we receive scoffings and revilings: give us, O king, an opportunity
where knightly valor may signalize itself--not shut up behind stone
walls, but in the open conflict of the field. The enemy approaches
to lay our country desolate: give us men to meet him in the advance,
and let shame light upon our heads if we be found wanting in the
battle!"

The two brothers were sent forth with a large force of horse and
foot; El Zagal intended, should they be successful, to issue forth
with his whole force, and by a decisive victory repair the losses he
had suffered. When the people saw the well-known standards of
the brothers going forth to battle, there was a feeble shout, but
the alcaydes passed on with stern countenances, for they knew
the same voices would curse them were they to return unfortunate.
They cast a farewell look upon fair Granada and upon the beautiful
fields of their infancy, as if for these they were willing to lay down
their lives, but not for an ungrateful people.

The army of Ferdinand had arrived within two leagues of Granada,
at the bridge of Pinos, a pass famous in the wars of the Moors and
Christians for many a bloody conflict. It was the pass by which the
Castilian monarchs generally made their inroads, and was capable of
great defence from the ruggedness of the country and the difficulty
of the bridge. The king, with the main body of the army, had
attained the brow of a hill, when they beheld the advance guard,
under the marques of Cadiz and the master of Santiago, furiously
attacked by the enemy in the vicinity of the bridge. The Moors
rushed to the assault with their usual shouts, but with more than
usual ferocity. There was a hard struggle at the bridge; both
parties knew the importance of that pass.