_ 76 _ those people were well-intentioned, as their action in not allowing them to leave the previous evening had been done because they thought thereby to do them a good turn, though, on the other hand, we all had a bad impression of them and they seemed ill-disposed towards us, as we had already spent the other days in Calicut]. When they came the following day, the captain said that our men should be given boats in which to go to their ships, but the Moors all began to quarrel among themselves and they said that he should ring his ships closer to land and then he could board them. The captain replied that if he ordered the ships to come, his brother would think that they had taken him prisoner and that they had forced him do it. They would then hoist the sails and leave for Portugal. They said that if he did not bring his ships close inshore, there was no way he was going to board them. The captain then retorted that the Samorin had ordered him to return to his ships and since they did not want to let him go, as the king had instructed, he would go back to him and since he was a Christian like him, if he did not wish to let him leave, and wanted him to stay in his country, he would be very happy. They agreed that he should go. However, there was
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