a warrior kingdom so bristled over with means of defence. The
internal discords of Castile still continued, as did the war with
Portugal: under these circumstances he forbore to insist upon the
payment of tribute, and tacitly permitted the truce to continue; but
the defiance contained in the reply of Muley Abul Hassan remained
rankling in his bosom as a future ground of war; and De Vera's
description of Granada as the centre of a system of strongholds and
rock-built castles suggested to him his plan of conquest--by taking
town after town and fortress after fortress, and gradually plucking
away all the supports before he attempted the capital. He expressed
his resolution in a memorable pun or play upon the name of Granada,
which signifies a pomegranate. "I will pick out the seeds of this
pomegranate one by one," said the cool and crafty Ferdinand.

NOTE.--In the first edition of this work the author recounted a
characteristic adventure of the stout Juan de Vera as happening on
the occasion of this embassy; a further consultation of historical
authorities has induced him to transfer it to a second embassy of De
Vera's, which the reader will find related in a subsequent chapter.



CHAPTER III.

DOMESTIC FEUDS IN THE ALHAMBRA--RIVAL SULTANAS--
PREDICTIONS CONCERNING BOABDIL, THE HEIR TO THE
THRONE--HOW FERDINAND MEDITATES WAR AGAINST
GRANADA, AND HOW HE IS ANTICIPATED.