_ 77 _ and large terradas which were drawn up at the water’s edge, where the Moors had made strong barricades with guns and many men to defend them. The Captain-in-Chief had ordered the gunners that they were only to light their matches. He ran shore, calling on St James, and then our men stormed the barricades and attacked the Moors, who soon left everything, only shooting arrows. The gunners with their torches soon set fire to the straw houses, and the fire was so intense that our men could not get back to the boats and they ran among the ships along the beach while the boats went by sea. Then the Captain-in-Chief sent Afonso Lopes da Costa, João da Nova and Manuel Telles with their men to go along by the water, and he would follow with his men, to a place called Turum Bagh, which is by the sea, where there were palm groves and wells of healthy water which the people of the city drink when the water terradas do not come, because sometimes there are contrary winds and there is no water for the ordinary people. It was the Captain-in-Chief’s intention that this should be the main battle against the city if it did not obey him. When they reached the town they found no one, but they saw the country around the city full of people, families
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