_ 49 _ his misdeeds and that the least they should do was accept the fort from him and for him to depart with only his household, leaving all his wealth behind. His terms were unacceptable to them because their greed for the looting of Bahrain, which they thought would be very great, didn’t allow them to properly grasp what Ras Bardardin was offering. The surrender of the fort without so much as a single blow of a sword nor the experience of the poisonous fevers of the area which in a few short days wrought such havoc among them that few escaped; such were the fruits they harvested for their greed. However, Simão da Cunha did not have to reject the terms as they were not announced openly to hear and now, acting out of fear, he did reject them. And this made him lack confidence (something unknown in a brave, prudent commander, because it is the strongest and most powerful of all the enemies he has to fight, one at whose hands men are broken and lost every day). Knowing very well that he was failing in his duty by allowing this lack of confidence to set in, Simão da Cunha’s response to Ras Bardadin was the one that the captains had chosen. When the interpreter delivered the message since Ras Bardardin was a brave man and hadn’t offered his terms out of fear but only to secure the life of his
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