The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 197 _ Abraham wore a crimson satin buffcoat, an old helmet, and carried a very strong leather shield. He carried a richly ornamented sword at the waist and wielded a spear in his hand. He threw himself upon Afonso de Albuquerque's men who had just finished disembarking. Seeing the enemy Afonso de Noronha, who was in front, attacked them with his riflemen. Our men's onslaught was so fierce that Sheikh Abraham was unable to prevent his men fleeing back to the fortress. When the Sheikh saw this, he followed behind them with about 80 archers, in order to protect their rearguard from our men who pursued them. Afonso de Albuquerque and some sailors were particularly determined to pursue them, and they could run faster than the Sheikh for they carried no heavy weapons, or armour. Jaime Teixeira, Pedro Alvares, Nuno Vaz de Castelo Branco and about eight others were close behind, followed by the rest of the forces. Those who ran in front wounded many of the enemy, whose retreat was not made any easier by the fact that they had to run across a graveyard full of tombstones. Nevertheless, Sheikh Abraham did the best he could to help them and to affect an orderly retreat. When he neared the fortress he turned back on our men, thinking that in this way he would scare us off to enable him and his men to return to the fortres. Instead, however,

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy