cargo--to be put in irons. The admiral
remonstrated by means of Monzaida, but the king still persisted in his
treacherous breach of faith. Repeated solicitations made him more
haughty, and it was now the duty and interest of Gama to use force. He
took a vessel, in which were six nayres, or noblemen, and nineteen of
their servants. The servants he set ashore to relate the tidings, the
noblemen he detained. As soon as the news had time to spread through the
city, he hoisted his sails, and, though with a slow motion, seemed to
proceed on his homeward voyage. The city was now in an uproar; the
friends of the captive noblemen surrounded the palace, and loudly
accused the policy of the Moors. The king, in all the perplexed distress
of a haughty, avaricious, weak prince, sent after Gama, delivered up all
the hostages, and submitted to his proposals; nay, even solicited that
an agent should be left, and even descended to the meanness of a
palpable lie. The two factors, he said, he had put in irons, only to
detain them till he might write letters to his brother Emmanuel, and the
goods he had kept on shore that an agent might be sent to dispose of
them. Gama, however, perceived a mysterious trifling, and, previous to
any treaty, insisted upon the restoration of the goods.

The day after this altercation Monzaida came aboard the fleet in great
perturbation. The Moors, he said, had raised great commotions, and had
enraged the king against the Portuguese. The king's ships were getting
ready, and a numerous Moorish fleet from Mecca was daily expected. To
delay Gama till this force arrived was the purpose of the Court and of
the Moors, who were now confident of success. To this information
Monzaida added, that the Moors, suspecting his attachment to Gama, had
determined to assassinate him; that he had narrowly escaped from them;
that it was impossible for him to recover his effects, and that his only
hope was in the protection of Gama. Gama rewarded him with the
friendship he merited, took him with him, as he desired, to Lisbon, and
procured him a recompense for his services.

Almost immediately seven boats arrived loaded with the goods, and
demanded the restoration of the captive noblemen. Gama took the goods on
board, but refused to examine if they were entire, and also refused to
deliver the prisoners. He had been promised an ambassador to his
sovereign, he said, but had been so often deluded he could trust such a
faithless peopl