noon
Twenty shafts , from wearied and nerveless arms , fell innocuous round the form of Almamen : and as , waving aloft his ominous banner , he disappeared again behind the screen-works , the Spaniards almost fancied they could hear his exulting and demon laugh . The sixth day came , and the work of the enemy was completed . The tower was entirely undermined -- the foundations rested only upon wooden props , which , with a humanity that was characteristic of Boabdil , had been placed there in order that the besieged might escape ere the final crash of their last hold . It was now noon : the whole Moorish force , quitting the plain , occupied the steep that spread below the tower , in multitudinous array and breathless expectation . The miners stood aloof -- the Spaniards lay prostrate and exhausted upon the battlements , like mariners who , after every effort against the storm , await , resigned , and almost indifferent , the sweep of the fatal surge . Suddenly the lines of the Moors gave way , and Boabdil himself , with Muza at his right hand , and Almamen on his left , advanced towards the foot of the tower . At the same time , the Ethiopian guards , each bearing a torch , marched slowly in the rear ; and from the midst of them paced the royal herald and sounded the last warning .