The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 26 _ Then the Moors regrouped, moving and shooting off arrows in great numbers, and there were more than two thousand of them. Our men engaged them in battle and pursued them and they did not wait for our men to catch them up with their lances. The Moors had prepared an ambush with about five hundred of them hidden among some gullies, and these came out against our rear with great shouts. At this the Captain-in-Chief halted and ordered Afonso Lopes to go back, which he did with sixty men. This did not more than surprise the Moors, who continued to shoot many arrows, but then they took to flight into the rocky places of the mountains, where they were joined by other who made bold to arrive because the Captain-in-Chief was not advancing. As they came on our men attacked again, but the delay was short once they heard the sound of our weapons, and they all fled, with our men after them, until the town was deserted; and they ran for about half a league. The Captain-in-Chief remained on a hillock, because the sun was already very hot, and he ordered João da Nova to halt the men, who made them all come back to a grove of palms which stood at the foot of the hills, where they rested. The Captain-in-Chief ordered that sentinels should be posted at several places to keep watch on the Moors

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