one after one
Arm ! '' The calmer contemplations and more holy anxieties of Leila were , at length , broken in upon by intelligence , the fearful interest of which absorbed the whole mind and care of every inhabitant of the castle . Boabdil el Chico had taken the field , at the head of a numerous army . Rapidly scouring the country , he had descended , one after one , upon the principal fortresses , which Ferdinand had left , strongly garrisoned , in the immediate neighbourhood . His success was as immediate as it was signal ; the terror of his arms began , once more to spread far and wide ; every day swelled his ranks with new recruits ; and from the snow-clad summits of the Sierra Nevada poured down , in wild hordes , the fierce mountain race , who , accustomed to eternal winter , made a strange contrast , in their rugged appearance and shaggy clothing , to the glittering and civilised soldiery of Granada . Moorish towns , which had submitted to Ferdinand , broke from their allegiance , and sent their ardent youth and experienced veterans to the standard of the Keys and Crescent . To add to the sudden panic of the Spaniards , it went forth that a formidable magician , who seemed inspired rather with the fury of a demon than the valour of a man , had made an abrupt appearance in the ranks of the Moslems .