with Boabdil; but steeled against fellowship or affection for all men out
of the pale of his faith, he saw in the confidence of the king only the
blindness of a victim.

Serpent as he was, he cared not through what mire of treachery and fraud
he trailed his baleful folds, so that, at last, he could spring upon his
prey. Nature had given him sagacity and strength. The curse of
circumstance had humbled, but reconciled him to the dust. He had the
crawl of the reptile,--he had, also, its poison and its fangs.




CHAPTER VI.

THE LION IN THE NET

IT was the next night, not long before daybreak, that the King of Granada
abruptly summoned to his council Jusef, his vizier. The old man found
Boabdil in great disorder and excitement; but he almost deemed his
sovereign mad, when he received from him the order to seize upon the
person of Muza Ben Abil Gazan, and to lodge him in the strongest dungeon
of the Vermilion Tower. Presuming upon Boabdil's natural mildness, the
vizier ventured to remonstrate,--to suggest the danger of laying violent
hands upon a chief so beloved,--and to inquire what cause should be
assigned for the outrage.

The veins swelled like cords upon Boabdil's brow, as he listened to the
vizier; and his answer was short and peremptory.