept the hint--crept across, +Almamen fixed upon him his terrible eye, and, appearing suddenly to +awake to consciousness, shouted out, "Thou miscreant, Ximen! whom hast +thou admitted to the secrets of thy lord? Close the door--these men must +die!" + +"Mighty master!" said Ximen, calmly, "is thy servant to blame that he +believed the rumour that declared thy death? These men are of our holy +faith, whom I have snatched from the violence of the sacrilegious and +maddened mob. No spot but this seemed safe from the popular frenzy." +"Are ye Jews?" said Almamen. "Ah, yes! I know ye now--things of the +market-place and bazaar'. Oh, ye are Jews, indeed! Go, go! Leave me!" + +Waiting no further licence, the three vanished; but, ere he quitted the +vault, Elias turned back his scowling countenance on Almamen (who had +sunk again into an absorbed meditation) with a glance of vindictive +ire--Almamen was alone. + +In less than a quarter of an hour Ximen returned to seek his master; but +the place was again deserted. + +It was midnight in the streets of Granada--midnight, but not repose. The +multitude, roused into one of their paroyxsms of wrath and sorrow, by +the reflection that the morrow was indeed the day of their subjection +to the Christian foe, poured forth through the streets to the number of +twenty thousand. It was a wild and stormy night; those formidable gusts +of wind, which sometimes sweep in sudden winter from the snows of the +Sierra Nevada, howled through the tossing groves, and along the winding +streets. But the tempest seemed to heighten, as if by the sympathy of +the elements, the popular storm and whirlwind. Brandishing arms and +torches, and gaunt with hunger, the dark forms of the frantic Moors +seemed like ghouls or spectres, rather than mortal men; as, apparently +without an object, save that of venting their own disquietude, or +exciting the fears of earth, they swept through the desolate city. + +In the broad space of the Vivarrambla the crowd halted, irresolute in +all else, but resolved at least that something for Granada should yet +be done. They were for the most armed in their Moorish fashion; but +they were wholly without leaders: not a noble, a magistrate, an officer, +would have dreamed of the hopeless enterprise of violating the truce +with Ferdinand. It was a mere popular tumult--the madness of a mob;--but +not the less formidable, for it was an Eastern mob, and a mob with sword +and shaft, with buckler and mail--the mob by which oriental empires +have been built and overthrown! There, in the splendid space that +had witnessed the games and tournaments of that Arab and African +chivalry--there, where for many a lustrum kings had reviewed devoted +and conquering armies--assembled those desperate men; the loud winds +agitating their tossing torches that struggled against the moonless +night. + +"Let us storm the Alhambra!" cried one of the band: "let us seize +Boabdil, and place him in the midst of us; let us rush against the +Christians, buried in their proud repose!" + +"Lelilies, Lelilies!--the Keys and the Crescent!" shouted the mob. + +The shout died: and at the verge of the space was suddenly heard a once +familiar and ever-thrilling voice. + +The Moors who heard it turned round in amaze and awe; and beheld, raised +upon the stone upon which the criers or heralds had been wont to utter +the royal proclamations, the form of Almamen, the santon, whom they had +deemed already with the dead. + +"Moors and people of Granada!" he said, in a solemn but hollow voice, "I +am with ye still. Your monarch and your heroes have deserted ye, but +I am with ye to the last! Go not to the Alhambra: the fort is +impenetrable--the guard faithful. Night will be wasted, and day bring +upon you the Christian army. March to the gates; pour along the Vega; +descend at once upon the foe!" + +He spoke, and drew forth his sabre; it gleamed in the torchlight--the +Moors bowed their heads in fanatic reverence--the santon sprang from the +stone, and passed into the centre of the crowd. + +Then, once more, arose joyful shouts. The multitude had found a leader +worthy of their enthusiasm; and in regular order, they formed themselves +rapidly, and swept down the narrow streets. + +Swelled by several scattered groups of desultory marauders (the ruffians +and refuse of the city), the infidel numbers were now but a few furlongs +from the great gate, whence they had been wont to issue on the foe. +And then, perhaps, had the Moors passed these gates and reached the +Christian encampment, lulled, as it was, in security and sleep, that +wild army of twenty thousand desperate men might have saved Granada; +and Spain might