"To make a long story short, and not to fatigue your Excellency, the trooper, having given me this account, dismounted from his steed.

"Tarry here,' said he, 'and guard my steed while I go and bow the knee to Boabdil.' So saying, he strode away among the

throng that pressed forward to the throne.

"What's to be done?' thought I, when thus left to myself; 'shall I wait here until this infidel returns to whisk me off on his goblin steed, the Lord knows where; or shall I make the most of my time and beat a retreat from this hobgoblin community?' A soldier's mind is soon made up, as your Excellency well knows. As to the horse, he belonged to an avowed enemy of the faith and the realm, and was a fair prize according to the rules of war. So hoisting myself from the crupper into the saddle, I turned the reins, struck the Moorish stirrups into the sides of the steed, and put him to make the best of his way out of the passage by which we had entered. As we scoured by the halls where the Moslem horsemen sat in motionless battalions, I thought I heard the clang of armor and a hollow murmur of voices. I gave the steed another taste of the stirrups and doubled my speed. There was now a sound behind me like a rushing blast; I heard the clatter of a thousand hoofs; a countless throng overtook me. I was borne along in the press, and hurled forth from the mouth of the cavern, while thousands of shadowy forms were swept off in every direction by the four winds of heaven.

"In the whirl and confusion of the scene I was thrown senseless to the earth. When I came to myself, I was lying on the brow of a hill, with the Arabian steed standing beside me; for in falling, my arm had slipped within the bridle, which, I presume, prevented his whisking off to old Castile.

"Your Excellency may easily judge of my surprise, on looking round, to behold hedges of aloes and Indian figs and other proofs of a southern climate, and to see a great city below me, with towers, and palaces, and a grand cathedral.

"I descended the hill cautiously, leading my steed, for I was afraid to mount him again, lest he should play me some slippery trick. As I descended I met with your patrol, who let me into the secret that it was Granada that lay before me, and that I was

actually under the walls of the Alhambra, the fortress of the redoubted Governor Manco, the terror of all enchanted Moslems. When I heard this, I determined at once to seek your Excellency, to inform you of all that I had seen, and to warn you of the perils that surround and undermine you, that you may take measures in time to guard your fortress, and the kingdom itself, from this intestine army that lurks in the very bowels of the land." "And prithee, friend, you who are a veteran campaigner, and have seen so much service," said the governor, "how would you advise me to proceed, in order to prevent this evil?"

"It is not for an humble private of the ranks," said the soldier, modestly, "to pretend to instruct a commander of your Excellency's sagacity, but it appears to me that your Excellency might cause all the caves and entrances into the mountain to be walled up with solid mason-work, so that Boabdil and his army might be completely corked up in their subterranean habitation. If the good father, too," added the soldier, reverently bowing to the friar, and devoutly crossing himself, “would consecrate the barricadoes with his blessing, and put up a few crosses and relics and images of saints, I think they might withstand all the power of infidel enchantments."

"They doubtless would be of great avail," said the friar.

The governor now placed his arm akimbo, with his hand resting on the hilt of his Toledo, fixed his eye upon the soldier, and gently wagging his head from one side to the other,

"So, friend," said he, "then you really suppose I am to be gulled with this cock-and-bull story about enchanted mountains and enchanted Moors? Hark ye, culprit ! - not another word. An old soldier you may be, but you'll find you have an old soldier to deal with, and one not easily outgeneralled. Ho! guards there! put this fellow in irons."

The demure handmaid would have put in a word in favor of the prisoner, but the governor silenced her with a look.

As they were pinioning the soldier, one of the guards felt something of bulk in his pocket, and drawing it forth, found a long leathern purse that appeared to be well filled. Holding it by one corner, he turned out the contents on the table before the governor, and never did freebooter's bag make more gorgeous de

livery. Out tumbled rings, and jewels, and rosaries of pearls, and sparkling diamond crosses, and a profusion of ancient golden coin, some of which fell jingling to the floor, and rolled away to the uttermost parts of the chamber.

For a time the functions of justice were suspended; there was a universal scramble after the glittering fugitives. The governor alone, who, was imbued with true Spanish pride, maintained his stately decorum, though his eye betrayed a little anxiety until the last coin and jewel was restored to the sack.

The friar was not so calm; his whole face glowed like a furnace, and his eyes twinkled and flashed at sight of the rosaries and

crosses.

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Sacrilegious wretch that thou art!" exclaimed he; "what church or sanctuary hast thou been plundering of these sacred relics?"

"Neither one nor the other, holy father. If they be sacrilegious spoils, they must have been taken in times long past, by the infidel trooper I have mentioned. I was just going to tell his Excellency when he interrupted me, that, on taking possession of the trooper's horse, I unhooked a leathern sack which hung at the saddle-bow, and which I presume contained the plunder of his campaignings in days of old, when the Moors overran the country."

"Mighty well; at present you will make up your mind to take up your quarters in a chamber of the vermilion tower, which, though not under a magic spell, will hold you as safe as any cave of your enchanted Moors."

"Your Excellency will do as you think proper," said the prisoner, coolly. "I shall be thankful to your Excellency for any accommodation in the fortress. A soldier who has been in the wars, as your Excellency well knows, is not particular about his lodgings; and 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

L

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.

[The Alhambra: a Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards, 1832, "Governor Manco and the Soldier."]

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

[James Fenimore Cooper was born at Burlington, N.J., Sept. 15, 1789, and died at Cooperstown, N. Y., Sept. 14, 1851. His early years were spent at Cooperstown, then on the border of, if not actually within, the western wilderness. He entered Yale College in 1803, and was dismissed for breach of discipline in 1805. In preparation for entering the navy he served before the mast on a merchantman in 1806-7. In 1808 he was appointed midshipman, a position which he held until 1810. A part of this time was spent in duty on Lakes Champlain and Ontario. From the time of his marriage (1811) to that of his death, Cooper's life was that of the gentleman of leisure. The years 1826-33 he spent in Europe, and at various times he lived in New York City and Westchester County. But his strongest associations were with Cooperstown, where he held large tracts of land, and it became his permanent home. Cooper's first book, Precaution (1820), owed its existence to a careless boast of his that he could write a better story than a certain British novel that had come under his eye. Precaution dealt with foreign life, and Cooper's friends reproached him for not portraying that of his native country. Thus incited, he produced The Spy (1821), the plot of which was laid in Westchester. The favorable reception of The Spy led to a rapid succession of remarkable tales of romantic adventure on land and sea, of which the more famous are The Pioneers (1823), The Pilot (1823), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), The Red Rover (1828), The Water Witch (1830), The Pathfinder (1840), The Deerslayer (1841), The Wing-and-Wing (1842). Besides his novels Cooper wrote a History of the Navy of the United States (1839), and several volumes of biography, history, and travel. Much of this part of his work was explicitly or implicitly polemic in character. He criticised severely the manners of his countrymen and their methods of government, as well as the corresponding manners and methods of European countries, thus exposing himself to retaliatory criticism, both at home and abroad. For many years he was almost constantly involved in lawsuits and can scarcely be said to have been beloved by his countrymen at large. But though intolerant, he had a strong sense of honor and justice, and was always actuated by lofty principles and an unswerving patriotism. The best biography of Cooper is that of T. R. Lounsbury.]