28. CHAPTER XXVIII.
Siege of Baza continued.—How King Ferdinand completely
invested the city.
The Moorish prince Cidi Yahye had received
tidings of the doubts and discussions in the christian
camp, and flattered himself with hopes that the besieging
army would soon retire in despair, though the
veteran alcayde Mohammed shook his head with incredulity
at the suggestion. A sudden movement,
one morning, in the christian camp, seemed to confirm
the sanguine hopes of the prince. The tents
were struck, the artillery and baggage were conveyed
away, and bodies of soldiers began to march along
the valley. The momentary gleam of triumph was
soon dispelled. The Catholic king had merely divided
his host into two camps, the more effectually
to distress the city. One, consisting of four thousand
horse and eight thousand foot, with all the artillery
and battering engines, took post on the side of the
city towards the mountain. This was commanded
by the valiant marques of Cadiz, with whom were
Don Alonzo de Aguilar, Luis Fernandez Puerto Carrero,
and many other distinguished cavaliers.
The other camp was commanded by the king, having
six thousand horse and a great host of foot-soldiers,
the hardy mountaineers of Biscay, Guipuscon,
Gallicia, and the Asturias. Among the cavaliers who
were with the king were the brave count de Tendilla,
Don Roderigo de Mendoza, and Don Alonzo de Cardenas,
Master of Santiago. The two camps were
wide asunder, on opposite sides of the city, and between
them lay the thick wilderness of orchards.
Both camps were therefore fortified by great trenches,
breastworks, and palisadoes. The veteran Mohammed,
as he saw these two formidable camps glittering
on each side of the city, and noted the well-known
pennons of renowned commanders fluttering above
them, still comforted his companions: “These camps,”
said he, “are too far removed from each other, for
mutual succor and co-operation; and the forest of
orchards is as a gulf between them.” This consolation
was but of short continuance. Scarcely were
the christian camps fortified, when the ears of the
Moorish garrison were startled by the sound of innumerable
axes, and the crash of falling trees. They
looked with anxiety from their highest towers, and
behold their favorite groves were sinking beneath
the blows of the christian pioneers. The Moors
sallied forth with fiery zeal to protect their beloved
gardens, and the orchards in which they so much delighted.
The christians, however, were too well
supported to be driven from their work. Day after
day, the gardens became the scene of incessant and
bloody skirmishings; yet still the devastation of the
groves went on, for king Ferdinand was too well
aware of the necessity of clearing away this screen
of woods, not to bend all his forces to the undertaking.
It was a work, however, of gigantic toil and patience.
The trees were of such magnitude, and so closely set
together, and spread over so wide an extent, that
notwithstanding four thousand men were employed,
they could scarcely clear a strip of land ten paces
broad within a day; and such were the interruptions
from the incessant assaults of the Moors, that it was
full forty days before the orchards were completely
levelled.
The devoted city of Baza now lay stripped of its
beautiful covering of groves and gardens, at once its
ornament, its delight, and its protection. The besiegers
went on slowly and surely, with almost incredible
labors, to invest and isolate the city. They
connected their camps by a deep trench across the
plain, a league in length, into which they diverted
the waters of the mountain streams. They protected
this trench by palisadoes, fortified by fifteen castles,
at regular distances. They dug a deep trench,
also, two leagues in length, across the mountain in
the rear of the city, reaching from camp to camp,
and fortified it on each side with walls of earth, and
stone, and wood. Thus the Moors were inclosed on
all sides by trenches, palisadoes, walls, and castles;
so that it was impossible for them to sally beyond
this great line of circumvallation—nor could any
force enter to their succor. Ferdinand made an attempt,
likewise, to cut off the supply of water from
the city; “for water,” observes the worthy Agapida,
“is more necessary to these infidels than bread, making
use of it in repeated daily ablutions enjoined by
their damnable religion, and employing it in baths
and in a thousand other idle and extravagant modes,
of which we Spaniards and christians make but little
account.”
There was a noble fountain of pure water, which
gushed out at the foot of the hill Albohacen, just behind
the city. The Moors had almost a superstitious
fondness for this fountain, and chiefly depended upon
it for their supplies. Receiving intimation from some
deserters, of the plan of king Ferdinand to get possession
of this precious fountain, they sallied forth at
night, and threw up such powerful works upon the
impending hill, as to set all attempts of the christian
assailants at defiance.
