The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 222 _ The Turks continued with the bombardment without doing any damage to the fortress and receiving as good as they gave from it, because the master-gunner, who was Navarrese by nationality, was so skilful in that job that he often put the cannon balls through the mouths of their mortars, whereupon some of them exploded and killed many of their men. He also demolished their bastions, which they immediately set about rebuilding but with great difficulty. The Portuguese soldiers took very badly to being confined and began publicly to agitate for the gates to be opened for them to go and take the enemy’s positions and seize their artillery. The captain patiently calmed them down with a promise that when the time was right,he would do what they wanted, but this was still not the moment, because he had no reliable information about the numbers of the enemy nor, no matter how hard he tried, did he have an interpreter at hand from whom he could find out, but this was not enough to pacify the soldiers. When Gonçalo Guedes de Roberedo, the captain of the Santiago bulwark became aware of the captain’s wish and need to capture an interpreter from the enemy, he volunteered to go and snatch one of them, which the captain accepted and thanked him for. He ordered him to

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