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Our narrative now summons us to the Christian army, and to the tent inwhich the Spanish king held nocturnal counsel with some of his moreconfidential warriors and advisers. Ferdinand had taken the field withall the pomp and circumstance of a tournament rather than of a campaign;and his pavilion literally blazed with purple and cloth of gold.
The king sat at the head of a table on which were scattered maps andpapers; nor in countenance and mien did that great and politic monarchseem unworthy of the brilliant chivalry by which he was surrounded. Hisblack hair, richly perfumed and anointed, fell in long locks on eitherside of a high imperial brow, upon whose calm, though not unfurrowedsurface, the physiognomist would in vain have sought to read theinscrutable heart of kings. His features were regular and majestic: andhis mantle, clasped with a single jewel of rare price and lustre, andwrought at the breast with a silver cross, waved over a vigorous andmanly frame, which derived from the composed and tranquil dignity ofhabitual command that imposing effect which many of the renowned knightsand heroes in his presence took from loftier stature and amplerproportions. At his right hand sat Prince Juan, his son, in the firstbloom of youth; at his left, the celebrated Rodrigo Ponce de Leon,Marquess of Cadiz; along the table, in the order of their military rank,were seen the splendid Duke of Medina Sidonia, equally noble in aspectand in name; the worn and thoughtful countenance of the Marquess deVillena (the Bayard of Spain); the melancholy brow of the heroic Alonzode Aguilar; and the gigantic frame, the animated features, and sparklingeyes, of that fiery Hernando del Pulgar, surnamed "the knight of theexploits."
"You see, senores," said the king, continuing an address, to which hischiefs seemed to listen with reverential attention, "our best hope ofspeedily gaining the city is rather in the dissensions of the Moors thanour own sacred arms. The walls are strong, the population stillnumerous; and under Muza Ben Abil Gazan, the tactics of the hostile armyare, it must be owned, administered with such skill as to threaten veryformidable delays to the period of our conquest. Avoiding the hazard ofa fixed battle, the infidel cavalry harass our camp by perpetualskirmishes; and in the mountain defiles our detachments cannot cope withtheir light horse and treacherous ambuscades. It is true, that by dintof time, by the complete devastation of the Vega, and by vigilantprevention of convoys from the seatowns, we might starve the city intoyielding. But, alas! my lords, our enemies are scattered and numerous,and Granada is not the only place before which the standard of Spainshould be unfurled. Thus situated, the lion does not disdain to servehimself of the fox; and, fortunately, we have now in Granada an ally thatfights for us. I have actual knowledge of all that passes wit