ng him one of the ablest of Spanish
generals. So terrible, in fact, did he become in the land that the
Moorish peasantry could not venture a league from Granada or Loxa to
labor in the fields without peril of being carried into captivity. The
people of Granada clamored against Muley Abul Hassan for suffering his
lands to be thus outraged and insulted, and demanded to have this bold
marauder shut up in his fortress. The old monarch was roused by their
remonstrances. He sent forth powerful troops of horse to protect the
country during the season that the husbandmen were abroad in the fields.
These troops patrolled in formidable squadrons in the neighborhood of
Alhama, keeping strict watch upon its gates, so that it was impossible
for the Christians to make a sally without being seen and intercepted.

While Alhama was thus blockaded by a roving force of Moorish cavalry,
the inhabitants were awakened one night by a tremendous crash that shook
the fortress to its foundations. The garrison flew to arms, supposing it
some assault of the enemy. The alarm proved to have been caused by the
rupture of a portion of the wall, which, undermined by heavy rains, had
suddenly given way, leaving a large chasm yawning toward the plain.

The count de Tendilla was for a time in great anxiety. Should this
breach be discovered by the blockading horsemen, they would arouse the
country, Granada and Loxa would pour out an overwhelming force, and
they would find his walls ready sapped for an assault. In this fearful
emergency the count displayed his noted talent for expedients. He
ordered a quantity of linen cloth to be stretched in front of the
breach, painted in imitation of stone and indented with battlements, so
as at a distance to resemble the other parts of the walls: behind this
screen he employed workmen day and night in repairing the fracture.
No one was permitted to leave the fortress, lest information of its
defenceless plight should be carried to the Moor. Light squadrons of
the enemy were seen hovering about the plain, but never approached near
enough to discover the deception; and thus in the course of a few days
the wall was rebuilt stronger than before.

There was another expedient of this shrewd veteran which greatly excites
the marvel of Agapida. "It happened," he observes, "that this Catholic
cavalier at one time was destitute of gold and silver wherewith to pay
the wages of his troops; and the soldiers murmured greatly, seein