King Ferdinand flattered himself that the manifestation of his force
had struck sufficient terror into the city, and that by offers of
clemency it might be induced to capitulate. He wrote a letter,
therefore, to the commanders, promising, in case of immediate
surrender, that all the inhabitants should be permitted to depart
with their effects, but threatening them with fire and sword if they
persisted in defence. This letter was despatched by a cavalier named
Carvajal, who, putting it on the end of a lance, reached it to the
Moors on the walls of the city. Abul Cacim Vanegas, son of Reduan,
and alcayde of the fortress, replied that the king was too noble and
magnanimous to put such a threat in execution, and that he should
not surrender, as he knew the artillery could not be brought to the
camp, and he was promised succor by the king of Granada.

At the same time that he received this reply the king learnt that
at the strong town of Comares, upon a height about two leagues
distant from the camp, a large number of warriors had assembled
from the Axarquia, the same mountains in which the Christian
cavaliers had been massacred in the beginning of the war, and
that others were daily expected, for this rugged sierra was capable
of furnishing fifteen thousand fighting-men.

King Ferdinand felt that his army, thus disjoined and enclosed in an
enemy's country, was in a perilous situation, and that the utmost
discipline and vigilance were necessary. He put the camp under the
strictest regulations, forbidding all gaming, blasphemy, or brawl,
and expelling all loose women and their attendant bully ruffians,
the usual fomenters of riot and contention among soldiery. He
ordered that none should sally forth to skirmish without permission