Above Them Stood The Abyssinians, Who Resolved To
Remain Quiet Spectators Of The Battle, And To Declare Themselves On The
Side Favoured By Victory.
Mohammed began the assault with only ten horsemen, against whom an equal
number of Portuguese were detached:
These fired with so much exactness
that nine of the Moors fell and the king was wounded in the leg by Peter
de Sa. In the melee which ensued, the Moslems, dismayed by their first
failure, were soon broken by the Portuguese muskets and artillery.
Mohammed preserved his life with difficulty, he however rallied his men,
and entrenched himself at a strong place called Membret (Mamrat),
intending to winter there and await succour.
The Portuguese, more desirous of glory than wealth, pursued their enemies,
hoping to cut them entirely off: finding, however, the camp impregnable,
they entrenched themselves on a hill over against it. Their little host
diminished day by day, their friends at Masawwah could not reinforce them,
they knew not how to procure provisions, and could not depend upon their
Abyssinian allies. Yet memorious of their countrymen's great deeds, and
depending upon divine protection, they made no doubt of surmounting all
difficulties.
Mohammed on his part was not idle. He solicited the assistance of the
Moslem princes, and by inflaming their religious zeal, obtained a
reinforcement of 2000 musqueteers from the Arabs, and a train of artillery
from the Turks of Yemen. Animated by these succours, he marched out of his
trenches to enter those of the Portuguese, who received him with the
utmost bravery, destroyed many of his men, and made frequent sallies, not,
however, without sustaining considerable losses.
Don Christopher had already one arm broken and a knee shattered by a
musket shot. Valour was at length oppressed by superiority of numbers: the
enemy entered the camp, and put the Christians to the spear. The
Portuguese general escaped the slaughter with ten men, and retreated to a
wood, where they were discovered by a detachment of the enemy. [16]
Mohammed, overjoyed to see his most formidable enemy in his power, ordered
Don Christopher to take care of a wounded uncle and nephew, telling him
that he should answer for their lives, and upon their death, taxed him
with having hastened it. The Portuguese roundly replied that he was come
to destroy Moslems, not to save them. Enraged at this language, Mohammed
placed a stone upon his captive's head, and exposed him to the insults of
the soldiery, who inflicted upon him various tortures which he bore with
the resolution of a martyr. At length, when offered a return to India as
the price of apostacy, the hero's spirit took fire. He answered with the
highest indignation, that nothing could make him forsake his Heavenly
Master to follow an "imposter," and continued in the severest terms to
vilify the "false Prophet," till Mahommed struck off his head. [17] The
body was divided into quarters and sent to different places [18], but the
Catholics gathered their martyr's remains and interred them.
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