fly?" said the Moor--"to
be reserved for hunger and slavery? I tell you, wife, I will await the
foe here, for better is it to die quickly by the steel than to perish
piecemeal in chains and dungeons." He said no more, but resumed his
occupation of weaving, and in the indiscriminate fury of the assault was
slaughtered at his loom.*

* Pulgar, part 3, c. 58.

The Christians remained masters of the field, and proceeded to pitch
three encampments for the prosecution of the siege. The king, with the
great body of the army, took a position on the side of the city next to
Granada; the marques of Cadiz and his brave companions once more pitched
their tents upon the height of Santo Albohacen; but the English earl
planted his standard sturdily within the suburb he had taken.

CHAPTER XL.

CONCLUSION OF THE SIEGE OF LOXA.

Having possession of the heights of Albohacen and the suburb of
the city, the Christians were enabled to choose the most favorable
situations for their batteries. They immediately destroyed the stone
bridge by which the garrison had made its sallies, and they threw two
wooden bridges across the river and others over the canals and streams,
so as to establish an easy communication between the different camps.

When all was arranged a heavy fire was opened upon the city from various
points. They threw not only balls of stone and iron, but great carcasses
of fire, which burst like meteors on the houses, wrapping them instantly
in a blaze. The walls were shattered and the towers toppled down by
tremendous discharges from the lombards. Through the openings thus
made they could behold the interior of the city--houses tumbling or in
flames, men, women, and children flying in terror through the streets,
and slaughtered by the shower of missiles sent through the openings from
smaller artillery and from crossbows and arquebuses.

The Moors attempted to repair the breaches, but fresh discharges from
the lombards buried them beneath the ruins of the walls they were
mending. In their despair many of the inhabitants rushed forth into the
narrow streets of the suburbs and assailed the Christians with darts,
scimetars, and poniards, seeking to destroy rather than defend, and
heedless of death in the confidence that to die fighting with an
unbeliever was to be translated at once to Paradise.

For two nights and a day this awful scene continued, when certain of
the principal inhabitants began to reflect u