The General And His People Now Pretended To Be In Want Of Necessaries
From The Ships, And Requested Leave To Send Some Of His People On Board,
While He Should Remain On Shore; But This The Kutwal Refused, And Our
People Began To Be Seriously Alarmed.
At this time Gonzalo Perez returned,
supposing the general at liberty and that he waited for him and his
companions.
Perez informed De Gama that he had seen Coello, who waited
for him with the boats near the shore. The admiral was exceedingly
anxious that the kutwal should not know of this circumstance, lest he
might send out a number of armed almadias to capture them; and therefore
urged Perez to return secretly to give Coello warning to return to the
ships and keep constantly on the alert for fear of an attack. When Coello
got this intelligence, he immediately set off, and the kutwal caused him
to be pursued by several almadias full of armed men, but he made his
escape. The kutwal made another attempt to induce the general to order
his brother to bring the ships near the shore, but in vain; for the
general told him, his brother, even if he were to write such an order,
would not obey, or, were he disposed to do so, the other officers in the
ship would prevent him. The kutwal observed that he could not give credit
to this, as he was sure any thing he commanded would be obeyed. But no
arguments could prevail on the general to this measure, which he was
satisfied was meant for facilitating the destruction of the fleet to
gratify the Moors.
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