at this day possess the only civilised empire which the +faith of Mohammed ever founded. + +But the evil star of Boabdil prevailed. The news of the insurrection in +the city reached him. Two aged men from the lower city arrived at the +Alhambra--demanded and obtained an audience; and the effect of that +interview was instantaneous upon Boabdil. In the popular frenzy he saw +only a justifiable excuse for the Christian king to break the conditions +of the treaty, rase the city, and exterminate the inhabitants. Touched +by a generous compassion for his subjects, and actuated no less by a +high sense of kingly honor, which led him to preserve a truce solemnly +sworn to, he once more mounted his cream-coloured charger, with the two +elders who had sought him by his side; and, at the head of his guard, +rode from the Alhambra. The sound of his trumpets, the tramp of his +steeds, the voice of his heralds, simultaneously reached the multitude; +and, ere they had leisure to decide their course, the king was in the +midst of them. + +"What madness is this, O my people?" cried Boabdil, spurring into the +midst of the throng,--"whither would ye go?" + +"Against the Christian!--against the Goth!" shouted a thousand voices. +"Lead us on! The santon is risen from the dead, and will ride by thy +right hand!" + +"Alas!" resumed the king, "ye would march against the Christian king! +Remember that our hostages are in his power: remember that he will +desire no better excuse to level Granada with the dust, and put you and +your children to the sword. We have made such treaty as never yet was +made between foe and foe. Your lives, laws, wealth--all are saved. +Nothing is lost, save the crown of Boabdil. I am the only sufferer. So +be it. My evil star brought on you these evil destinies: without me, you +may revive, and be once more a nation. Yield to fate to-day, and you may +grasp her proudest awards to-morrow. To succumb is not to be subdued. +But go forth against the Christians, and if ye win one battle, it is +but to incur a more terrible war; if you lose, it is not honourable +capitulation, but certain extermination, to which you rush! Be +persuaded, and listen once again to your king." + +The crowd were moved, were softened, were half-convinced. They turned, +in silence, towards their santon; and Almamen did not shrink from the +appeal; but stood forth, confronting the king. + +"King of Granada!" he cried aloud, "behold thy friend--thy prophet! Lo! +I assure you victory!" + +"Hold!" interrupted Boabdil; "thou hast deceived and betrayed me too +long! Moors! know ye this pretended santon? He is of no Moslem creed. He +is a hound of Israel who would sell you to the best bidder. Slay him!" + +"Ha!" cried Almamen, "and who is my accuser?" + +"Thy servant-behold him!" At these words the royal guards lifted their +torches, and the glare fell redly on the death-like features of Ximen. + +"Light of the world! there be other Jews that know him," said the +traitor. + +"Will ye suffer a Jew to lead ye, O race of the Prophet?" cried the +king. + +The crowd stood confused and bewildered. Almamen felt his hour was come; +he remained silent, his arms folded, his brow erect. + +"Be there any of the tribes of Moisa amongst the crowd?" cried Boabdil, +pursuing his advantage; "if so, let them approach and testify what they +know." Forth came--not from the crowd, but from amongst Boabdil's train, +a well-known Israelite. + +"We disown this man of blood and fraud," said Elias, bowing to the +earth; "but he was of our creed." + +"Speak, false santon! art thou dumb?" cried the king. + +"A curse light on thee, dull fool!" cried Almamen, fiercely. "What +matters who the instrument that would have restored to thee thy throne? +Yes! I, who have ruled thy councils, who have led thine armies, I am of +the race of Joshua and of Samuel--and the Lord of Hosts is the God of +Almamen!" + +A shudder ran through that mighty multitude: but the looks, the mien, +and the voice of the man awed them, and not a weapon was raised against +him. He might, even then, have passed scathless through the crowd; he +might have borne to other climes his burning passions and his torturing +woes: but his care for life was past; he desired but to curse his dupes, +and to die. He paused, looked round and burst into a laugh of such +bitter and haughty scorn, as the tempted of earth may hear in the halls +below from the lips of Eblis. + +"Yes," he exclaimed, "such I am! I have been your idol and your lord. +I may be your victim, but in death I am your vanquisher. Christian and +Moslem alike my foe, I would have trampled upon both. But the Christian, +wiser than you, gave me smooth words; and