_ 126 _ When he moved towards them, they turned into the open sea, where he caught up with them. There followed an exchange of fire which lasted from morning until noon, but he was unable to capture them because they were very nimble and propelled by sails and oars. When four of the “terradas” separated from the others Nuno Vaz pursued them, pressing so hard on two of them that they ran aground on the island of Qeshm. While he pulled one of them into the sea (presumably he managed to take possession of it), another terrada came towards him, because it had not seen him as he was anchored in a bay, Nuno Vaz went after it at once, leaving some men aboard the terrada which he had captured, and started to bombard it. The terrada refused to give itself up but Nuno Vaz drew his ship alongside it. It still wouldn’t slow down and he killed four of their oarsmen with a cannon shot, at which point his men boarded the enemy and started to fight the Arabs, who resisted for some time. This was because this terrada carried the captain of the fleet aboard it, an important Arab man who was very close to the King of Ormuz and Cojeatar; when he realized they could not possibly escape, he took-off his sumptuous clothes and dressed as an oarsmen so that he might not be recognized; he blackened his face with coal and took up an oar.
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