em by the king of Portugal, to risk
an additional conflict with the Moorish sovereign. When, however, at the
expiration of the term of truce, Muley Abul Hassan sought a renewal of
it, the pride and piety of the Castilian sovereigns were awakened to
the flagrant defalcation of the infidel king, and they felt themselves
called upon, by their dignity as monarchs and their religious
obligations as champions of the faith, to make a formal demand for the
payment of arrearages.

In the year of grace 1478, therefore, Don Juan de Vera, a zealous and
devout knight, full of ardor for the faith and loyalty to the Crown,
was sent as ambassador for the purpose. He was armed at all points,
gallantly mounted, and followed by a moderate but well-appointed
retinue: in this way he crossed the Moorish frontier, and passed slowly
through the country, looking round him with the eyes of a practised
warrior and carefully noting its military points and capabilities. He
saw that the Moor was well prepared for possible hostilities. Every town
was strongly fortified. The Vega was studded with towers of refuge for
the peasantry: every pass of the mountain had its castle of defence,
every lofty height its watch-tower. As the Christian cavaliers passed
under the walls of the fortresses, lances and scimetars flashed from
their battlements, and the Moorish sentinels darted from their dark
eyes glances of hatred and defiance. It was evident that a war with
this kingdom must be a war of posts, full of doughty peril and valiant
enterprise, where every step must be gained by toil and bloodshed,
and maintained with the utmost difficulty. The warrior spirit of
the cavaliers kindled at the thoughts, and they were impatient for
hostilities; "not," says Antonio Agapida, "from any thirst for rapine
and revenge, but from that pure and holy indignation which every Spanish
knight entertained at beholding this beautiful dominion of his ancestors
defiled by the footsteps of infidel usurpers. It was impossible," he
adds, "to contemplate this delicious country, and not long to see it
restored to the dominion of the true faith and the sway of the Christian
monarchs."

Arrived at the gates of Granada, Don Juan de Vera and his companions
saw the same vigilant preparations on the part of the Moorish king. His
walls and towers were of vast strength, in complete repair, and mounted
with lombards and other heavy ordnance. His magazines were well stored
with the munitions of