[Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada by Washington Irving]@TWC D-Link bookChronicle of the Conquest of Granada CHAPTER V 14/18
They proposed, therefore, to make booty of everything valuable, to sack the castle, set it on fire, and make good their retreat to Seville. The marques of Cadiz was of different counsel.
"God has given the citadel into Christian hands," said he; "he will no doubt strengthen them to maintain it.
We have gained the place with difficulty and bloodshed; it would be a stain upon our honor to abandon it through fear of imaginary dangers." The adelantado and Don Diego de Merlo joined in his opinion, but without their earnest and united remonstrances the place would have been abandoned, so exhausted were the troops by forced marches and hard fighting, and so apprehensive of the approach of the Moors of Granada. The strength and spirits of the party within the castle were in some degree restored by the provisions which they found.
The Christian army beneath the town, being also refreshed by a morning's repast, advanced vigorously to the attack of the walls.
They planted their scaling-ladders, and, swarming up, sword in hand, fought fiercely with the Moorish soldiery upon the ramparts. In the mean time, the marques of Cadiz, seeing that the gate of the castle, which opened toward the city, was completely commanded by the artillery of the enemy, ordered a large breach to be made in the wall, through which he might lead his troops to the attack, animating them in this perilous moment by assuring them that the place should be given up to plunder and its inhabitants made captives. The breach being made, the marques put himself at the head of his troops, and entered sword in hand.
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