I would have sold ye to his +power; wickeder than you, he deceived me; and I would have crushed him +that I might have continued to deceive and rule the puppets that ye call +your chiefs. But they for whom I toiled, and laboured, and sinned--for +whom I surrendered peace and ease, yea, and a daughter's person and a +daughter's blood--they have betrayed me to your hands, and the Curse of +Old rests with them evermore--Amen! The disguise is rent: Almamen, the +santon, is the son of Issachar the Jew!" + +More might he have said, but the spell was broken. With a ferocious +yell, those living waves of the multitude rushed over the stern fanatic; +six cimiters passed through him, and he fell not: at the seventh he +was a corpse. Trodden in the clay--then whirled aloft--limb torn from +limb,--ere a man could have drawn breath nine times, scarce a vestige of +the human form was left to the mangled and bloody clay. + +One victim sufficed to slake the wrath of the crowd. They gathered like +wild beasts whose hunger is appeased, around their monarch, who in vain +had endeavored to stay their summary revenge, and who now, pale and +breathless, shrank from the passions he had excited. He faltered forth a +few words of remonstrance and exhortation, turned the head of his steed, +and took his way to his palace. + +The crowd dispersed, but not yet to their homes. The crime of Almamen +worked against his whole race. Some rushed to the Jews' quarter, which +they set on fire; others to the lonely mansion of Almamen. + +Ximen, on quitting the king, had been before the mob. Not anticipating +such an effect of the popular rage, he had hastened to the house, which +he now deemed at length his own. He had just reached the treasury of +his dead lord--he had just feasted his eyes on the massive ingots and +glittering gems; in the lust of his heart he had just cried aloud, "And +these are mine!" when he heard the roar of the mob below the wall,--when +he saw the glare of their torches against the casement. It was in vain +that he shrieked aloud, "I am the man that exposed the Jew!" the wild +wind scattered his words over a deafened audience. Driven from his +chamber by the smoke and flame, afraid to venture forth amongst the +crowd, the miser loaded himself with the most precious of the store: he +descended the steps, he bent his way to the secret vault, when suddenly +the floor, pierced by the flames, crashed under him, and the fire rushed +up in a fiercer and more rapid volume, as the death-shriek broke through +that lurid shroud. + +Such were the principal events of the last night of the Moorish dynasty +in Granada. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE END. + +Day dawned upon Granada: the populace had sought their homes, and a +profound quiet wrapped the streets, save where, from the fires committed +in the late tumult, was yet heard the crash of roofs or the crackle of +the light and fragrant timber employed in those pavilions of the summer. +The manner in which the mansions of Granada were built, each separated +from the other by extensive gardens, fortunately prevented the flames +from extending. But the inhabitants cared so little for the hazard, +that not a single guard remained to watch the result. Now and then some +miserable forms in the Jewish gown might be seen cowering by the ruins +of their house, like the souls that, according to Plato, watched in +charnels over their own mouldering bodies. Day dawned, and the beams +of the winter sun, smiling away the clouds of the past night, played +cheerily on the murmuring waves of the Xenil and the Darro. + +Alone, upon a balcony commanding that stately landscape, stood the last +of the Moorish kings. He had sought to bring to his aid all the lessons +of the philosophy he had cultivated. "What are we," thought the musing +prince, "that we should fill the world with ourselves--we kings! Earth +resounds with the crash of my falling throne: on the ear of races unborn +the echo will live prolonged. But what have I lost?