CHAPTER VI.
BOADBIL'S RETURN.--THE REAPPEARANCE OF GRANADA.
The third morning from this interview, a rumour reached Granada that
Boabdil had been repulsed in his assault on the citadel of Salobrena with
a severe loss; that Hernando del Pulgar had succeeded in conducting to
its relief a considerable force; and that the army of Ferdinand was on
its march against the Moorish king. In the midst of the excitement
occasioned 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, and
hastened to bury himself in the Alhambra. As he passed dejectedly into
the 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 the
glittering arcades; and weeping with joy, and breaking all the Oriental
restraints, Amine fell upon his bosom. "My beloved! my king! light of
mine 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 between those
who love us from affection, and those who love us from pride. In
adversity, God keep me, O my mother, from thy tongue!"
"But I love thee from pride, too," murmured Amine; "and for that reason
is thine adversity dear to me, for it takes thee from the world to make
thee more mine own and I am proud of the afflictions that my hero shares
with his slave."
"Lights there, and the banquet!" cried the king, turning from his haughty
mother; "we will feast and be merry while we may. My adored Amine, 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 its wings
are borrowed from the dove! And although the laws of the Eastern life
confined to the narrow walls of a harem the sphere of Amine's gentle
influence; although, even in romance, THE NATURAL compels us to portray
her vivid and rich colours only in a faint and hasty sketch, yet still
are left to the outline the loveliest and the noblest features of the
sex--the spirit to arouse us to exertion, the softness to console us in
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 the newly-
acquired cities, and sustain their courage.
From this charge he was recalled by the army of Ferdinand, which once
more poured down into the Vega, completely devastated its harvests, and
then swept back to consummate the conquests of the revolted towns. To
this irruption succeeded an interval of peace--the calm before the storm.
From every part of Spain, the most chivalric and resolute of the Moors,
taking advantage of the pause in the contest, flocked to Granada; and
that city became the focus of all that paganism in Europe possessed of
brave and determined spirits.
At length, Ferdinand, completing his conquests, and having refilled his
treasury, mustered the whole force of his dominions--forty thousand foot,
and ten thousand horse; and once more, and for the last time, appeared
before the walls of Granada. A solemn and prophetic determination filled
both besiegers and besieged: each felt that the crowning crisis was at
hand.
