The aid was promised, and Don Pedro hastened back to Granada
with the tidings. The conspirators now left the city, a few at a time,
under various pretexts; and when King Juan passed the frontier,
Yusef Aben Alhamar brought eight thousand men to his standard and
kissed his hand in token of allegiance.
It is needless to recount the various battles by which the kingdom
was desolated, and the various intrigues by which one half of it was
roused to rebellion. The Abencerrages stood by the failing fortunes of
Muhamed throughout the struggle; their last stand was at Loxa, where
their chief, the vizier Yusef Aben Zeragh, fell bravely fighting,
and many of their noblest cavaliers were slain: in fact, in that
disastrous war the fortunes of the family were nearly wrecked.
Again, the ill-starred Muhamed was driven from his throne, and
took refuge in Malaga, the alcayde of which still remained true to
him.
Yusef Aben Alhamar, commonly known as Yusef II, entered Granada in
triumph on the first of January, 1432, but he found it a melancholy
city, where half of the inhabitants were in mourning. Not a noble
family but had lost some member; and in the slaughter of the
Abencerrages at Loxa, had fallen some of the brightest of the
chivalry.
The royal pageant passed through silent streets, and the barren
homage of a court in the halls of the Alhambra ill supplied the want
of sincere and popular devotion.
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