_ 202 _ The Arabs had their eyes glued to them in readyness to fight and as soon as a hole was made a sword would come out of it, dealing heavy blows, as could be seen from the marks on Jorge Barreto's and João Fernandes' shields. The other men's shields too, although they were very strong, were all sliced through by the Arabs' swords. Since the door was small and they defended it fiercely our men were unable to go in. When Tristan da Cunha and Afonso de Albuquerque saw their great valour they were sorry that men of their calibre should die. They therefore told them through an interpreter to surrender, for their lives would be spared. But they were so set against us that they preferred to die, thinking that they would be able to kill some of our men first. When the Portuguese saw that they had no intention of giving themselves up, João Freire who was a page of the commander-in-chief's went to the top of the tower to try and enter it from there. It seems that the Arabs heard him above them and came out to meet him. He was unable to defend himself with his lance because the roof-terrace was very narrow, and the enemy killed him with a spear. He was not yet dead when Nuno Vaz de Castelo Branco got to the roof together with Dinis Fernandes, a mulato
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