ended,
with glittering retinue, along the avenue of trees and fountains, into
the city to receive the acclamations of the populace. As he entered the
great square of the Vivarrambla he beheld crowds of people in violent
agitation, but as he approached what was his surprise to hear groans and
murmurs and bursts of execration! The tidings had spread through Granada
that Muley Abdallah el Zagal had been driven to capitulate, and that all
his territories had fallen into the hands of the Christians. No one had
inquired into the particulars, but all Granada had been thrown into a
ferment of grief and indignation. In the heat of the moment old Muley
was extolled to the skies as a patriot prince who had fought to the last
for the salvation of his country--as a mirror of monarchs, scorning to
compromise the dignity of his crown by any act of vassalage. Boabdil,
on the contrary, had looked on exultingly at the hopeless yet heroic
struggle of his uncle; he had rejoiced in the defeat of the faithful
and the triumph of unbelievers; he had aided in the dismemberment and
downfall of the empire. When they beheld him riding forth in gorgeous
state on what they considered a day of humiliation for all true Moslems,
they could not contain their rage, and amidst the clamors that met his
ears Boabdil more than once heard his name coupled with the epithets of
traitor and renegado.

Shocked and discomfited, the youthful monarch returned in confusion to
the Alhambra, shut himself up within its innermost courts, and remained
a kind of voluntary prisoner until the first burst of popular feeling
should subside. He trusted that it would soon pass away--that the people
would be too sensible of the sweets of peace to repine at the price at
which it was obtained; at any rate, he trusted to the strong friendship
of the Christian sovereigns to secure him even against the factions of
his subjects.

The first missives from the politic Ferdinand showed Boabdil the value
of his friendship. The Christian monarch reminded him of a treaty which
he had made when captured in the city of Loxa. By this he had engaged
that in case the Catholic sovereigns should capture the cities of
Guadix, Baza, and Almeria he would surrender Granada into their hands
within a limited time, and accept in exchange certain Moorish towns
to be held by him as their vassal. Guadix, Baza, and Almeria had now
fallen; Ferdinand called upon him, therefore, to fulfil his engagement.

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