40. CHAPTER XL.
The fate of the Castle of Roma.
About two leagues from Granada, on an eminence
commanding an extensive view of the vega, stood the
strong Moorish castle of Roma, a great place of refuge
and security. Hither the neighboring peasantry drove
their flocks and herds, and hurried with their most
precious effects, on the irruption of a christian force;
and any foraging or skirmishing party from Granada,
on being intercepted in their return, threw themselves
into Roma, manned its embattled towers, and set the
enemy at defiance. The garrison were accustomed
to these sudden claims upon their protection; to have
parties of Moors clattering up to their gates, so hotly
pursued that there was barely time to throw open
the portal, receive them within, and shut out their
pursuers; while the christian cavaliers had many a
time reined in their panting steeds, at the very entrance
of the barbacan, and retired, cursing the strong
walls of Roma, that robbed them of their prey.
The late ravages of Ferdinand, and the continual
skirmishings in the vega, had roused the vigilance of
the castle. One morning early, as the sentinels kept
watch upon the battlements, they beheld a cloud of
dust advancing rapidly from a distance: turbans and
Moorish weapons soon caught their eyes; and as the
whole approached, they descried a drove of cattle,
urged on in great haste, and convoyed by one hundred
and fifty Moors, who led with them two christian
captives in chains.
When the cavalgada had arrived near to the castle,
a Moorish cavalier, of noble and commanding mien
and splendid attire, rode up to the foot of the tower,
and entreated admittance. He stated that they were
returning with rich booty from a foray into the lands
of the christians, but that the enemy was on their
traces, and they feared to be overtaken before they
could reach Granada. The sentinels descended in
all haste, and flung open the gates. The long cavalgada
defiled into the courts of the castle, which were
soon filled with lowing and bleating flocks and herds,
with neighing and stamping steeds, and with fierce-looking
Moors from the mountains. The cavalier
who had asked admission was the chief of the party;
he was somewhat advanced in life, of a lofty and gallant
bearing, and had with him a son, a young man
of great fire and spirit. Close by them followed the
two christian captives, with looks cast down and disconsolate.
The soldiers of the garrison had roused themselves
from their sleep, and were busily occupied attending
to the cattle which crowded the courts; while the
foraging party distributed themselves about the castle,
to seek refreshment or repose. Suddenly a shout
arose, that was echoed from court-yard, and hall,
and battlement. The garrison, astonished and bewildered,
would have rushed to their arms, but found
themselves, almost before they could make resistance,
completely in the power of an enemy.
The pretended foraging party consisted of Mudexares,
or Moors tributary to the christians; and
the commanders were the prince Cidi Yahye, and
his son Alnayer. They had hastened from the mountains
with this small force, to aid the Catholic sovereigns
during the summer's campaign; and they had
concerted to surprise this important castle, and present
it to king Ferdinand, as a gage of their faith, and
the first fruits of their devotion.
The politic monarch overwhelmed his new converts
and allies with favors and distinctions, in return
for this important acquisition; but he took care to
dispatch a strong force of veteran and genuine christian
troops, to man the fortress.
As to the Moors who had composed the garrison,
Cidi Yahye remembered that they were his countrymen,
and could not prevail upon himself to deliver
them into christian bondage. He set them at liberty,
and permitted them to repair to Granada;—“a
proof,” says the pious Agapida, “that his conversion
was not entirely consummated, but that there were
still some lingerings of the infidel in his heart.” His
lenity was far from procuring him indulgence in the
opinions of his countrymen; on the contrary, the inhabitants
of Granada, when they learnt from the
liberated garrison the stratagem by which Roma had
been captured, cursed Cidi Yahye for a traitor; and
the garrison joined in the malediction.
But the indignation of the people of Granada was
destined to be aroused to tenfold violence. The old
warrior Muley Abdalla el Zagal had retired to his
little mountain territory, and for a short time endeavored
to console himself with his petty title of king
of Andarax. He soon grew impatient, however, of
the quiet and inaction of his mimic kingdom. His
fierce spirit was exasperated by being shut up within
such narrow limits, and his hatred rose to downright
fury against Boabdil, whom he considered as the
cause of his downfall. When tidings were brought
him that king Ferdinand was laying waste the vega,
he took a sudden resolution. Assembling the whole
disposable force of his kingdom, which amounted but
to two hundred men, he descended from the Alpuxarras
and sought the christian camp, content to serve
as a vassal the enemy of his faith and his nation, so
that he might see Granada wrested from the sway of
his nephew.
In his blind passion, the old wrathful monarch injured
his cause, and strengthened the cause of his
adversary. The Moors of Granada had been clamorous
in his praise, extolling him as a victim to his patriotism,
and had refused to believe all reports of his
treaty with the christians; but when they beheld,
from the walls of the city, his banner mingling with
the banners of the unbelievers, and arrayed against
his late people, and the capital he had commanded,
they broke forth into curses and revilings, and heaped
all kind of stigmas upon his name.
Their next emotion, of course, was in favor of
Boabdil. They gathered under the walls of the Alhambra,
and hailed him as their only hope, as the
sole dependence of the country. Boabdil could
scarcely believe his senses, when he heard his name
mingled with praises and greeted with acclamations.
Encouraged by this unexpected gleam of popularity,
he ventured forth from his retreat, and was received
with rapture. All his past errors were attributed to
the hardships of his fortune, and the usurpation of
his tyrant uncle; and whatever breath the populace
could spare from uttering curses on El Zagal, was
expended in shouts in honor of El Chico.
