attendants, who rushed to the spot, alarmed by the cries of the
marchioness, and his mangled remains were soon after discharged from a
catapult into the city; a foolish bravado, which the besieged requited by
slaying a Galician gentleman, and sending his corpse astride upon a mule
through the gates of the town into the Christian camp. [18]

This daring attempt on the lives of the king and queen spread general
consternation throughout the army. Precautions were taken for the future,
by ordinances prohibiting the introduction of any unknown person armed, or
any Moor whatever, into the royal quarters; and the bodyguard was
augmented by the addition of two hundred hidalgos of Castile and Aragon,
who, with their retainers, were to keep constant watch over the persons of
the sovereigns.

Meanwhile, the city of Malaga, whose natural population was greatly
swelled by the influx of its foreign auxiliaries, began to be straitened
for supplies, while its distress was aggravated by the spectacle of
abundance which reigned throughout the Spanish camp. Still, however, the
people, overawed by the soldiery, did not break out into murmurs, nor did
they relax in any degree the pertinacity of their resistance. Their
drooping spirits were cheered by the predictions of a fanatic, who
promised that they should eat the grain which they saw in the Christian
camp; a prediction, which came to be verified, like most others that are
verified at all, in a very different sense from that intended or
understood.

The incessant cannonade kept up by the besieging army, in the mean time,
so far exhausted their ammunition, that they were constrained to seek
supplies from the most distant parts of the kingdom, and from foreign
countries. The arrival of two Flemish transports at this juncture, from