days were renowned.

Before supper there was a stately and ceremonious dance, befitting the
dignity of so august a court. The king led forth the queen in grave and
graceful measure; the count de Cabra was honored with the hand of the
infanta Isabella; and the alcayde de los Donceles danced with a daughter
of the marques de Astorga.

The dance being concluded, the royal party repaired to the supper-table,
which was placed on an elevated part of the saloon. Here, in full view
of the court, the count de Cabra and the alcayde de los Donceles supped
at the same table with the king, the queen, and the infanta. The royal
family were served by the marques of Villena. The cup-bearer to the king
was his nephew, Fadrigue de Toledo, son to the duke of Alva. Don Alexis
de Estaniga had the honor of fulfilling that office for the queen,
and Tello de Aguilar for the infanta. Other cavaliers of rank and
distinction waited on the count and the alcayde de los Donceles. At one
o'clock the two distinguished guests were dismissed with many courteous
expressions by the sovereigns.

Such (says Fray Antonio Agapida) were the great honors paid at our
most exalted and ceremonious court to these renowned cavaliers, but the
gratitude of the sovereigns did not end here. A few days afterward they
bestowed upon them large revenues for life, and others to descend to
their heirs, with the privilege for them and their descendants to prefix
the title of Don to their names. They gave them, moreover, as armorial
bearings a Moor's head crowned, with a golden chain round the neck, in
a sanguine field, and twenty-two banners round the margin of the
escutcheon. Their descendants, of the houses of Cabra and Cordova,
continue to bear these arms at the present day in memorial of the
victory of Lucena and the capture of Boabdil el Chico.*

* The account given by Fray Antonio Agapida of this ceremonial, so
characteristic of the old Spanish court, agrees in almost every
particular with an ancient manuscript made up from the chronicles of the
curate of los Palacios and other old Spanish writers.

CHAPTER XXV.

HOW THE MARQUES OF CADIZ CONCERTED TO SURPRISE ZAHARA, AND THE RESULT OF
HIS ENTERPRISE.

The valiant Roderigo Ponce de Leon, marques of Cadiz, was one of the
most vigilant of commanders. He kept in his pay a number of converted
Moors to serve as adalides, or armed guides. These mongrel Christians
were of great service in procuring informati