The
General Was Greatly Satisfied With This Permission, Of Which He Had No
Hopes At The First, On Seeing The Unfriendly Reception He Had Met With At
The Commencement Of His Audience.
He went back, therefore, to his lodging,
accompanied by the kutwal; and the day being near a close, he deferred
returning on board that night.
De Faria gives a somewhat different account of what passed at this second
audience[62]. "It was wonderful that the zamorin, not knowing how to be
properly assured of the truth, should rely on the faith of him who was
accused by his ministers. For, as if he had really known in what
detestation the Portuguese hold a lie, although to their own advantage,
he sent for De Gama, and told him plainly that he had been informed his
embassy was all a counterfeit, and that he was some banished man or a
fugitive: Yet at the same time offered, even if it were so, to give him a
kind reception, and to make him handsome appointments in his service; and
promised to rely entirely on his word for information respecting the
truth of the whole story. De Gama heard the king to an end with a firm
countenance, and declared himself highly sensible of the confidence
reposed in him. He then proceeded to answer all that had been alleged
against him, which he completely overturned by irrefragable argument in a
long and eloquent speech, preserving the utmost gravity and composure
throughout the whole.
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