_ 107 _ to kill them. During these seven months they were short of provisions a could only eat the fish they caught and drink rainwater. They underwent great toils and were very tired. At the end of the seven months, when they were to leave for India, the factor of the ship that had previously belonged to João Gomes requested that all the merchandise should be transferred to Rui Soares’ vessel, because the other ship was in no condition to navigate. They therefore burnt it so that the enemy might not take it. When they left this place and were on their way, they came across a large ship from Mecca in the big gulf. It carried a good 500 white Arabs, who recognized our ship and came towards it with the intention of boarding it, since there were few people on board, Rui Soares prepared to face them, although he had no more than 70 men. He entrusted the prow to a Knight celled Goncalo Baixo, the deck to Manuel Pereira, whilst he positioned himself under the awnings, Jorge Botelho was annoyed not to have been chosen to lead a group, decided not to fight, and moved to a side. At this point the enemy arrived and accosted our ship, fighting our men for a long while and wounding many of them. When there was almost no one left to fight they boarded the ship at the prow and reached the deck.
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