CHAPTER VI. BOADBIL'S RETURN.--THE REAPPEARANCE OF GRANADA.
The third morning from this interview, a rumour reached Granada thatBoabdil had been repulsed in his assault on the citadel of Salobrenawith a severe loss; that Hernando del Pulgar had succeeded in conductingto its relief a considerable force; and that the army of Ferdinand wason its march against the Moorish king. In the midst of the excitementoccasioned by these reports, a courier arrived to confirm their truth,and to announce the return of Boabdil.
At nightfall, the king, preceding his army, entered the city, andhastened to bury himself in the Alhambra. As he passed dejectedly intothe women's apartments, his stern mother met him.
"My son," she said, bitterly, "dost thou return and not a conqueror?"
Before Boabdil could reply, a light and rapid step sped through theglittering arcades; and weeping with joy, and breaking all the Orientalrestraints, Amine fell upon his bosom. "My beloved! my king! light ofmine eyes! thou hast returned. Welcome--for thou art safe."
The different form of these several salutations struck Boabdil forcibly."Thou seest, my mother," said he, "how great the contrast betweenthose who love us from affection, and those who love us from pride. Inadversity, God keep me, O my mother, from thy tongue!"
"But I love thee from pride, too," murmured Amine; "and for that reasonis thine adversity dear to me, for it takes thee from the world to makethee more mine own and I am proud of the afflictions that my hero shareswith his slave."
"Lights there, and the banquet!" cried the king, turning from hishaughty mother; "we will feast and be merry while we may. My adoredAmine, kiss me!"
Proud, melancholy, and sensitive as he was in that hour of reverse,Boabdil felt no grief: such balm has Love for our sorrows, when itswings are borrowed from the dove! And although the laws of the Easternlife confined to the narrow walls of a harem the sphere of Amine'sgentle influence; although, even in romance, THE NATURAL compels us toportray her vivid and rich colours only in a faint and hasty sketch, yetstill are left to the outline the loveliest and the noblest features ofthe sex--the spirit to arouse us to exertion, the softness to console usin our fall!
While Boabdil and the body of the army remained in the city, Muza,with a chosen detachment of the horse, scoured the country to visit thenewly-acquired cities, and sustain their courage.
From this charge he was recalled by the army of Ferdinand, which oncemore poured down into the Vega, completely devastated its harvests, andthen swept back to consummate the conquests of the revolted towns.To this irruption succeeded an interval of peace--the calm before thestorm. From every part of Spain, the most chivalric and resolute of theMoors, taking advantage of the pause in the contest, flocked to Granada;and that city became the focus of all that paganism in Europe possessedof brave and determined spirits.
At length, Ferdinand, completing his conquests, and having refilledhis treasury, mustered the whole force of his dominions--forty thousandfoot, and ten thousand horse; and once more, and for the lasttime, appeared before the walls of Granada. A solemn and propheticdetermination filled both besiegers and besieged: each felt that thecrowning crisis was at hand.
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