mmediately overflowed. Many of the houses, undermined by
the floods or beaten by the rain, crumbled away and fell to the earth,
burying man and beast beneath their ruins. Several valuable lives were
lost, and great numbers of horses and other animals perished. To add to
the distress and confusion of the camp, the daily supply of provisions
suddenly ceased, for the rain had broken up the roads and rendered the
rivers impassable. A panic seized upon the army, for the cessation of
a single day's supply produced a scarcity of bread and provender.
Fortunately, the rain was but transient: the torrents rushed by and
ceased; the rivers shrank back again to their narrow channels, and the
convoys which had been detained upon their banks arrived safely in the
camp.

No sooner did Queen Isabella hear of this interruption of her supplies
than, with her usual vigilance and activity, she provided against its
recurrence. She despatched six thousand foot-soldiers, under the command
of experienced officers, to repair the roads and to make causeways and
bridges for the distance of seven Spanish leagues. The troops also who
had been stationed in the mountains by the king to guard the defiles
made two paths, one for the convoys going to the camp, and the other
for those returning, that they might not meet and impede each other. The
edifices which had been demolished by the late floods were rebuilt in
a firmer manner, and precautions were taken to protect the camp from
future inundations.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND MOORS BEFORE BAZA, AND THE
DEVOTION OF THE INHABITANTS TO THE DEFENCE OF THEIR CITY.

When King Ferdinand beheld the ravage and confusion produced by a
single autumnal storm, and bethought him of all the maladies to which
a besieging camp is exposed in inclement seasons, he began to feel his
compassion kindling for the suffering people of Baza, and an inclination
to grant them more favorable terms. He sent, therefore, several messages
to the alcayde Mohammed Ibn Hassan offering liberty of person and
security of property for the inhabitants and large rewards for himself
if he would surrender the city.

The veteran was not to be dazzled by the splendid offers of the monarch:
he had received exaggerated accounts of the damage done to the Christian
camp by the late storm, and of the sufferings and discontents of the
army in consequence of the transient interruption of supplies: he
considered the