_ 329 _ When he received news of what Barbarossa had done, he began to belittle him before the Pashas, saying that “a man who had surrendered the fortress of El Katiff to the Portuguese without waiting for a single sword thrust, should not have been entrusted with that task", while suggesting to the Pashas that he should go and bring the fifteen galleys to Suez, as the Turk had ordered. Because the Pashas were his friends, they negotiated the expedition for him, and he travelled overland to Basra. After assuming command of the fleet, he began to equip the fifteen galleys with care and attention, so as to leave at the beginning of August. At the beginning of July, Dom Fernando de Meneses dispatched three ships, whose captains were Gomes de Siqueira, Luis de Aguiar and Sebastião de Macedo of the household of the Count of Vidigueira, with orders to station themselves at the entrance to the Strait of Basra to spy on the galleys. One of them was to bring him news of what they discovered and the other two were to stay on lookout until the galleys left. These captains sailed to the location to which they had been sent, where they decided to remain. They learned from some terradas that they captured that Ali Chelebi had
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