ng into his saddle, he
seemed to commune a moment with himself. Turning quickly to his troop,
he singled out a renegado Christian, a traitor to his religion and his
king. "Come hither," said Hamet. "Thou knowest all the secret passes
of the country?"--"I do," replied the renegado.--"Dost thou know any
circuitous route, solitary and untravelled, by which we can pass wide
within these troops and reach the Serrania?"--The renegado paused: "Such
a route I know, but it is full of peril, for it leads through the heart
of the Christian land."--"'Tis well," said Hamet; "the more dangerous in
appearance, the less it will be suspected. Now hearken to me. Ride by my
side. Thou seest this purse of gold and this scimetar. Take us, by the
route thou hast mentioned, safe to the pass of the Serrania, and this
purse shall be thy reward; betray us, and this scimetar shall cleave
thee to the saddle-bow."*

* Cura de los Palacios, ubi sup.

The renegado obeyed, trembling. They turned off from the direct road to
the mountains and struck southward toward Lebrixa, passing by the most
solitary roads and along those deep ramblas and ravines by which the
country is intersected. It was indeed a daring course. Every now and
then they heard the distant sound of trumpets and the alarm-bells of
towns and villages, and found that the war was still hurrying to the
borders. They hid themselves in thickets and in dry beds of rivers until
the danger had passed by, and then resumed their course. Hamet el Zegri
rode on in silence, his hand upon his scimetar and his eye upon
the renegado guide, prepared to sacrifice him on the least sign of
treachery, while his band followed, gnawing their lips with rage at
having thus to skulk through a country they had come to ravage.

When night fell they struck into more practicable roads, always keeping
wide of the villages and hamlets, lest the watch-dogs should betray
them. In this way they passed in deep midnight by Arcos, crossed the
Guadalete, and effected their retreat to the mountains. The day dawned
as they made their way up the savage defiles. Their comrades had been
hunted up these very glens by the enemy. Every now and then they came
to where there had been a partial fight or a slaughter of the fugitives,
and the rocks were red with blood and strewed with mangled bodies. The
alcayde of Ronda was almost frantic with rage at seeing many of his
bravest warriors lying stiff and stark, a prey to the haw