A soldier who has been in the wars,
as your excellency well knows, is not particular about his lodgings:
provided I have a snug dungeon and regular rations, I shall manage
to make myself comfortable. I would only entreat that while your
excellency is so careful about me, you would have an eye to your
fortress, and think on the hint I dropped about stopping up the
entrances to the mountain."
Here ended the scene. The prisoner was conducted to a strong dungeon
in the Vermilion Tower, the Arabian steed was led to his
excellency's stable, and the trooper's sack was deposited in his
excellency's strong box. To the latter, it is true, the friar made
some demur, questioning whether the sacred relics, which were
evidently sacrilegious spoils, should not be placed in custody of
the church; but as the governor was peremptory on the subject, and was
absolute lord in the Alhambra, the friar discreetly dropped the
discussion, but determined to convey intelligence of the fact to the
church dignitaries in Granada.
To explain these prompt and rigid measures on the part of old
Governor Manco, it is proper to observe, that about this time the
Alpuxarra mountains in the neighborhood of Granada were terribly
infested by a gang of robbers, under the command of a daring chief
named Manuel Borasco, who were accustomed to prowl about the
country, and even to enter the city in various disguises, to gain
intelligence of the departure of convoys of merchandise, or travellers
with well-lined purses, whom they took care to waylay in distant and
solitary passes of the road.
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