ortunate Boabdil
continued on toward the Alpujarras, that he might not behold the entrance
of the Christians into his capital. His devoted band of cavaliers
followed him in gloomy silence; but heavy sighs burst from their bosoms
as shouts of joy and strains of triumphant music were borne on the breeze
from the victorious army.

Having rejoined his family, Boabdil set forward with a heavy heart
for his allotted residence in the valley of Purchena. At two leagues'
distance, the cavalcade, winding into the skirts of the Alpujarras,
ascended an eminence commanding the last view of Granada. As they arrived
at this spot the Moors paused involuntarily to take a farewell gaze at
their beloved city, which a few steps more would shut from their sight
forever. The Moorish cavaliers gazed with a silent agony of tenderness
and grief upon that delicious abode, the scene of their loves and
pleasures. While they yet looked, a light cloud of smoke burst forth from
the citadel, and presently a peal of artillery, faintly heard, told that
the city was taken possession of, and the throne of the Moslem kings was
lost forever.

The unhappy Boabdil was not to be consoled; his tears continued to flow.
"Allah Akbar!" exclaimed he; "when did misfortunes ever equal mine?" From
this circumstance the hill, which is not far from the Padul, took the
name of Feg Allah Akbar; but the point of view commanding the last
prospect of Granada is known among Spaniards by the name of _El ultimo
suspiro del Moro_("The last sigh of the Moor").

The sovereigns did not enter the city on this day of its surrender, but
waited until it should be fully occupied by their troops and public
tranquillity insured. In a little while every battlement glistened with
Christian helms and lances, the standard of the faith and of the realm
floated from every tower, and the thundering salvoes of the ordnance told
that the subjugation of the city was complete. The grandees and cavaliers
now knelt and kissed the hands of the King and Queen and the prince Juan,
and congratulated them on the acquisition of so great a kingdom, after
which the royal procession returned in state to Santa Fe.

It was on January 6th, the day of kings and festival of the Epiphany,
that the sovereigns made their triumphal entry. The King and Queen looked
on this occasion as more than mortal; the venerable ecclesiastics, to
whose advice and zeal this glorious conquest ought in a great measure to
be attribu