ing prevented their retreat from becoming a headlong flight. If
Boabdil had displayed little of the talents of a general in the outset
of his enterprise, he manifested courage and presence of mind amid
the disasters of its close. Seconded by a small body of cavalry, the
choicest and most loyal of his guards, he made repeated stand against
the press of the foe in a skirmishing retreat of about three leagues,
and the way was strewn with the flower of his chivalry. At length they
came to the brook of Martin Gonzales (or Mingozales, as it is called by
the Moorish chroniclers), which, swollen by recent rain, was now a deep
and turbid torrent. Here a scene of confusion ensued. Horse and foot
precipitated themselves into the stream. Some of the horses stuck
fast in the mire and blocked up the ford; others trampled down the
foot-soldiers; many were drowned and more carried down the stream. Such
of the foot-soldiers as gained the opposite side immediately took to
flight; the horsemen, too, who had struggled through the stream, gave
reins to their steeds and scoured for the frontier.

The little band of devoted cavaliers about the king serried their forces
to keep the enemy in check, fighting with them hand to hand until he
should have time to cross. In the tumult his horse was shot down, and
he became environed in the throng of foot-soldiers struggling forward to
the ford and in peril from the lances of their pursuers. Conscious that
his rich array made him a conspicuous object, he retreated along the
bank of the river, and endeavored to conceal himself in a thicket of
willows and tamarisks. Thence, looking back, he beheld his loyal band at
length give way, supposing, no doubt, he had effected his escape. They
crossed the ford, followed pell-mell by the enemy, and several of them
were struck down in the stream.

While Boabdil was meditating to throw himself into the water and
endeavor to swim across, he was discovered by Martin Hurtado, regidor of
Lucena, a brave cavalier who had been captive in the prisons of Granada
and exchanged for a Christian knight. Hurtado attacked the king with
a pike, but was kept at bay until, seeing other soldiers approaching,
Boabdil cried for quarter, proclaiming himself a person of high rank who
would pay a noble ransom. At this moment came up several men of Vaena,
of the troop of the count de Cabra. Hearing the talk of ransom and
noticing the splendid attire of the Moor, they endeavored to secure