enchanter ascended a narrow and winding street, and arrived at last
before the walls that encircled the palace and fortress of the Alhambra.

The sentry at the gate saluted and admitted him in silence; and in a few
moments his form was lost in the solitude of groves, amidst which, at
frequent openings, the spray of Arabian fountains glittered in the
moonlight; while, above, rose the castled heights of the Alhambra; and on
the right those Vermilion Towers, whose origin veils itself in the
furthest ages of Phoenician enterprise.

Almamen paused, and surveyed the scene. "Was Aden more lovely?" he
muttered; "and shall so fair a spot be trodden by the victor Nazerene?
What matters? creed chases creed--race, race--until time comes back to
its starting-place, and beholds the reign restored to the eldest faith
and the eldest tribe. The horn of our strength shall be exalted."

At these thoughts the seer relapsed into silence, and gazed long and
intently upon the stars, as, more numerous and brilliant with every step
of the advancing night, their rays broke on the playful waters, and
tinged with silver the various and breathless foliage. So earnest was
his gaze, and so absorbed his thoughts, that he did not perceive the
approach of a Moor, whose glittering weapons and snow-white turban, rich
with emeralds, cast a gleam through the wood.

The new comer was above the common size of his race, generally small and
spare--but without attaining the lofty stature and large proportions of
the more redoubted of the warriors of Spain. But in his presence and
mien there was something, which, in the haughtiest conclave of Christian
chivalry, would have seemed to tower and command. He walked with a step
at once light and stately, as if it spurned the earth; and in the