How Nuno Tristam reached the spot where Antam Gonçalvez was, and how he
dubbed him knight.
For that the philosopher saith, that the beginning is two parts of the
whole matter,[N59] we ought to give great praise to this noble youth,
for this deed of his, undertaken with so great boldness; for since he
was the first who made booty in this conquest, he deserveth advantage
over and above all the others who in after time travailed in this
matter. For the custom was among the Romans, as Saint Augustine saith in
the book that he made _De Civitate Dei_, and as Titus Livius also saith
in his _Decades_, that all those who struck the first blow in battles or
were the first to enter into forts or to leap into ships, were granted
in return a higher increase of honour, which they bore on the day of
triumph in testimony of their valour, as Valerius telleth us more in
detail, in the summary that he made of Roman history.[N60] And so let
Antam Gonçalvez receive his knighthood, as we purpose to describe in
this chapter, and after this we will give him commanderies in the Order
of Christ (whose habit he afterwards assumed), making him the private
secretary to this great and noble prince. And for the remembrance of his
honour, let him be satisfied that he is inscribed in this volume, whose
tenor will for ever, so long as writing endureth among men, be a witness
of his excellence.
Now you must know that Nuno Tristam, a youthful knight, very valiant and
ardent, who had been brought up from early boyhood in the Infant's privy
chamber, arrived at that very place where was Antam Gonçalvez, and
brought with him an armed caravel, with the special command of his Lord,
that he should pass beyond the Port of the Galley, as far as he could,
and that he should bestir himself as well to capture some of the people
of the country, as best he could. And he, pursuing his voyage, now
arrived at the place where Antam Gonçalvez was. And you can well imagine
how great was the joy of these two, being natives of the same Kingdom
and brought up in one and the self-same Court, to meet again at so great
a distance from their own land. But leaving out of this account the
words we may suppose they would use--the one in asking for news of his
lord, and of his friends and acquaintances; the other in his desire to
know of the booty--Nuno Tristam said, that an Arab whom he had brought
with him there, and who was a servant of the Infant his lord, should
speak with one of those captives, to see if he understood their
language, and that, if they could understand one another, it would be of
great profit to know all the state and conditions of the people of that
land. And so all three of them spoke,[R] but their language was very
different from that of the others, so that they were not able to
understand one another. But as soon as Nuno Tristam perceived that he
was not able to learn more of the manner of that land, than what Antam
Gonçalvez had told him, he was eager to depart, but that emulation which
Socrates[N61] praised in gallant youths, tormented his heart in such a
manner that he wished first of all to see whether he could not do
something of more account before the eyes of his fellows. "How is it
right", said he to those of his company, "that we should allow these men
to go on their way back to Portugal, without first shewing them some
part of our labour? Of a surety, I say to you, that as far as it
concerneth me, I trow I should receive disgrace, holding the order of
knighthood as I do, if I gained here no booty richer than this, by which
the Lord Infant may gain some first-fruits of a recompence for the great
expense he has incurred."
[Footnote R: _I.e._, Nuno Tristam, Antam Gonçalvez, and the Arab
interpreter all questioned the captives, but the latter could not
understand them.]
Thereupon he caused Antam Gonçalvez to be called, and the principal men
whom he brought with him, that he might show them his mind. "You", said
he, "my friend Antam Gonçalvez, are not ignorant of the will of the
Infant our Lord, and you know that to execute this purpose of his he
hath incurred many and great expenses, and yet up till now, for a space
of fifteen years, he hath toiled in vain in this part of the world,
never being able to arrive at any certainty as to the people of this
land, under what law or lordship they do live. And although you are
carrying off these two captives, and by their means the Infant may come
to know something about this folk, yet that doth not prevent what is
still better, namely, for us to carry off many more; for, besides the
knowledge which the Lord Infant will gain by their means, profit will
also accrue to him by their service or ransom. Wherefore, it seemeth to
me that we should do well to act after this manner. That is to say, in
this night now following, you should choose ten of your men and I
another ten of mine--from the best which each of us may have--and let us
then go together and seek those whom you have found. And since you say
that, judging from the fighting you had with them, they were not more
than twenty men fit for battle, and the rest women and boys, we ought to
capture them all very quickly. And even if we do not meet with the very
same that you encountered, nevertheless we shall surely find others, by
means of whom we can make as good a booty, or perhaps even better."
"I cannot well believe", replied Antam Gonçalvez, "that our expedition
in search of those we found before, will have any sure result, for the
place is all one great bare hill, in the which there is no house or hut
where one could fancy they would lodge, and the more so since we saw
them turn again like men that had come there from another part. And what
seemeth to me worst of all is that those men[S] will have forewarned all
the others, and, peradventure, when we think to capture them we may
ourselves become their booty. But consider this well, and where we have
been in a manner victorious, let us not return to suffer loss."
[Footnote S: Whom my people fell in with.]
Yet, although this counsel of Antam Gonçalvez was good, according to the
circumstances of the affair; and although Nuno Tristam was not unwilling
to fall in with it; there were there two squires, in whom these reasons
did not suffice to oppose their desire of doing brave deeds. Gonçallo de
Sintra was the name of one of these--and of his valour you will know
more fully in the progress of this history; the other was Diego Añes de
Valladares, a squire, valiant in body, well proved in many great perils.
