Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/115

91 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 91 XV. the sentinels were buried in sleep. The queen, cuapter and her children, whose apartments were near hers, were in great peril, and escaped with difficul- ty, though fortunately without injury. The alarm soon spread. The trumpets sounded to arms, for it was supposed to be some night attack of the ene- my. Ferdinand snatching up his arms hastily, put himself at the head of his troops ; but, soon as- certaining the nature of the disaster, contented himself with posting the marquis of Cadiz, with a strong body of horse, over against the city, in order to repel any sally from that quarter. None, how- ever, was attempted, and the fire was at length ex- tinguished without personal injury, though not without loss of much valuable property, in jewels, plate, brocade, and other costly decorations of the tents of the nobility. ^^ In order to guard against a similar disaster, as well as to provide comfortable winter quarters for the army, should the siege be so long protracted as to require it, it was resolved to build a town of sub- stantial edifices on the place of the present en- campment. The plan was immediately put in execution. The work was distributed in due pro- portions among the troops of the several cities and of the great nobility ; the soldier was on a sudden converted into an artisan, and, instead of war, the camp echoed with the sounds of peaceful labor. isPeterMartyr, Opus Epist., lib. Bleda, Coronica, p. 619. — Mar- 4, epist. 91. — Bernaldez, Reyes mol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, Catolicos, MS., cap. 101. — Gari- cap. 18. bay, Compendio, torn. ii. p. 673. —