Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/515

ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 369 and Don Alonso de Aguilar effected their escape bj chapter scaling so perilous a part of the sierra that their ^ — pursuers cared not to follow. The count de Cifu- entes was less fortunate. ^° That nobleman's divis- ion was said to have suffered more severely than any other. On the morning after the bloody pas- sage of the mountain, he found himself suddenly cut off from his followers, and surrounded by six Moorish cavaliers, against whom he was defending himself with desperate courage, when their leader, Reduan Benegas, struck with the inequality of the combat, broke in, exclaiming, " Hold, this is un- worthy of good knights." The assailants sunk back abashed by the rebuke, and left the count to their commander. A close encounter then took place between the two chiefs ; but the strength of the Spaniard was no longer equal to his spirit, and, after a brief resistance, he was forced to surrender to his generous enemy. ^* The marquis of Cadiz had better fortune. After Marquuo,- •^ Cadiz es- waiting till dawn for the coming up of his friends, *=i"- he concluded that they had extricated themselves by a different route. He resolved to provide for his own safety and that of his followers, and, being 30 Oviedo, who devotes one of bajal, Anales, MS., aiio 1483. — his dialogues to this nobleman, Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, ubi su- says of him, " Fue una de lasbue- pra. — Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, nas lanzas de nuestra Espaila en MS., cap. 60. — Cardonne, Hist, su tiempo ; y muy sabio y pruden- d'Afrique et d'Espagne, torn. iii. te caballero. Hallose en grandes pp. 266,267. — The count, accord- cargos y negocios de paz y de ing to Oviedo, remained a long guerra." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. while a prisoner in Granada, until 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36. he was ransomed by the payment 31 Conde, Dominacion de los of several thousand doblas of gold. Arabes, tom. iii. p. 218. — Zurita, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quine. Anales, tom. iv. fol. 321. — Car- 1, dial 36. VOL. I. 47