g sands of Africa.*

* Pulgar, part 3, cap. 124; Garibay, lib. 40, cap. 40; Cura de
los Palacios.

CHAPTER LXXXII.

SUBMISSION OF EL ZAGAL TO THE CASTILIAN SOVEREIGNS.

Evil tidings never fail by the way through lack of messengers: they are
wafted on the wings of the wind, and it is as if the very birds of the
air would bear them to the ear of the unfortunate. The old king El Zagal
buried himself in the recesses of his castle to hide himself from the
light of day, which no longer shone prosperously upon him, but every
hour brought missives thundering at the gate with the tale of some new
disaster. Fortress after fortress had laid its keys at the feet of the
Christian sovereigns: strip after strip of warrior mountain and green
fruitful valleys was torn from his domains and added to the territories
of the conquerors. Scarcely a remnant remained to him, except a tract
of the Alpuxarras and the noble cities of Guadix and Almeria. No one any
longer stood in awe of the fierce old monarch; the terror of his frown
had declined with his power. He had arrived at that state of adversity
when a man's friends feel emboldened to tell him hard truths and to
give him unpalatable advice, and when his spirit is bowed down to listen
quietly if not meekly.

El Zagal was seated on his divan, his whole spirit absorbed in
rumination on the transitory nature of human glory, when his kinsman and
brother-in-law, the prince Cid Hiaya, was announced. That illustrious
convert to the true faith and the interests of the conquerors of his
country had hastened to Guadix with all the fervor of a new proselyte,
eager to prove his zeal in the service of Heaven and the Castilian
sovereigns by persuading the old monarch to abjure his faith and
surrender his possessions.

Cid Hiaya still bore the guise of a Moslem, for his conversion was as
yet a secret. The stern heart of El Zagal softened at beholding the
face of a kinsman in this hour of adversity. He folded his cousin to
his bosom, and gave thanks to Allah that amidst all his troubles he had
still a friend and counsellor on whom he might rely.

Cid Hiaya soon entered upon the real purpose of his mission. He
represented to El Zagal the desperate state of affairs and the
irretrievable decline of Moorish power in the kingdom of Granada.
"Fate," said he, "is against our arms; our ruin is written in the
heavens. Remember the prediction of the astrologers at the birth of your
nephew Boabd