n. This done, he hastened to the Alcaiceria to
set it in a blaze. The combustibles were all placed, but Tristan de
Montemayor, who had charge of the firebrand, had carelessly left it
at the door of the mosque. It was too late to return there. Pulgar was
endeavoring to strike fire with flint and steel into the ravelled end of
a cord when he was startled by the approach of the Moorish guards going
the rounds. His hand was on his sword in an instant. Seconded by his
brave companions, he assailed the astonished Moors and put them to
flight. In a little while the whole city resounded with alarms, soldiers
were hurrying through the streets in every direction; but Pulgar, guided
by the renegade, made good his retreat by the channel of the Darro to
his companions at the bridge, and all, mounting their horses, spurred
back to the camp. The Moors were at a loss to imagine the meaning
of this wild and apparently fruitless assault, but great was their
exasperation on the following day when the trophy of hardihood and
prowess, the "AVE MARIA," was discovered thus elevated in bravado in the
very centre of the city. The mosque thus boldly sanctified by Hernan del
Pulgar was actually consecrated into a cathedral after the capture of
Granada.*

* The account here given of the exploit of Hernan del Pulgar differs
from that given in the first edition, and is conformable to the record
of the fact in a manuscript called "The House of Salar," existing in the
library of Salazar and cited by Alcantara in his History of Granada.

In commemoration of this daring feat of Pulgar, the emperor Charles V.
in after years conferred on that cavalier and on his descendants, the
marqueses of Salar, the privilege of sitting in the choir during high
mass, and assigned as the place of sepulture of Pulgar himself the
identical spot where he kneeled to affix the sacred scroll; and his tomb
is still held in great veneration. This Hernan Perez del Pulgar was a
man of letters, as well as art, and inscribed to Charles V. a summary of
the achievements of Gonsalvo of Cordova, surnamed the Great Captain,
who had been one of his comrades-in-arms. He is often confounded with
Hernando del Pulgar, historian and secretary to Queen Isabella. (See
note to Pulgar's Chron. of the Catholic Sovereigns, part 3, c. iii.,
edit. Valencia, 1780.)

CHAPTER XCIII.

HOW QUEEN ISABELLA TOOK A VIEW OF THE CITY OF GRANADA, AND HOW HER
CURIOSITY COST THE LIVES OF MANY CHRIST