--nothing that was +necessary to my happiness, my repose; nothing save the source of all my +wretchedness, the Marah of my life! Shall I less enjoy heaven and +earth, or thought or action, or man's more material luxuries of food +or sleep--the common and the cheap desires of all? Arouse thee, then, O +heart within me! many and deep emotions of sorrow or of joy are yet left +to break the monotony of existence." + +He paused; and, at the distance, his eyes fell upon the lonely minarets +of the distant and deserted palace of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. + +"Thou went right, then," resumed the king--"thou wert right, brave +spirit, not to pity Boabdil: but not because death was in his power; +man's soul is greater than his fortunes, and there is majesty in a life +that towers above the ruins that fall around its path." He turned away, +and his cheek suddenly grew pale, for he heard in the courts below +the tread of hoofs, the bustle of preparation: it was the hour for his +departure. His philosophy vanished: he groaned aloud, and re-entered +the chamber just as his vizier and the chief of his guard broke upon his +solitude. + +The old vizier attempted to speak, but his voice failed him. + +"It is time, then, to depart," said Boabdil, with calmness; "let it be +so: render up the palace and the fortress, and join thy friend, no more +thy monarch, in his new home." + +He stayed not for reply: he hurried on, descended to the court, flung +himself on his barb, and, with a small and saddened train, passed +through the gate which we yet survey, by a blackened and crumbling tower +overgrown with vines and ivy; thence, amidst gardens, now appertaining +to the convent of the victor faith, he took his mournful and unwitnessed +way. When he came to the middle of the hill that rises above those +gardens, the steel of the Spanish armour gleamed upon him as the +detachment sent to occupy the palace marched over the summit in steady +order and profound silence. + +At the head of this vanguard rode, upon a snow-white palfrey, the Bishop +of Avila, followed by a long train of barefooted monks. They halted as +Boabdil approached, and the grave bishop saluted him with the air of +one who addresses an infidel and an inferior. With the quick sense of +dignity common to the great, and yet more to the fallen, Boabdil felt, +but resented not, the pride of the ecclesiastic. "Go, Christian," said +he, mildly, "the gates of the Alhambra are open, and Allah has bestowed +the palace and the city upon your king: may his virtues atone the faults +of Boabdil!" So saying, and waiting no answer, he rode on, without +looking to the right or left. The Spaniards also pursued their way. The +sun had fairly risen above the mountains, when Boabdil and his train +beheld, from the eminence on which they were, the whole armament of +Spain; and at the same moment, louder than the tramp of horse, or the +flash of arms, was heard distinctly the solemn chant of Te Deum, which +preceded the blaze of the unfurled and lofty standards. Boabdil, himself +still silent, heard the groans and exclamations of his train; he turned +to cheer or chide them, and then saw, from his own watch-tower, with the +sun shining full upon its pure and dazzling surface, the silver cross of +Spain. His Alhambra was already in the hands of the foe, while, beside +that badge of the holy war, waved the gay and flaunting flag of St. +Iago, the canonised Mars of the chivalry of Spain. + +At that sight the king's voice died within him: he gave the rein to his +barb, impatient to close the fatal ceremonial, and did not slacken his +speed till almost within bow-shot of the first ranks of the army. Never +had Christian war assumed a more splendid or imposing aspect. Far as +the eye could reach extended the glittering and gorgeous lines of that +goodly power, bristling with sunlit spears and blazoned banners; while +beside murmured, and glowed, and danced, the silver and laughing Xenil, +careless what lord should possess, for his little day, the banks that +bloomed by its everlasting course. By a small mosque halted the flower +of the army. Surrounded by the arch-priests of that mighty hierarchy, +the peers and princes of a court that rivalled the Rolands of +Charlemagne, was seen the kingly form of Ferdinand himself, with Isabel +at his right hand and the highborn dames of Spain, relieving, with their +gay colours and sparkling gems, the sterner splendour of the crested +helmet and polished mail. + +Within sight of the royal group, Boabdil halted--composed his aspect +so as best to conceal his soul,--and, a little in advance of his scanty +train, but never, in mien and majesty, more a king, the son of Abdallah +met his haughty conqueror. + +At the sight of his princely countenance and golden hair, his comely +and commanding beauty, made more touching by youth, a thrill of +compassionate admiration ran through that assembly of the brave +and fair. Ferdinand and Isabel slowly advanced to meet their late +rival--their new subject; and, as Boabdil would have dismounted, the +Spanish king place his hand upon his shoulder. "Brother and prince," +said he, "forget thy sorrows; and may our friendship hereafter console +thee for reverses against which thou hast contended as a hero and a +king-resisting man, but resigned at length to