Fair means; but he put me off from day to day with fresh
delays till his departure shortly after; for the king restored him his
place again, and he was to go to Goa about a fair ballas ruby and other
rarities which were promised to the king.
Sec. 3. The Inconstancy of the King, and the Departure of Captain Hawkins
with Sir Henry Middleton to the Red Sea, and thence to Bantam, and
afterwards for England.
All my going and sending to Mucrob Khan for my money and cloth were in
vain, and seeing myself so grossly abused by him, I was forced to demand
justice of the king, who commanded that the money should be brought
before him; yet for all the king's commands, Mucrob did as he liked, and
in spite of every thing I could do or say, he finally cheated me of
12,500 mahmudies which he owed me, besides interest.[193] The greatest
man in the whole country was his friend, who with many others took his
part, and were continually murmuring to the king about suffering the
English to come into the country, saying, that if our nation once got
footing in the country we would dispossess him of it.[194] The king,
upon this, called me before him to make answer to these charges.
