stones from their ordnance," says
a chronicler of the times, "but likewise great balls of iron cast in
moulds, which demolished everything they struck. They threw also balls
of tow steeped in pitch and oil and gunpowder, which, when once on fire,
were not to be extinguished, and which set the houses in flames. Great
was the horror of the inhabitants: they knew not where to fly for
refuge: their houses were in a blaze or shattered by the ordnance; the
streets were perilous from the falling ruins and the bounding balls,
which dashed to pieces everything they encountered. At night the city
looked like a fiery furnace; the cries and wailings of the women between
the thunders of the ordnance reached even to the Moors on the opposite
mountains, who answered them by yells of fury and despair."

All hope of external succor being at an end, the inhabitants of Ronda
were compelled to capitulate. Ferdinand was easily prevailed upon to
grant them favorable terms. The place was capable of longer resistance,
and he feared for the safety of his camp, as the forces were daily
augmenting on the mountains and making frequent assaults. The
inhabitants were permitted to depart with their effects, either to
Barbary, Granada, or elsewhere, and those who chose to reside in Spain
had lands assigned them and were indulged in the practice of their
religion.

No sooner did the place surrender than detachments were sent to attack
the Moors who hovered about the neighboring mountains. Hamet el Zegri,
however, did not remain to make a fruitless battle. He gave up the game
as lost, and retreated with his Gomeres, filled with grief and rage, but
trusting to fortune to give him future vengeance.

The first care of the good marques of Cadiz on entering Ronda was to
deliver his unfortunate companion-in-arms from the dungeons of the
fortress. What a difference in their looks from the time when, flushed
with health and hope and arrayed in military pomp, they had sallied
forth upon the mountain-foray! Many of them were almost naked, with
irons at their ankles and beards reaching to their waists. Their meeting
with the marques was joyful, yet it had the look of grief, for their joy
was mingled with many bitter recollections. There was an immense number
of other captives, among whom were several young men of noble families
who with filial piety had surrendered themselves prisoners in place of
their fathers.

The captives were all provided with mules and s