_ 25 _ The Captains saw that the Captain-in-Chief was speaking truly, from what they knew, but they feared that it would end up with such an agreement that everything would be for the King’s profit, and they would end up with nothing. This troubled them, and they feared that when they were at sea the Captain-in-Chief would settle the agreement and they would not be able to depart from it. With this in mind they encouraged João da Nova to make a firm request for permission to go, and to ask for letters for the Viceroy as he had been ordered to do by Tristan da Cunha; and when the Captain-in-Chief saw that he could not refuse, he would fear that when he was in India João da Nova would tell of the large amount of money they were giving by agreement which he would not take, and if later there was some reverse he would be under great obligation to the King, and this would be a reason for the Captain-inChief to reach an agreement. If he still persisted in not doing so, he would not give João da Nova permission, and then they would all support him, and this /866/ lead to a total break, after all the protests and petitions. This was all agreed among them, and João da Nova was prepared for it. So when the Captainin-Chief was giving orders to the vessels that were going to
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