Muza, the tale is done; wilt thou visit with me this enchanted chamber, and see if the hour be come ?" "Commander of the faithful," said Muza, "the story is dread and awful.
But pardon thy friend--wert thou alone, or was the santon Almamen thy companion ?" "Why the question ?" said Boabdil, evasively, and slightly colouring.
"I fear his truth," answered Muza; "the Christian king conquers more foes by craft than force; and his spies are more deadly than his warriors.

Wherefore this caution against me, but (pardon me) for thine own undoing?
Were I a traitor, could Ferdinand himself have endangered thy crown so imminently as the revenge of the leader of thine own armies?
Why, too, this desire to keep thee inactive?
For the brave every hour hath its chances; but, for us, every hour increases our peril.

If we seize not the present time,--our supplies are cut off,--and famine is a foe all our valour cannot resist.

This dervise--who is he?
a stranger, not of our race and blood.

But this morning I found him without the walls, not far from the Spaniard's camp." "Ha!" cried the king, quickly, "and what said he ?" "Little, but in hints; sheltering himself, by loose hints, under thy name." "He! what dared he own ?--Muza, what were those hints ?" The Moor here recounted the interview with Almamen, his detention, his inactivity in the battle, and his subsequent capture by the Spaniards.
The king listened attentively, and regained his composure.
"It is a strange and awful man," said he after a pause.