_ 120 _ abundant our men took a long time carrying them aboard. The commander-in-chief saw that this would detain them for a few days, and he selected four parties to keep watch, taking it in turns, each was headed by one of the fleet’s captains and by some of the nobles, who kept watch over the city. The commander-in-chief stayed at the mosque with the rest of the men. After the sack had lasted for five days, the Arabs who had run away decided to return to see if they could harm our men in any way. For this purpose, they gathered together a good thousand men and penetrated the city little by little during the night, from the side of the interior, where our people did not keep watch because it was far from the mosque. They finished entering the city during the second watch, Martim Coelho having taken over from Antonio de Noronha. The Arabs attacked Martim Coelho after Dom Antonio had left but four of the latter’s men had stayed behind and they happened to see the enemy and ran to warn Dom Antonio. Dom Antonio sent word to the commander-in-chief and came to meet the enemy, who were already fighting Martim Coelho as well as Diogo de Melo who chanced to go there with some of his company. The enemy handled their bows well, they had many arrows
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy