"Yes, mother, and you will see Antonio, whom I like best of all the boys at school," said Fernando, and he hastened away to make ready for the great treat. A drive with his mother in school hours was a pleasure seldom indulged in, and a visit to the great hill which crowns Granada was treat enough, but to take Juanita,--these were things so pleasant that he said to himself, "I think my guardian angel must have whispered in my mother's ear to give me all this pleasure." It was about two o'clock as they drove through the narrow streets of the city up the steep and hilly way which led to the outskirts of the town. "You are going to see the nicest boy in Granada, and the most wonderful castle in Spain, _niña_," said Fernando to Juanita, and the two children chattered merrily as the carriage went slowly up the hill. "Here is a riddle I heard at school, _niña_, see if you can guess it,-- "'Guarded in a prison strait, Ivory gaolers round her wait, Venomous snake of sanguine hue, Mother of all the lies that brew!'" "I do not know," said his little sister, wonderingly. She thought all that Fernando said and did was perfection. "What is it, Nando?" "Why, the tongue, of course," he said, pleased to have given a riddle which she could not guess; and his mother said: "That is a very good riddle, and I hope you will remember it, for it is the tongue which makes much mischief in this world. Remember that 'a stone and a word flung do not return.'" "There is Mazo following us," said Juanita, and her mother said, laughingly, "Really, Fernando, I don't see why you like that dog so much! He is uglier than Picio."[2] "He isn't handsome, but you have told me that handsome is as handsome does!" said her son, and his mother laughed again. "Oh, what is that?" cried Juanita, as the carriage made a turn, and some splendid great towers came into view. "That is the Alhambra," said Fernando. "It is the most wonderful castle in Spain. Manuel said it was begun in 1238, in the reign of the Moorish king, Ibn-l-Ahmar, and it was years and years in building. He says the Moors used to have the castle and the city of Granada, and I read in my history of how the Catholic king, Ferdinand, came here to conquer it. He fought and fought, but the Moors wouldn't give it up. I think they were a brave people, if they were beaten, don't you?" "Yes, my son, they were very brave, but they did such cruel things to the captives they took, that it is not surprising that the Spaniards wanted to conquer them," said his mother. "They captured Christian girls, and forced them to become their wives, though what they wanted with them I cannot see, for they already had many wives, and I should think one was enough for any man. Where shall we find your friend, Fernando? If you wish I will leave you with him for an hour, and continue my drive."