is a second self: happy is that monarch who has his kindred
to command his armies."

With all these reinforcements the garrison of Baza amounted to above
twenty thousand men. There were at this time three principal leaders in
the city: Mohammed Ibn Hassan, surnamed the Veteran, who was military
governor or alcayde, an old Moor of great experience and discretion; the
second was Hamet Abu Zali, who was captain of the troops stationed in
the place; and the third was Hubec Abdilbar, late alcayde of Zujar, who
had repaired hither with the remains of his garrison. Over all these
Cid Hiaya exercised a supreme command in consequence of his being of the
blood-royal and in the especial confidence of Muley Abdallah el Zagal.
He was eloquent and ardent in council, and fond of striking and splendid
achievements, but he was a little prone to be carried away by the
excitement of the moment and the warmth of his imagination. The councils
of war of these commanders, therefore, were more frequently controlled
by the opinions of the old alcayde Mohammed Ibn Hassan, for whose
shrewdness, caution, and experience Cid Hiaya himself felt the greatest
deference.

The city of Baza was situated in a great valley, eight leagues in
length and three in breadth, called the Hoya, or Basin, of Baza. It was
surrounded by a range of mountains called the Sierra of Xabalcohol, the
streams of which, collecting themselves into two rivers, watered and
fertilized the country. The city was built in the plain, one part of
it protected by the rocky precipices of the mountain and by a powerful
citadel, the other by massive walls studded with immense towers. It
had suburbs toward the plain imperfectly fortified by earthen walls. In
front of these suburbs extended a tract of orchards and gardens nearly a
league in length, so thickly planted as to resemble a continued forest.
Here every citizen who could afford it had his little plantation and
his garden of fruits and flowers and vegetables, watered by canals and
rivulets and dominated by a small tower for recreation or defence. This
wilderness of groves and gardens, intersected in all parts by canals and
runs of water, and studded by above a thousand small towers, formed
a kind of protection to this side of the city, rendering all approach
extremely difficult and perplexed.

While the Christian army had been detained before the frontier
posts, the city of Baza had been a scene of hurried and unremitting
preparati