_ 231 _ plus the Portuguese captives, put them on camels and moved to Alexandria. From there he crossed by sea to Constantinople, where he arrived trusting completely in the riches that he was bringing. He thus presented himself at the feet of the Turk. But as that Lord, even though a heathen, would not allow his laws or his command to be suborned by treasures or favours, he immediately gave orders for Piri Reis, as a breaker of his rules, to be beheaded. He ordered the Portuguese to be condemned to the galley benches, from which most were later ransomed, and they came to India. As for Barbarossa, he made such good progress that he arrived in Basra at the end of July (1553). After fitting out the fifteen galleys to his own satisfaction and putting the best artillery and the finest soldiers on them, he made his departure in August. Dom Antão de Noronha had also left Ormuz with his entire fleet at the beginning of that month, and he went to station himself off Cape Mussendom. From there he dispatched Gomes de Siqueira and Luis de Aguiar with orders to go to Basra and find out news of the galleys. One of them was to remain to spy on them, while the other was to bring a report of what they found out about them. When their ships reached the mouth of the river Euphrates, they captured a terranquin with some Moors,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy