Alfonso V., the king of Portugal, now invaded Castile. Ferdinand and Isabella raised an army and met the foe at Toro. The powerful bishop of Toledo, exasperated by the independence of opinion which Ferdinand and Isabella displayed, whom he had supposed would be pliant tools in his hands, joined Alfonso against them. The strife was too desperate to last long. There was a hand-to-hand fight along the entire line. At length a storm arose. A dark night came down upon the conflicting hosts. A deluge of rain fell, and the field was flooded with mingled blood and water. The Portuguese were utterly routed. Ferdinand displayed great humanity to his prisoners, furnishing them with food, clothing, and a safe return to their own country. Isabella was awaiting the issue of the battle at Tordisillas, twenty miles above on the river. When she received tidings of the victory, she ordered a procession to the Church of St. Paul, as an expression of her gratitude to God, and she herself walked barefoot in the garb of a penitent. In a few months, the entire kingdom of Castile acknowledged the supremacy of Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1479, the king of Aragon died, leaving the kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre to his son Ferdinand. Aragon, Castile, and Navarre, being thus united under these two illustrious monarchs, the great Spanish monarchy was thereby founded. Ferdinand and Isabella now commenced the enterprise of conquering Granada, thus expelling the Moors from their last foothold in Spain. Malaga, on the coast of the Mediterranean, was one of the principal Moorish towns. The Moors were aware of the importance of this position, and had strongly fortified it. The Moors were as brave as the Christians, and were led by famous chieftains. In April, 1487, Ferdinand, at the head of fifty thousand men, arrived before Malaga, and commenced its siege. There were continual ambuscades, and nightly sallies. One day, while Ferdinand was dining in his tent, which commanded a view of the field of conflict, he perceived a party of Christians, who had been sent to fortify an eminence, retreating in confusion, pursued by the Moors. King Ferdinand leaped upon his horse, not delaying for any defensive armor, rallied his men, and charged against the enemy. Having thrown his lance, he endeavored to draw his sword from its scabbard. But the sword held fast, the scabbard having been by some accident, indented. Just then several Moors surrounded him. The king would have been slain had not two brave cavaliers rushed to his rescue. The nobles remonstrated with the king for so risking his life, but Ferdinand unselfishly answered,— “I cannot stop to calculate chances, when my subjects are perilling their lives for my sake.”