hirty in number, to a friendly conference in the Alhambra,
and there had them treacherously beheaded at the fountain.

But whether this blood-stain upon his memory is as doubtful as those
upon the stones at the fountain, seems an open question.

[Illustration: From the painting by V. Brozik.
Columbus at the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella.]

So stubborn was the defense, it appeared sometimes as if the reduction
of Granada would have to be abandoned. Isabella's courage and faith
were sorely tried. But the brave Queen infused her own courage into
the flagging spirits of her husband, and kept alive the enthusiasm of
the people; and at last,--on the 2d of January, 1402,--the proud
city capitulated. Boabdil surrendered the keys of the Alhambra to
Ferdinand--the silver cross which had preceded the King throughout the
war gleamed from a high tower; and from the loftiest pinnacle of the
Alhambra waved the banners of Castile and Aragon.

The conflict which had lasted for 781 years was over. The death of
Roderick and the fall of the Goths was avenged, and Christendom, still
weeping for the loss of Constantinople, was consoled and took heart
again.

CHAPTER XVII.

The reduction of Granada had required eleven years, and had drained
the kingdom of all its resources. It is not strange that Isabella
should have had no time to listen seriously to a threadbare enthusiast
asking for money and ships for a strange adventure! To have grown old
and haggard in pressing an unsuccessful project is not a passport
to the confidence of Princes. But the gracious Queen had promised
to listen to him when the war with the Moors was concluded. So now
Columbus sought her out at Granada; and it is a strange scene which
the imagination pictures--a shabby old man pleading with a Queen in
the halls of the Alhambra for permission to lift the veil from an
unsuspected Hemisphere; artfully dwelling upon the glory of planting
the Cross in the dominions of the Great Khan! The cool, unimaginative
Ferdinand listened contemptuously; but Isabella, for once opposing the
will of her "dear lord," arose and said, "The enterprise is mine. I
undertake it for Castile." And on the 3d of August, 1492, the little
fleet of caravels sailed from the mouth of the same river whence had
once sailed the "ships of Tarshish," laden with treasure for King
Solomon and "Hiram, King of Tyre." A union with Portugal--the land
of the Lusitanians and of Sertorius-