There was some delay in seeing the sovereigns, so the prisoner was made to wait in a neighbouring tent, where a Portuguese Prince, Don Alvaro, a cousin of the Queen, and Beatriz de Bobadilla, Marchioness of Moya, were playing chess. Unable to understand Castilian, the dervish believed the players the object of his fanatical hatred, and, drawing a knife he had concealed in the folds of his cloak, he attacked the Prince, wounding him in the head. Next he hurled himself on the Marchioness of Moya, but before he could achieve his purpose the swords of those standing by had ended his life. That night the body of Abraham “El Gerbi” was hurled by Christian catapults into the Moorish town. It would seem as if Malaga’s faith in dervishes might have been shaken; but a new prophet shortly appeared, this time within the city, pledging himself by a certain sacred banner to bring victory to Moorish arms. His preaching, seconded by Hamet “El Zegri’s” fiery patriotism, stirred the flagging energy of the besieged to a more desperate sally than any that had yet been made. Out of the city they poured, the white standard floating at their head, and before this unexpected avalanche of spears and scimitars the Christians for the moment quailed; the next, their courage returning, they closed upon their foes from all sides. The battle wavered, then a stone from a catapult struck the dervish prophet down, and with a shout of triumph the Christians saw the sacred banner fall and drove back the Moors, routed and dismayed, within the walls of Malaga. The city was doomed. Even Hamet “El Zegri” acknowledged this, and leaving the citizens to their fate, withdrew with some of his warriors into the fortress of the Gibralfaro; but the offers of peace and safety he had before derided could be no longer claimed. Fanaticism had left its mark also on the Christian camp; and amongst the Castilian soldiery the enemy’s entreaties for life and freedom were met by threats of a general massacre. Since hunger and not goodwill prompts you to the surrender of your city [said the Chief Commander, of Leon, replying to an embassy from Malaga], either defend yourselves or submit to whatever sentence shall be pleasing to the King and Queen;—to wit, death to those for whom it is destined, slavery to those for whom slavery.