_ 124 _ not to venture into the disasters of war he should pretend to accept Khwaja Attar’s lies and leave war alone. In a year’s time he could come back with a larger fleet and more men and do what the Viceroy might think fit. If he still determined to go ashore and fight, they informed him that they would not go with him; and this they all signed on the 5th January 1508”. When the Captain-in-Chief saw the Captains’ letter warning him not to make war after they had advised him that he should do so if Khwaja Attar did not hand over the Portuguese, he went aboard the ship named Tafora, which was that of Afonso Lopes da Costa, and called the Captains to him there. He asked them why they would not go ashore with him to fight with him when they themselves had advised him to do so. They answered that then they had thought it would be good to fight, but now it seemed wrong, for the reasons they gave in their letter, and they still thought the same. The Captain-in-Chief told them that since that was their opinion, and they confirmed the reasons they had written, they should declare now whether they would go ashore or not. They said they would not go ashore with him if he was going to fight. The Captain-in-Chief looked at them all and said “Do not forget what you have said, since you declare
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