God!" + +Boabdil did not affect to return this bitter, but unintentional mockery +of compliment. He bowed his head, and remained a moment silent; then, +motioning to his train, four of his officers approached, and kneeling +beside Ferdinand, proffered to him, upon a silver buckler, the keys of +the city. + +"O king!" then said Boabdil, "accept the keys of the last hold which has +resisted the arms of Spain! The empire of the Moslem is no more. Thine +are the city and the people of Granada: yielding to thy prowess, they +yet confide in thy mercy." + +"They do well," said the king; "our promises shall not be broken. But, +since we know the gallantry of Moorish cavaliers, not to us, but to +gentler hands, shall the keys of Granada be surrendered." + +Thus saying, Ferdinand gave the keys to Isabel, who would have addressed +some soothing flatteries to Boabdil: but the emotion and excitement were +too much for her compassionate heart, heroine and queen though she was; +and, when she lifted her eyes upon the calm and pale features of the +fallen monarch, the tears gushed from them irresistibly, and her voice +died in murmurs. A faint flush overspread the features of Boabdil, and +there was a momentary pause of embarrassment which the Moor was the +first to break. + +"Fair queen," said he, with mournful and pathetic dignity; "thou canst +read the heart that thy generous sympathy touches and subdues: this +is thy last, nor least glorious, conquest. But I detain ye: let not my +aspect cloud your triumph. Suffer me to say farewell." + +"May we not hint at the blessed possibility of conversion?" whispered +the pious queen through her tears to her royal consort. + +"Not now--not now, by St. Iago!" returned Ferdinand, quickly, and in +the same tone, willing himself to conclude a painful conference. He then +added, aloud, "Go, my brother, and fair fortune with you! Forget the +past." + +Boabdil smiled bitterly, saluted the royal pair with profound and silent +reverence, and rode slowly on, leaving the army below, as he ascended +the path that led to his new principality beyond the Alpuxarras. As +the trees snatched the Moorish cavalcade from the view of the king, +Ferdinand ordered the army to recommence its march; and trumpet and +cymbal presently sent their music to the ear of the Moslems. + +Boabdil spurred on at full speed till his panting charger halted at +the little village where his mother, his slaves, and his faithful Amine +(sent on before) awaited him. Joining these, he proceeded without delay +upon his melancholy path. + +They ascended that eminence which is the pass into the Alpuxarras. From +its height, the vale, the rivers, the spires, the towers of Granada, +broke gloriously upon the view of the little band. They halted, +mechanically and abruptly; every eye was turned to the beloved scene. +The proud shame of baffled warriors, the tender memories of home--of +childhood--of fatherland, swelled every heart, and gushed from every +eye. Suddenly, the distant boom of artillery broke from the citadel and +rolled along the sunlit valley and crystal river. A universal wail burst +from the exiles! it smote--it overpowered the heart of the ill-starred +king, in vain seeking to wrap himself in Eastern pride or stoical +philosophy. The tears gushed from his eyes, and he covered his face with +his hands. + +Then said his haughty mother, gazing at him with hard and disdainful +eyes, in that unjust and memorable reproach which history has +preserved--"Ay, weep like a woman over what thou couldst not defend like +a man!" + +Boabdil raised his countenance, with indignant majesty, when he felt his +hand tenderly clasped, and, turning round, saw Amine by his side. + +"Heed her not! heed her not, Boabdil!" said the slave; "never didst +thou seem to me more noble than in that sorrow. Thou wert a hero for thy +throne; but feel still, O light of mine eyes, a woman for thy people!" + +"God is great!" said Boabdil; "and God comforts me still! Thy lips; +which never flattered me in my power, have no reproach for me in my +affliction!" + +He said, and smiled upon Amine--it was her hour of triumph. + +The band wound slowly on through the solitary defiles: and that place +where the king wept, and the woman soothed, is still called "El, ultimo +suspiro del Moro,--THE LAST SIGH OF THE MOOR!" + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Leila, Complete, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEILA, COMPLETE *** + +***** This file should be named 9761.txt or 9761.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/7/6/9761/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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