the battlements; and then, placing their old men, women, and children in
the fortress, they would set fire to the town, and cut a way for
themselves through their enemies, or fall in the attempt. "So," they
continued, "if you gain a victory, it shall be such a one as shall make
the name of Malaga ring throughout the world, and to ages yet unborn!"
Ferdinand, unmoved by these menaces, coolly replied, that he saw no
occasion to change his former determination; but they might rest assured,
if they harmed a single hair of a Christian, he would put every soul in
the place, man, woman, and child, to the sword.

The anxious people, who thronged forth to meet the embassy on its return
to the city, were overwhelmed with the deepest gloom at its ominous
tidings. Their fate was now sealed. Every avenue to hope seemed closed by
the stern response of the victor. Yet hope will still linger; and,
although there were some frantic enough to urge the execution of their
desperate menaces, the greater number of the inhabitants, and among them
those most considerable for wealth and influence, preferred the chance of
Ferdinand's clemency to certain, irretrievable ruin.

For the last time, therefore, the deputies issued from the gates of the
city, charged with an epistle to the sovereigns from their unfortunate
countrymen, in which, after deprecating their anger, and lamenting their
own blind obstinacy, they reminded their highnesses of the liberal terms
which their ancestors had granted to Cordova, Antequera, and other cities,
after a defence as pertinacious as their own. They expatiated on the fame
which the sovereigns had established by the generous policy of their past
conquests, and, appealing to their magnanimity, concluded with submitting
themselves, their families, and their fortunes to their disposal. Twenty
of the principal citizens were then delivered up as hostages for the
peaceable demeanor of the city until its occupation by the Spaniards.