CHAPTER LXXXV.
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 neighbouring
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
conveyed by one hundred and forty
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 battlements. 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 Mudixares, 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 their summer's
campaign; and they had concerted
to surprise that 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 favours and
distinctions, in return for this important
acquisition; but he took care to despatch
a strong force of veterans, 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
learned 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
endeavoured to console himself, with his
petty title of King of Andaraxa. 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 vassal to 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 own cause, and
strengthened that 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 kinds of stigmas upon his
name.
Their next emotion was in favour 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 honour of El Chico.
