, and the conqueror undone)."*

* Garibay, lib. 40, c. 33.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

HOW KING FERDINAND HELD A COUNCIL OF WAR AT THE ROCK OF THE LOVERS.

The royal army on its march against Loxa lay encamped one pleasant
evening in May in a meadow on the banks of the river Yeguas, around the
foot of a lofty cliff called the Rock of the Lovers. The quarters
of each nobleman formed as it were a separate little encampment, his
stately pavilion, surmounted by his fluttering pennon, rising above the
surrounding tents of his vassals and retainers. A little apart from the
others, as it were in proud reserve, was the encampment of the English
earl. It was sumptuous in its furniture and complete in all its
munitions. Archers and soldiers armed with battle-axes kept guard around
it, while above the standard of England rolled out its ample folds and
flapped in the evening breeze.

The mingled sounds of various tongues and nations were heard from the
soldiery as they watered their horses in the stream or busied themselves
round the fires which began to glow here and there in the twilight--the
gay chanson of the Frenchman, singing of his amours on the pleasant
banks of the Loire or the sunny regions of the Garonne; the broad
guttural tones of the German, chanting some doughty "krieger lied" or
extolling the vintage of the Rhine; the wild romance of the Spaniard,
reciting the achievements of the Cid and many a famous passage of the
Moorish wars; and the long and melancholy ditty of the Englishman,
treating of some feudal hero or redoubtable outlaw of his distant
island.

On a rising ground, commanding a view of the whole encampment, stood the
ample and magnificent pavilion of the king, with the banner of Castile
and Aragon and the holy standard of the cross erected before it. In this
tent there assembled the principal commanders of the army, having been
summoned by Ferdinand to a council of war on receiving tidings that
Boabdil had thrown himself into Loxa with a considerable reinforcement.
After some consultation it was determined to invest Loxa on both sides:
one part of the army should seize upon the dangerous but commanding
height of Santo Albohacen in front of the city, while the remainder,
making a circuit, should encamp on the opposite side.

No sooner was this resolved upon than the marques of Cadiz stood forth
and claimed the post of danger in behalf of himself and those cavaliers,
his companions-in-arms, who h