_ 110 _ the ships and not go ashore, and the Moors would not know that there were so few of them; but mainly the Captain-inChief did this to keep the men happy. For better safety on land he told Duarte Dinis, the factor, to occupy a large building near the work and sell their cloth from Cambay which had been seized in the ships, and many spices, which he bought from the Captain at a valuation which they liked, and he told the factor to sell it all cheaply so that the merchants would be pleased, and everything was peaceful and amicable. The work went on apace, and the Captain-in-Chief ordered that as soon as the keep had been roofed the fortress should be built around it . He had fears that the work might be contested, as Khwaja Bairam and told him very secretly that Khwaja Attar regretted giving him a site for the fortress there inside the city, for if he had not done so he would not have to break the peace. He knew that the Captain-in-Chief was building it against the opposition of the Captains and that there had been arguments, and he also knew how few men there were in the fleet because the Moor Khwaja Attar was very friendly with the factor Dinis Duarte and the clerk Jeronimo d’ Ortega, to whom he was giving many bribes and the King too was giving them money, and in conversation with them he learned what was happening in the ships and among the Captains.
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