till he came to a door strongly guarded by plates of iron. It yielded
easily, however, to a small key which he carried in his girdle; and
Boabdil stood in a small circular room, apparently without other door or
outlet; but, after looking cautiously round, the king touched a secret
spring in the wall, which, giving way, discovered a niche, in which stood
a small lamp, burning with the purest naphtha, and a scroll of yellow
parchment covered with strange letters and hieroglyphics. He thrust the
scroll in his bosom, took the lamp in his hand, and pressing another
spring within the niche, the wall receded, and showed a narrow and
winding staircase. The king reclosed the entrance, and descended: the
stairs led, at last, into clamp and rough passages; and the murmur of
waters, that reached his ear through the thick walls, indicated the
subterranean nature of the soil through which they were hewn. The lamp
burned clear and steady through the darkness of the place; and Boabdil
proceeded with such impatient rapidity, that the distance (in reality,
considerable) which he traversed, before he arrived at his destined
bourne, was quickly measured. He came at last into a wide cavern,
guarded by doors concealed and secret as those which had screened the
entrance from the upper air. He was in one of the many vaults which made
the mighty cemetery of the monarchs of Granada; and before him stood the
robed and crowned skeleton, and before him glowed the magic dial-plate of
which he had spoken in his interview with Muza.

"Oh, dread and awful image!" cried the king, throwing himself on his
knees before the skeleton,--"shadow of what was once a king, wise in
council, and terrible in war, if in those hollow bones yet lurks the
impalpable and unseen spirit, hear thy repentant son. Forgive, while it
is yet time, the rebellion of his fiery youth, and suffer thy daring soul
to animate the doubt and weakness of his own. I go forth to battle,
waiting not the signal thou didst ordain. Let not the penance for a