Watching his opportunity, while pretending to refresh
himself with a glass of water, he drew a concealed dagger
from beneath his mantle, and, darting upon the nobleman,
gave him a severe wound in the head. Then,. springing
like a panther upon Beatrice, he endeavored to bury the
dagger to its hilt in her side. Fortunately the point was
turned by the heavy embroidery of her robes, and she was
saved from death. Attendants, alarmed by the shrieks of
Beatrice^ rushed upon the wretch, and he was instantly cut
down, nis mangled remains an hour after were hurled,
by a ponderous catapult, through the air and over the walls
into the city. The Moors took barbaric revenge by imme-
diately slaying a Spanish gentleman, binding the bloody
corpse astride a mule, and driving the animal, thus laden,
out of the gates into the Christian camp.
Famine at length commenced its hideous reign in the
crowded streets of Malaga. An incessant cannonade had
consumed most of the ammunition of the besieged. From



THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA. 171

all parts of the peninsula Spanish volunteers swarmed to
swell the ranks of the besieging army, till their numbers
amounted, according to different estimates, from sixty to
ninety thousand men. Keligious discipline was rigorously
enacted. Neither oaths nor gambling were allowed, and
all women of immoral character were banished from the
lines. The exercises of religion, in accordance with the
rites of the Koman Catholic Church, were performed with
the most imposing splendor.
Ferdinand, yielding to the solicitations of the queen to
spare as much as possible the lives of his soldiers, had en-
deavored to starve the garrison into submission, avoiding
the slaughter which would inevitably attend an assault.
