During the ensuing winter Ferdinand was busy with preparations for the final attack upon the capital. He had, in truth, plucked out nearly all the “seeds” of Granada, “the pomegranate”; the time was now ripe for finishing the fruit. In his acknowledgment of vassalage, Boabdil had stipulated that, should the chances of war give to the Christians the cities of Baza, Guadix, and Almeria, he would surrender Granada itself, accepting other and inferior towns in exchange. But when the demand came for his compliance, he at first hesitated, then shut himself up within the city and bade the king defiance. So it was, in April, 1491, that the Spanish army, fifty thousand strong, again appeared in the _vega_ of Granada, and was soon encamped so near the city walls that the soldiers could hear the cries of the _muezzins_, as they sent forth the Moslem calls to prayer. [Illustration] CHAPTER XII. THE FALL OF GRANADA. Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, capital city of the delightful Andalusia, since called by the Spaniards “the Land of the most Holy Virgin,” was finally invested by the Castilian host. In vain flashed signal fires from the _atalayas_ on surrounding hills; no friendly succour could now reach the beleaguered city, either from the coast, from the mountains, or from Africa. It lay like an Oriental gem, a “diamond in an emerald setting” with the green vega outspread at its feet, embossed with olive groves, glistening with silver streams, and with a background of rugged mountains flashing the sun and reflecting the moonlight from their snow–clad summits. In this beautiful city the Moors had lived two hundred and fifty years. Its downfall was hastened by the rivalry of two tribes or factions among the Moors themselves. Those of the tribe of the Abencerrages were the most noble and humane, the most favourably disposed toward the Spaniards, and are said to have been descended from the ancient kings of Arabia. But the fierce Zegris, their rivals, were of African blood, hated the Christians intensely, and retained to the last all the savage traits of the desert Bedouins. Not many years before the advent of the Christians into the vega, the Zegris had massacred the Abencerrages, beheaded the flower of their noble warriors, and the fountain basin of the Alhambra hall which still retains their name was filled with their blood. The Zegris had conquered, but in their endeavours to overcome their domestic enemies they had so weakened their own forces that the final triumph of their hated Christian foes was the more easily assured. Ferdinand and his army came in the blossoming springtime, when the glorious vega was spangled with flowers and all Nature joyous. “He will stay through the summer, and in the autumn, as the winter rains come on, will go away,” said the Moors. “If we can hold out till winter, we can at least survive another year. Perhaps help will then arrive from Africa or from the East.”