ueror;
or, should any fail a sepulchre to hide his remains, he will not want a
sky to cover him. Allah forbid it should be said the nobles of Granada
feared to die in her defence!"

Musa ceased to speak, and a dead silence reigned in the assembly. Boabdil
looked anxiously around and scanned every face; but he read in them all
the anxiety of careworn men, in whose hearts enthusiasm was dead, and
who had grown callous to every chivalrous appeal. "Allah Akbar! God
is great!" exclaimed he; "there is no god but God, and Mahomet is his
prophet! It is in vain to struggle against the will of heaven. Too surely
was it written in the book of fate that I should be unfortunate and the
kingdom expire under my rule."

"Allah Akbar! God is great!" echoed the viziers and alfaquis; "the will
of God be done!" So they all accorded 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 Musa saw that they were about to sign 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 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 strode 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
war-horse, and, issuing forth from the city by the gate of Elvira, was
never seen or heard of more.[3]

The capitulation for the surrender of Granada was signed on November 25,
1491, 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 Xenel and the Darro, where to have met
a few days previous wo