Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/481

SURPRISE OF ALHAMA. 335 to receive them, and pour forth then- grateful ac- chapter IX knowledgments, while the two commanders, em- - — ^-- bracing each other in the presence of their united armies, pledged themselves to a mutual oblivion of all past grievances ; thus aifording to the nation the best possible earnest of future successes, in the voluntary extinction of a feud, which had desolater' it for so many generations. Notwithstanding the kindly feelings excited be- tween the two armies, a dispute had wellnigh aris- en respecting the division of the spoil, in which the duke's army claimed a share, as having con- tributed to secure the conquest which their more fortunate countrymen had effected. But these discontents were appeased, though with some diffi- culty, by their noble leader, who besought his men not to tarnish the laurels already won, by mingling a sordid avarice with the generous motives which had prompted them to the expedition. After the necessary time devoted to repose and refreshment, the combined armies proceeded to evacuate Alhama, and having left in garrison Don Diego Merlo, with a corps of troops of the hermandad, returned into their own territories. ^^ King Ferdinand, after receiving the reply of the Tiie sove- o ' o X ^ reigns at duke of Medina Sidonia, had pressed forward his ^°"'°^^- march by the way of Cordova, as far as Lucena, with the intention of throwing himself at all hazards into Alhama. He was not without much difficulty dissuaded from this by his nobles, who represented 17 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, pp. 183 - 186.-Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28.