war; he had a mighty host of foot-soldiers,
together with squadrons of cavalry, ready to scour the country and carry
on either defensive or predatory warfare. The Christian warriors noted
these things without dismay; their hearts rather glowed with emulation
at the thoughts of encountering so worthy a foe. As they slowly pranced
through the streets of Granada they looked round with eagerness on
the stately palaces and sumptuous mosques, on its alcayceria or bazar,
crowded with silks and cloth of silver and gold, with jewels and
precious stones, and other rich merchandise, the luxuries of every
clime; and they longed for the time when all this wealth should be the
spoil of the soldiers of the faith, and when each tramp of their steeds
might be fetlock deep in the blood and carnage of the infidels.

The Moorish inhabitants looked jealously at this small but proud array
of Spanish chivalry, as it paraded, with that stateliness possessed only
by Spanish cavaliers, through the renowned gate of Elvira. They were
struck with the stern and lofty demeanor of Don Juan de Vera and his
sinewy frame, which showed him formed for hardy deeds of arms, and they
supposed he had come in search of distinction by defying the Moorish
knights in open tourney or in the famous tilt with reeds for which they
were so renowned, for it was still the custom of the knights of either
nation to mingle in these courteous and chivalrous contests during the
intervals of war. When they learnt, however, that he was come to demand
the tribute so abhorrent to the ears of the fiery monarch, they observed
that it well required a warrior of his apparent nerve to execute such an
embassy.

Muley Abul Hassan received the cavalier in state, seated on a
magnificent divan and surrounded by the officers of his court, in
the Hall of Ambassadors, one of the most sumptuous apartments of the
Alhambra. When De Vera had delivered his message, a haughty and bitter
smile curled the lip of the fierce monarch. "Tell your sovereigns," said
he, "that the kings of Granada, who used to pay tribute in money to the
Castilian crown, are dead. Our mint at present coins nothing but blades
of scimetars and heads of lances."*

* Garibay, 1. 40, c. 29; Conde, Hist. Arab., p. 4, c. 34.

The defiance couched in this proud reply was heard with secret
satisfaction by Don Juan de Vera, for he was a bold soldier and a devout
hater of the infidels, and he saw iron war in the words of