_ 48 _ men they had in the port whose aim was to destroy our fleet. He said that all his strength and confidence was in the battle he hoped to have at sea, and he was so pleased and delighted that he had called them to give them the news, for with trust in Our Lord, he thought it nothing to fight a hundred and seventy Moorish ships, the most powerful in all India. He had such faith in the mercy of Our Lord that they would all be burnt in the sight of the King of Ormuz with a great slaughter of Moors, and the hopes they had in their Mohammed would die with their prayers; and God in His mercy would give total victory to them. So, he asked them all that with faith in God they would undertake this task which would be the last, for when they were masters of the sea, they could make war against the city as they liked. He said that they should show pleasure and eagerness, because fighting men have no spirit other than the eagerness of their Captains. Everyone thought that the Captain-in-Chief spoke well, but the hearts of those who hated him could not hear good things, and Manuel Telles, who being young was more presumptuous, said to him “Sir, this is all very well, but what eagerness can one give to men in a war from which no good or profit can be expected but only labour, and having already done so much all they have are empty hands?”
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