al in the
preceding year. There were also found other melancholy traces of that
disastrous affair. On visiting the narrow pass where the defeat had
taken place, the remains of several Christian warriors were found in
thickets or hidden behind rocks or in the clefts of the mountains. These
were some who had been struck from their horses and wounded too severely
to fly. They had crawled away from the scene of action, and concealed
themselves to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy, and had thus
perished miserably and alone. The remains of those of note were known by
their armor and devices, and were mourned over by their companions who
had shared the disaster of that day.*

* Pulgar, part 3, cap. 61.

The queen had these remains piously collected as the relics of so many
martyrs who had fallen in the cause of the faith. They were interred
with great solemnity in the mosques of Moclin, which had been purified
and consecrated to Christian worship. "There," says Antonio Agapida,
"rest the bones of those truly Catholic knights, in the holy ground
which in a manner had been sanctified by their blood; and all pilgrims
passing through those mountains offer up prayers and masses for the
repose of their souls."

The queen remained for some time at Moclin, administering comfort to the
wounded and the prisoners, bringing the newly-acquired territory
into order, and founding churches and monasteries and other pious
institutions. "While the king marched in front, laying waste the land of
the Philistines," says the figurative Antonio Agapida, "Queen Isabella
followed his traces as the binder follows the reaper, gathering and
garnering the rich harvest that has fallen beneath his sickle. In this
she was greatly assisted by the counsels of that cloud of bishops,
friars, and other saintly men which continually surrounded her,
garnering the first fruits of this infidel land into the granaries of
the Church." Leaving her thus piously employed, the king pursued his
career of conquest, determined to lay waste the Vega and carry fire and
sword to the very gates of Granada.

CHAPTER XLIV.

HOW KING FERDINAND FORAGED THE VEGA; AND OF THE BATTLE OF THE BRIDGE OF
PINOS, AND THE FATE OF THE TWO MOORISH BROTHERS.

Muley Abdallah el Zagal had been under a spell of ill-fortune ever since
the suspicious death of the old king his brother. Success had deserted
his standard, and with his fickle subjects want of success was one o