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He was one of the bravest men in the service, the same who had devised the first successful blow of the war, the storming of Alhama, where he was the first to plant and mount the scaling-ladders. He had always been high in the favor and confidence of the noble Ponce de Leon, who knew how to appreciate and avail himself of the merits of all able and valiant men.* * Zurita, Mariana, Abarca.
* Pulgar, part 3, c. 100. "Muley Abdallah el Zagal," says the venerable Jesuit father Pedro Abarca, "was the most venomous Mahometan in all Morisma;" and the worthy Fray Antonio Agapida most devoutly echoes his opinion. "Certainly," adds the latter, "none ever opposed a more heathenish and diabolical obstinacy to the holy inroads of the cross and sword."
* Abarca, Anales de Aragon, Rey 30, cap. 2, \0xA4 7. The defeat of the Christian cavaliers among the mountains of Malaga, and the successful inroad of Muley Abul Hassan into the lands of Medina Sidonia, had produced a favorable effect on the fortunes of the old monarch. The inconstant populace began to shout forth his name in the streets, and to sneer at the inactivity of his son Boabdil el Chico.
Exerting all the strength of their arms, they embraced, as it were, that most beloved soil, from which neither wounds nor defeats, nor death itself, could part them. They stood firm, battling for it with the united force of love and grief, never drawing back the foot while they had hands to fight or fortune to befriend them.* * Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, R. 30, c. 3.
"His soul," observes the worthy Padre Abarca, "it is believed, ascended to heaven to receive the reward of so Christian a captain; for that very day he had armed himself with the sacraments of confession and communion."* * Abarca, Anales de Aragon, Rey xxx. cap. ii. The Moors, elated with their success, pursued the fugitive Christians down the defiles and sides of the mountains.
There were several persons of note among our prisoners, particularly Don Baltazzar de Abarca, Conde de la Rosa, an European nobleman, who had been governor of Pisco on the coast of Peru, and was now on his return for Spain; also a Captain Morell, who had been formerly taken by Captain Rogers; and several others.
* Mariana, lib. 25, cap. 15. "King Ferdinand," continues the worthy father Pedro Abarca, "was no less master of dissimulation than his cousin of Naples; so he replied to him with the utmost suavity of manner, going into a minute and patient vindication of the war, and taking great apparent pains to inform him of those things which all the world knew, but of which the other pretended to be ignorant."* At the same time he soothed his solicitude about the fate of the Christians in the empire of the grand soldan, assuring him that the great revenue extorted from them in rents and tributes would be a certain protection against the threatened violence.
They were received with tenderness by the sovereigns. The king hailed them as good Spaniards, as men loyal and brave, as martyrs to the holy cause; the queen distributed liberal relief among them with her own hands, and they passed on before the squadrons of the army singing hymns of jubilee. * Abarca, lib. sup.; Zurita, etc.
* Abarca, Anales de Aragon, Rey xxx. cap. 3. To the pope he made the usual vindication of the war that it was for the recovery of ancient territory usurped by the Moors, for the punishment of wars and violences inflicted upon the Christians, and, finally, that it was a holy crusade for the glory and advancement of the Church.
In this way the king was distracted by a multitude of counsellors, when, fortunately, a letter from the queen put an end to his perplexities. Proceed we in the next chapter to relate what was the purport of that letter. * Abarca, Anales de Aragon.
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