_ 34 _ given to the Captains as a bribe at night so that they would go away, because with them gone the siege would have to be lifted; and as they had done this, an account must be given to the King. He ordered that they should be proclaimed traitors, and their possessions confiscated to the Crown, and the terms of the surety bonds that they had given to be collected, and those present swore on the Gospel to the notaries of the ships. He ordered another two men to be investigators, and they were to question twenty of the highest-ranking men in each ship to tell the truth about what had happened since their arrival at Kalhat until the day the Captains had fled. A copy of everything was to be given to him, and they were to keep their own; and he ordered that a public deed should be made of everything. The he took surety from Francisco de Tavora against this going away, as he had said that he / 871/ would, and he told João da Nova that he was to go with him as for as Cape Ras-el-Had and from there he could continue to India; and he returned the surety that he had taken from him and gave permission for some of the nobles who has asked leave to go with him, who were Jorge Barreto, Nuno Vaz de Castello Branco, Brás de Silva, and others who were disabled with wounds, and he sent to each of them what he owned.
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