of the faith, and when each tramp of their steeds might be
fetlock deep in the blood and carnage of the infidels.

The Moorish inhabitants looked jealously at this small but proud
array of Spanish chivalry, as it paraded, with that stateliness
possessed only by Spanish cavaliers, through the renowned gate of
Elvira. They were struck with the stern and lofty demeanor of Don
Juan de Vera and his sinewy frame, which showed him formed for
hardy deeds of arms, and they supposed he had come in search of
distinction by defying the Moorish knights in open tourney or in the
famous tilt with reeds for which they were so renowned, for it was
still the custom of the knights of either nation to mingle in these
courteous and chivalrous contests during the intervals of war. When
they learnt, however, that he was come to demand the tribute so
abhorrent to the ears of the fiery monarch, they observed that it
well required a warrior of his apparent nerve to execute such an
embassy.

Muley Abul Hassan received the cavalier in state, seated on a
magnificent divan and surrounded by the officers of his court, in
the Hall of Ambassadors, one of the most sumptuous apartments of
the Alhambra. When De Vera had delivered his message, a haughty
and bitter smile curled the lip of the fierce monarch. "Tell your
sovereigns," said he, "that the kings of Granada, who used to pay
tribute in money to the Castilian crown, are dead. Our mint at
present coins nothing but blades of scimetars and heads of lances."*

*Garibay, 1. 40, c. 29; Conde, Hist. Arab., p. 4, c. 34.