Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/453

427 DEATH OF ALOxNSO DE AGUILAR. 427 His first movement was against Huejar, a forti- chapteh VII. fied town situated in one of the eastern ranges of the Alpuxarras, whose inhabitants had taken the sacked. lead in the insurrection. The enterprise was at- tended with more difficulty than was expected. " God's enemies," to borrow the charitable epithet of the Castilian chroniclers, had ploughed up the lands in the neighbourhood ; and, as the light cavalry of the Spaniards was working its way through the deep furrows, the Moors oponed the canals which intersected the fields, and in a moment the horses were floundering up to their girths in the mire and water. Thus embarrassed in their progress, the Spaniards presented a fatal mark to the Moorish missiles, which rained on them with pitiless fury ; and it was not without great efforts and consid- erable loss, that they gained a firm landing on the opposite side. Undismayed, however, they then charged the enemy with such vivacity, as com- pelled him to give way and taKe refuge within the defences of the town. No impediment could now check the ardor of the assailants. They threw themselves from their horses, and bringing forward the scaling-ladders, planted them against the walls. Gonsalvo was the first to gain the summit ; and, as a powerful Moor endeavoured to thrust him from the topmost round of the ladder, he grasped the battlements firmly with his left hand and dealt the infidel such a blow with the sword in his right, as brought him head- long to the ground. He then leapt into the place, and was speedily followed by his troops. The