"Allah Akbar!" echoed the viziers and alfaquis; "the will of God
be done!" So they all agreed with the king that these evils were
preordained, that it was hopeless to contend with them, and that the
terms offered by the Castilian monarchs were as favorable as could be
expected.

When Muza heard them assent to the treaty of surrender he rose in
violent indignation. "Do not deceive yourselves," cried he, "nor think
the Christians will be faithful to their promises, or their king as
magnanimous in conquest as he has been victorious in war. Death is the
least we have to fear. It is the plundering and sacking of our city, the
profanation of our mosques, the ruin of our homes, the violation of our
wives and daughters, cruel oppression, bigoted intolerance, whips and
chains, the dungeon, the fagot, and the stake: such are the miseries
and indignities we shall see and suffer; at least those grovelling souls
will see and suffer them who now shrink from an honorable death. For my
part, by Allah, I will never witness them!"

With these words he left the council-chamber, and passed gloomily
through the Court of Lions and the outer halls of the Alhambra without
deigning to speak to the obsequious courtiers who attended in them.
He repaired to his dwelling, armed himself at all points, mounted his
favorite warhorse, and, issuing from the city by the gate of Elvira, was
never seen or heard of more.*

* Conde, part 4.

CHAPTER XCVIII.

COMMOTIONS IN GRANADA.

The capitulation for the surrender of Granada was signed on the 25th
of November, 1481, and produced a sudden cessation of those hostilities
which had raged for so many years. Christian and Moor might now be seen
mingling courteously on the banks of the Xenil and the Darro, where to
have met a few days previous would have produced a scene of sanguinary
contest. Still, as the Moors might be suddenly roused to the defence
if within the allotted term of sixty days succors should arrive from
abroad, and as they were at all times a rash, inflammable people, the
wary Ferdinand maintained a vigilant watch upon the city and permitted
no supplies of any kind to enter. His garrisons in the seaports and
his cruisers in the Straits of Gibraltar were ordered likewise to guard
against any relief from the grand soldan of Egypt or the princes of
Barbary. There was no need of such precautions. Those powers were either
too much engrossed by their own wars or too much daunted by