Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/468

322 ,'522 WAR OF GRANADA. PART power of the two nobles, effected an apparent (it '-^ . was only apparent) reconciliation between them. The fiery spirit of the marquis of Cadiz, no longer allowed to escape in domestic broil, urged him to seek distinction in more honorable warfare ; and at this moment he lay in his castle at Arcos, look- ing with a watchful eye over the borders, and waiting, like a lion in ambush, the moment when he could spring upon his victim. iiise.xpedi- Without hesitation, therefore, he assumed the lion against,. i -ii zr i Aiimn.a. cuterprisc proposed by Diego de Merlo, imparting his purpose to Don Pedro Henriquez, adelantado of Andalusia, a relative of Ferdinand, and to the alcaydes of two or three neigtibouring fortresses. With the assistance of these friends he assembled a force, which, including those who marched under the banner of Seville, amounted to two thousand five hundred horse and three thousand foot. His own town of Marchena was appointed as the place of rendezvous. The proposed route lay by the way of Antequera, across the wild sierras of Alzerifa. The mountain passes, sufficiently difficult at a sea- son when their numerous ravines were choked up by the winter torrents, were rendered still more formidable by being traversed in the darkness of night ; for the party, in order to conceal their move- ments, lay by during the day. Leaving their bag- gage on the banks of the Yeguas, that they might move forward with greater celerity, the whole body at length arrived, after a rapid and most painful march, on the third night from their departure, in a deep valley about half a league from Albania.