_ 143 _ Rising immediately from his bed, he went to the College in search of the Father to confess to him but he found that he had already left with the fleet.(A) There were plenty of things to write about the fleet, which is at present on its way to Ormuz and in which the Viceroy is sailing. Most of the nobles and the captains asked the Father for priests and Brothers to accompany them, and some orphan boys to rebuke the blasphemers and console the sick and wounded. The Father was unable to refuse Dom Fernando de Noronha and Dom Antonio de Noronha, the Viceroy's son, on account of their great love for the Society, even though he was still sick and only had Father Antonio Vaz to help him preach. Father Antonio Vaz and Brother Francisco Durao sailed in the fleet with Dom Antonio, as did two orphan boys with Dom Fernando, Father Francisco Lopes and three children. At the time when the fleet was due to leave, the confessions in the College were so numerous, for the sake of gaining the indulgence, that the fifteen Fathers who were there were never idle. Our disciples, who were well over a (A) Barzeu narrates this episode in exactly the same way (Documenta Indica Vol I p. 695).
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