Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/46

22 22 WAR OF GRANADA. PAKT my, gave way with a terrible crash, they still kept '. possession of the remainder, and at length drove their antagonists, who sullenly retreated step by step within the fortifications of the city. The lines w^ere then drawn close around the place. Every avenue of communication was strictly guard- ed, and every preparation was made for reducing the town by regular blockade. ^^ Extensive Jq addition to the cannon brought round by preparu- O J '"""' water from Velez, the heavier lombards, which from the difficulty of transportation had been left during the late siege at Antequera, were now con- ducted across roads, levelled for the purpose, to the camp. Supplies of marble bullets were also brought from the ancient and depopulated city of Algezira, where they had lain ever since its capture in the preceding century by Alfonso the Eleventh. The camp was filled with operatives, employed in the manufacture of balls and powder, which were stored in subterranean magazines, and in the fabrication of those various kinds of battering enginery, which continued in use long after the introduction of gun- powder. ^^ During the early part of the siege, the camp ex- perienced some temporary inconvenience from the occasional interruption of the supplies transported by water. Rumors of the appearance of the plague in some of the adjacent villages caused additional 12 Peter Martyr, Opus Episf., do, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. J, lib. 1, epist. 63. — Pulgar, Reyes quinc. 1, dial. 36. Catolicos, cap. 76. — Bemaklez, >3 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 83. — Ovie- 76.