Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/514

368 WAR OF GRANADA. PART melancholy condition. How different from the '- — . magnificent array which, but two days previous, marched forth with such high and confident hopes from the gates of Antequera ! their ranks thinned, their bright arms defaced and broken, their banners rent in pieces, or lost, — as had been that of St. James, together with its gallant alferez, Diego Becerra, in the terrible passage of the preceding night, — their countenances aghast with terror, fatigue, and famine. Despair now was in every eye, all subordination was at an end. No one, says Pulgar, heeded any longer the call of the trumpet, or the wave of the banner. Each sought only his own safety, without regard to his comrade. Some threw away their arms ; hoping by this means to facilitate their escape, while in fact it only left them more defenceless against the shafts of their enemies. Some, oppressed with fatigue and terror, fell down and died without so much as receiving a wound. The panic was such, that, in more than one in- stance, two or three Moorish soldiers were known to capture thrice their own number of Spaniards. Some, losing their way, strayed back to Malaga and were made prisoners by females of the city, who overtook them in the fields. Others escaped to Al- hama or other distant places, after wandering seven or eight days among the mountains, sustaining life on such wild herbs and berries as they could find, and lying close during the day. A greater number succeeded in reaching Antequera, and, among these, most of the leaders of the expedition. The grand master of St. James, the adelantado Henriquez,