_ 53 _ the air there was healthier. He continued the bombardment so heavily that one round brought down an entire wall; he wanted to storm the fort through the gap but he could not find more than thirty-five healthy men. This left him so disgusted and sad that, raising his eyes and lifting his arms to heaven, he said: “Lord, how little it would cost you to leave me a hundred healthy men!” (and there is no doubt he could have entered the fort if he had had the men.) When Simão da Cunha considered how badly everything had gone for him he did not want to end up completely finished, so he laid the whole business aside and ordered the sick and the artillery to be taken aboard the ships. This was done with a great deal of trouble because, as we’ve already said, there were no more than thirty-five healthy men to do the work, who, by the strength of their arms and with the blood spurting out of their hands, put the artillery aboard first and then the sick. There were so many sick the men could do no more than tie cords around their feet and drag them down to the water’s edge where the sailors took them into the longboats. This was one of the most pitiful sights that you could ever see because the moans, shouts and sighs of anguish that came from these sick wretches as they were dragged along made everyone watching them break down in tears of grief.
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