im to
postpone an attempt which, planned with haste, and executed with
rashness, could only be attended with disaster. The Moors, though
possessed of courage, were unskilled in the discipline of war, and
better calculated, therefore, to harrass the Spaniards by detached
bodies, in petty skirmishes, than to oppose them in the open field.
Mohabed was callous to all remonstrances; and this want of unity in the
chiefs, proved a mortal blow to the Moorish cause. El Feri saw with
grief his companions descending that mountain which, to them, had
afforded a strong hold, and a secure home, to risk, by an act of
imprudence, the advantages which they had already gained.

Mohabed boldly directed his course towards Granada, in which direction
Gomez Arias was said to be advancing. The enemies shortly came in sight;
but no sooner did they come within hearing, than the Moors sent forth a
wild shout of exultation, which was answered by the war-cry of the
Christians, who were burning to revenge the defeat of their countrymen
in the Sierra Bermeja.

Gomez Arias beheld the advance of the enemy with transports of joy. He
hailed an opportunity of avenging the death of Aguilar, and of
acquiring, by a brilliant act, fresh laurels to sanction his ambitious
and enterprizing schemes. Besides the many deceitful stratagems to which
he had resorted on account of Theodora, his unsatisfactory conduct on
the day of his intended wedding, and a degree of mystery that remained
over that affair, had combined to throw a shade over his character which
he was anxious to remove by the _eclat_ of a military exploit. The hope
of victory, the desire of retrieving the late disgrace of the
Christians, and the sweet whispers of ambition, produced a state of wild
excitation he could scarcely restrain. His soldiers were equally
impatient to signalize themselves, and every one awaited the moment of
action in a ferment of expectation.

Gomez Arias made choice of an advantageous position near _Rio Gordo_,
and there resolved to receive the attack of the enemy. Meantime Mohabed,
as if to forward the wishes of the Spaniards, hurried on without
considering the fatigue and exhaustion to which his men were reduced by
a forced march. The Christians, in their turn, beheld the approach of
the rebels, as an approaching holocaust to the spirits of those who fell
in the Sierra Bermeja with the gallant Aguilar. Don Lope commanded his
men to sustain the first attack without moving,