The king was at Ponton del Maestre when he received these missives.
So inflamed was he with zeal for the success of this enterprise that
he would have penetrated into the kingdom of Granada with the
handful of cavaliers who accompanied him, but they represented the
rashness of such a journey through the mountainous defiles of a
hostile country thickly beset with towns and castles. With some
difficulty, therefore, he was dissuaded from his inclination, and
prevailed upon to await tidings from the army in the frontier city
of Antiquera.



CHAPTER VIII.

SEQUEL OF THE EVENTS AT ALHAMA.


While all Andalusia was thus in arms and pouring its chivalry
through the mountain-passes of the Moorish frontiers, the garrison
of Alhama was reduced to great extremity and in danger of sinking
under its sufferings before the promised succor could arrive. The
intolerable thirst that prevailed in consequence of the scarcity of
water, the incessant watch that had to be maintained over the vast
force of enemies without and the great number of prisoners within,
and the wounds which almost every soldier had received in the
incessant skirmishes and assaults, had worn grievously both flesh
and spirit. The noble Ponce de Leon, marques of Cadiz, still animated
the soldiery, however, by word and example, sharing every hardship
and being foremost in every danger, exemplifying that a good
commander is the vital spirit of an army.