The General
Immediately Desired The Kutwal To Order Him To Be Furnished With An
Almadia Or Pinnace, To Carry Him
And his people on board; but the kutwal
said it was now late, and the ships so far away that
He might miss them
in the dark, for which reason he had better stay till next day. The
general then said, if he were not immediately furnished with an almadia,
he would return to the king and complain that he was detained contrary to
his license, and even mentioned as if he meant to return immediately to
Calicut. To dissemble the more, the kutwal said he might have thirty
instead of one, if he needed them, and pretended to send out to procure
almadias, while at the same time he commanded the owners to hide
themselves that they might not be found.
In the mean time, while messengers were dispatched on pretence to seek
almadias, the general, having a strong suspicion that evil was intended
towards him, walked leisurely along the water side, and sent off Gonzales
Perez and two other mariners, to go on before and endeavour to find
Nicholas Coello with his boats, and to caution him to keep out of the way,
lest the kutwal might send off to seize his boats and men. While Perez
and the others were absent on this errand, it drew far into the night;
and not choosing to go off till he learnt what success Perez had met with,
he at length agreed to stay all night. Having placed De Gama in the house
of a Moor for the night, the kutwal pretended that he would go in search
of the three mariners who were absent; but he did not return till next
morning. The general then required to have an almadia to carry him and
his people on board. Before answering, the kutwal spoke some words to his
nayres in their own language, and then desired the general to give orders
to have the ships brought near the shore oh which he should have leave to
depart. On this the general became still more afraid that some treachery
was intended; yet answered boldly, that he would give no such order while
he remained on shore, as that would make his brother believe he was a
prisoner and had issued this order under restraint, on which he would
immediately depart for Portugal without him. The kutwal then threatened
stoutly that he should never be allowed to go off, unless he complied
with this demand. The general, in return, declared he should immediately
return to Calicut if not allowed to go on board, and make a complaint of
his conduct to the king. The kutwal even dared him to do this, yet took
care it should not be in his power, as he had ordered the doors to be
kept shut and guarded by armed nayres, to prevent any of the Portuguese
from going out. Yet it was the will of God that the kutwal dared not to
kill the general or any of his men, although the Moors had bribed him
with a great sum of money, and notwithstanding his great credit with the
zamorin.
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