And these two persuaded the Council to depart from the advice which
Antam Gonçalvez had given, in this way, that as soon as it was night,
they set out according to the order that Nuno Tristam gave at first. And
so it chanced that in the night they came to where the natives lay
scattered in two encampments, either the same that Antam Gonçalvez had
found before or other like it. The distance between the encampments was
but small, and our men divided themselves into three parties, in order
that they might the better hit upon them. For they had not yet any
certain knowledge of the place where they lay, but only a perception of
them; as you see the like things are perceived much more readily by
night than by day. And when our men had come nigh to them, they
attacked them very lustily, shouting at the top of their voices,
"Portugal" and "Santiago";[N62] the fright of which so abashed the
enemy, that it threw them all into disorder. And so, all in confusion,
they began to fly without any order or carefulness. Except indeed that
the men made some show of defending themselves with their assegais (for
they knew not the use of any other weapon), especially one of them, who
fought face to face with Nuno Tristam, defending himself till he
received his death. And besides this one, whom Nuno Tristam slew by
himself, the others killed three and took ten prisoners, what of men,
women and boys. And it is not to be doubted that they would have slain
and taken many more, if they had all fallen on together at the first
onslaught. But among those who were taken there was one greater than the
rest, who was called Adahu, and was said to be a noble; and he shewed in
his countenance right well that he held the pre-eminence of nobility
over the others. Now, among those ten who I said were with Nuno Tristam,
was one Gomez Vinagre, a youth of good family, brought up in the
Infant's household, who showed in this battle what his valour was like
to be in after time, for which in the result he was honourably advanced.
When the action was thus accomplished, as we have described, all met
together, even as they were in the fight, and began to request of Antam
Gonçalvez, that he should be made a knight. But he, appraising his toil
at far less than they did, answered that it was not right that he for so
small a service should receive so great an honour, and one too that was
more than his age did warrant. Of his own free will he said he would
never have it, except when he had accomplished greater deeds than these.
Yet at last by the excessive entreaties of the rest, and because Nuno
Tristam perceived it was right, he had to make Antam Gonçalvez a knight,
though it was against his will; and for this reason they called that
place henceforth, "the Port of the Cavalier".[N63] And so he was the
first knight that was made in those parts. Then those captains returned
to the ships and bade that Arab whom Nuno Tristam had brought with him,
to speak with those Moors[T] but they were not able to understand him,
because the language of these people was not Moorish, but Azaneguy of
Sahara, for so they name that land. But the noble,[U] in that he was of
better breeding than the other captives, so had he seen more things and
better than they; and had been to other lands where he had learned the
Moorish tongue;[N64] forasmuch as he understood that Arab and answered
to whatever matter was asked of him by the same. And the further to try
the people of the land and to have of them more certain knowledge, they
put that Arab on shore, and one of the Moorish women whom they had taken
captive; who were to say to the others, that if they wished to come and
speak to them about the ransom of some of those whom they had taken
prisoners, or about traffick in merchandise, they might do so. And at
the end of two days there came to that place about 150 Moors on foot and
thirty-five on horses and camels, bringing the Moorish slave with them.
And although outwardly they seemed to be a race both barbarous and
bestial, yet was there not wanting in them something of astuteness,
wherewith they sought to ensnare their enemies. For only three of them
appeared on the shore, and the rest lay in ambush, to the end that our
men, being unaware of their treachery, might land, when they who lay hid
could seize them, which thing they might have done by sheer force of
numbers, if our men had been a whit less cautious than they. But the
Moors, perceiving that their wiles were discovered by us--because they
saw that the men in the boat turned about on seeing that the slave did
not appear--revealed their dissembling tricks and all came into sight on
the shore, hurling stones and making gestures.[V] And there they also
displayed that Arab who had been sent to them, held as one whom they
wished to keep in the subjection of a captive. And he called out to them
that they should be on their guard against those people; for they would
not have come there, except to take them at a disadvantage if they
could. Thereupon our men turned back to the ships, where they made their
partition of the captives, according to the lot of each, and the other
Moors betook themselves to their encampments, taking the Arab with them.
And Antam Gonçalvez, because he had now loaded his ship with cargo, as
the Infant had commanded, returned to Portugal, and Nuno Tristam went on
his way, to fulfil his orders, as we have said before that he had
received commandment.
[Footnote T: Their prisoners.]
[Footnote U: Adahu.]
[Footnote V: Of defiance.]
But after the departure of Antam Gonçalvez, seeing that his caravel
needed repair, he caused them to beach her, where he careened and mended
her as far as was needful, keeping his tides as if he had been in front
of Lisbon harbour,[N65] at which boldness of his there was much marvel.
And pursuing his voyage, he passed the Port of the Galley, and went on
till he came to a Cape which he called Cape Branco,[N66] where his men
landed to see if they could make any capture.
But although they found traces of men and even some nets, they now took
counsel to return, perceiving that for that time they would not be able
to advantage themselves above their first achievement.